An employee works on the line at General Motors' CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., in 2022. GM Canada president Kristian Aquilina says the company will look for another vehicle to make there.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
General Motors Co. GM-N has ended production of the Chevrolet BrightDrop electric parcel van in Ingersoll, Ont., dealing another setback to an automotive sector upended by U.S. trade policies at a time when Canadian dreams of building an EV supply chain are fraying.
The decision, announced Tuesday by chief executive officer Mary Barra, has cost more than 1,100 hourly workers their jobs in the Southwestern Ontario town.
“We have decided to stop BrightDrop production at CAMI Assembly and assess the site for future opportunities,” Ms. Barra said.
The plant, formerly a joint venture with Suzuki, was retooled with taxpayer money to become Canada’s first large-scale all-electric vehicle factory in 2022.
Since then, U.S. tariffs on imported cars, metals and other goods have hammered Ontario’s manufacturing industry, and slowing growth in the electric-vehicle sector has cast doubts on Canada’s plan to become a hub for EV manufacturing.
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GM said in the spring that the Ingersoll plant would be closed between May and October but would reopen in the fall.
“This is not a decision we made lightly because of the impact on our employees,” Ms. Barra said on a conference call to present the company’s US$1.3-billion quarterly profit. “However, the commercial electric van market has been developing much slower than expected, and changes to the regulatory framework and fleet incentives have made the business even more challenging.”
The governments of Canada and Ontario gave GM $518-million in 2022 to retool the Ingersoll plant and restart the GM factory in Oshawa, which closed in 2019.
In addition to the BrightDrop investments, Ottawa and the province have provided subsidies worth a total of $28-billion to EV battery projects owned by Stellantis NV and LG Energy Solution and by Volkswagen. The investments are part of a strategy to use Canada’s critical minerals to foster a burgeoning industry. However, demand for EVs is slipping as government retail incentives vanish.
Honda Canada recently postponed its $15-billion EV and battery project in Ontario. Stellantis and Ford have postponed or scrapped plans to make some EVs in the province.
Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said, “This is exactly how the Trump administration was hoping this would go. Ingersoll has gotten caught up in the trade war and his assault on the EV market.”
There is a chance the plant will be idled and not permanently closed.
“Idled, we have a chance,” Mr. Volpe said. “Closed, we have a fight.”
BrightDrop vans parked near CAMI Assembly, Canada's first full-scale EV manufacturing plant that employed 1,300 unionized workers, in March.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
Just five years ago, the plant was producing 300,000 Chevrolet Equinoxes a year. Then GM moved the model to Mexico and transformed CAMI to make a model that never sold well, Mr. Volpe said.
Kristian Aquilina, the president of GM Canada, said the factory is not closing and that GM will look for a vehicle to make there. “It’s a product that is coming to a close,” Mr. Aquilina said in an interview from the plant. He was there to break the news to employees in person and by video call.
“These are tough days,” he said.
Less than a week ago, Stellantis STLA-N said it is transferring production of the Jeep Compass to Belvidere, Ill., from Brampton, Ont., as part of a plan to boost production in the United States by 50 per cent by 2029. The Brampton plant had been closed and its 3,000 workers laid off for almost two years awaiting a retooling for the Jeep SUV’s production.
“It’s a terrible week,” said Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, the union that represents workers at the Brampton and Ingersoll plants. “The Stellantis decision allowed the floodgates to burst, and here we are. … This is a devastating day for our members at CAMI.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on vehicles entering the United States, saddling importers with a bill of more than US$10-billion through the end of October, according to Anderson Economic Group.
Automakers have responded by delaying new models, extending existing ones, raising prices and absorbing some costs. In some cases, companies are also shifting production to the U.S.
Still, Mr. Aquilina said Tuesday’s announcement is not about tariffs. “It has everything to do with the demand for that type of vehicle, which is a fairly niche type of vehicle for a very specialized use,” he said.
GM sold 1,500 BrightDrop vans in the U.S. last year, far fewer than rival models made by Ford Motor Co. F-N and Rivian RIVN-Q. BrightDrops sell for about US$74,000 but are heavily discounted at dealerships.
Joe Graves was president of the union local at the Ingersoll plant in 2022, when GM said it was moving production of the popular Equinox to Mexico. Mr. Graves said he was not thrilled with the long-term prospects of building the BrightDrop instead, given its limited market. GM rebuffed his push to build the electric version of the Equinox at CAMI, he said by phone.
“All we had in front of us was a BrightDrop, so we tried to make the best of it,” said Mr. Graves, who is retired. “That was three years ago. The hot ticket was electric vehicles. Things have kind of gone south on the electric vehicle, people not accepting it as much. Trump doesn’t help either.”
General Motors CEO Mary Barra participates in an Economic Club of Washington discussion in 2023. She says the company is increasing its U.S. manufacturing and sourcing footprint.Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Unifor’s Ms. Payne said the federal government must apply pressure on GM and other automakers to convince them they need to invest in Canada and heed their commitments rather than announcing billions of dollars in U.S. investments to appease Mr. Trump.
She lauded Industry Minister Mélanie Joly’s threat to sue Stellantis over its Jeep transfer, adding that Canada should review its tariff remission rules and apply duties on companies that import cars while slashing jobs and idling factories.
“We’ve got to play hardball with them – not just our union playing hardball, but governments doing that, too,” Ms. Payne said by phone.
Ms. Joly told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that she is forming a working group comprising federal, provincial and Unifor officials to meet with GM to fight for the Ingersoll jobs and bring a new model to the plant.
“Of course, we’ll hold them to account for any support we have given them to develop” the BrightDrop, Ms. Joly said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters Tuesday he was “very disappointed” with GM’s decision.
“But really, it comes down to, I guess, these vehicles aren’t selling. They have 4,000 sitting on the lot right now,” he said, adding that Mr. Aquilina told him the company is going to look for another vehicle to build at the plant.
“If they breach a contract, we’re going to sue them, simple as that. And he knows that,” Mr. Ford said.
With a file from Laura Stone