{"id":483650,"date":"2026-02-18T19:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/483650\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:33:08","slug":"general-motors-to-invest-63-million-for-upgrade-at-oshawa-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/483650\/","title":{"rendered":"General Motors to invest $63-million for upgrade at Oshawa plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

GM workers use human assisted automation to weld vehicle doors at the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont., March 19, 2021. The plant made 135,800 pickups in 2025, according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers\u2019 Association, accounting for 11 per cent of Canada\u2019s auto production.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

General Motors Co. GM-N<\/a> is spending $63-million at its plant in Oshawa, Ont., to upgrade the metal-stamping shop ahead of the arrival of the automaker\u2019s next-generation of full-sized pickup trucks.<\/p>\n

The announcement of the investment, which will also improve the plant\u2019s parts-making operations, comes weeks after Detroit-based GM laid off 700 workers and cut the third production shift at the plant east of Toronto.<\/p>\n

GM said in a press release the work on the stamping plant, which makes body panels, supports preparations for the plant to assemble the new gasoline-powered pickup trucks. In 2023, GM said it would spend $280-million refitting the plant for the new trucks, which are built on an updated platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis additional investment underscores Oshawa\u2019s importance in GM\u2019s full-size truck portfolio,\u201d said Jack Uppal, president of GM Canada. \u201cWith a long history of building trucks in Canada, the talented team at Oshawa Assembly will continue to play a critical role for years to come in delivering the pickups our customers know and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

General Motors to stop BrightDrop van production in Ontario<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Waugh, Unifor chairperson of truck assembly at the plant, called the investment \u201cgood news.\u201d He said he is hopeful it means GM is committed to continuing to build trucks in Oshawa. <\/p>\n

\u201cI continue advocating for it,\u201d Mr. Waugh said by phone. \u201cSo when they start spending money, it\u2019s a good sign, especially [with] the trade war right now between Canada and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plant made 135,800 pickups in 2025, according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers\u2019 Association, accounting for 11 per cent of Canada\u2019s auto production. GM says the newest investment will bring the total spending at the plant to $1.5-billion since 2020. <\/p>\n

The Silverado is the second-best selling vehicle in the U.S., according to Automotive News and Cox Automotive, behind only the Ford F-150 pickup. GM is seeking to keep up with demand for the trucks, which are among its most profitable vehicles.<\/p>\n

The Canadian auto sector \u2013 based in Ontario \u2013 has been hard-hit by tariffs<\/a> imposed by U.S. Donald Trump<\/a>. He has declared he wants to put an end to Canada\u2019s carmaking, and has laid 25-per-cent tariffs on the non-U.S. content of cars made here.<\/p>\n

Stellantis to add third production shift at Windsor plant<\/a><\/p>\n

This has spurred some automakers to shift production to avoid the duties. Last year, GM boosted Silverado production in Fort Wayne, Ind., even as it planned layoffs in Oshawa. It is also set to begin assembling pickups in Orion, Mich. GM also makes pickups in Flint, Mich., and Silao, Mexico.<\/p>\n

GM last year closed its electric delivery van plant in Ingersoll, Ont., laying off 1,150 workers. The move angered federal politicians, who pointed to the millions of dollars in taxpayer aid the automaker has received.<\/p>\n

Industry Minister Melanie Joly said this month she is planning to seek \u201chundreds of millions\u201d of dollars from GM and Stellantis NV, another Detroit-based automaker that has received public funding but made deep cuts to its Canadian workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: GM workers use human assisted automation to weld vehicle doors at the General…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-483650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-headlines","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-top-news","53":"tag-top-stories","54":"tag-topnews","55":"tag-topstories","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}