GM extends scaled back car production at Oshawa Assembly
Source says company aligning schedules to market demands
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
Citing a shift in consumer trends, the scaleback of passenger car production will continue at General Motors’ Oshawa assembly plant.
As previously reported by The Oshawa Express, the company suspended production of the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS for the first three weeks of January.
Once production restarted, there was only one shift for those vehicles instead of two, a move originally expected to continue through the end of March.
Jennifer Wright, manager of corporate and internal communications for GM Canada, says this will be extended although she wouldn’t confirm exactly how long.
“On the flex line (that currently builds the Impala and XTS) we are adjusting production schedules in response to market demand,” Wright said in an emailed statement. “We are managing through this workforce transition with Unifor and current employment levels are expected to be retained.”
Production of the current model Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra began in Oshawa on Feb. 12.
GM invested more than $500 million to make improvements to the Oshawa plant consolidated line to facilitate pickup truck production.
Wright estimates approximately 60,000 trucks will be built in Oshawa this year.
“We plan to ramp up production on the truck line over the coming months,” Wright says.