General Motors is idling an assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, for six months due to slow sales for the electric delivery vehicles produced there. The idling will affect about 2,000 employees at the General Motors Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc. (CAMI) plant, according to Unifor, the labor union that represents GM Canada workers.
Unifor said layoffs will begin Monday, April 14, and continue until a full idling in May. The outage will continue until October.
"When production resumes in October, the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future — a reduction that is expected to result in the indefinite layoff of nearly 500 workers," according to a Unifor statement.
GM maintained the plant idling is due to weak demand for the BrightDrop electric delivery vehicles – or eCLV – assembled there, rather than to tariffs on U.S. imports of Canadian vehicles and automotive parts.
“General Motors is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand,” according to a GM statement. Records show that 1,956 BrightDrop vans were sold in 2024.
The CAMI plant formerly assembled Chevrolet Equinox SUVs, and it was converted in 2021 to produce EV delivery vans for start-up BrightDrop business, a nearly $800-million project.
GM absorbed BrightDrop in 2023, and assembly of the battery-powered Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 delivery vehicles continues at the Ontario site.
“GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition,” the automaker’s statement continued. “This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and re-balancing inventory. Production of BrightDrop and EV battery assembly will remain at CAMI.”
