GM's Brightdrop electric delivery van production slated for Canada
The overhauled facility in Ontario will become Canada's first plant to produce EVs at scale.
General Motors will give its Canadian manufacturing operations one heck of a reprieve after a series of local losses last decade. Last Friday, the automaker said its CAMI Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, will produce the upcoming Brightdrop EV600 electric delivery van that debuted at CES 2021.
CAMI was once the exclusive production site for two of GM's big sellers, the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain. However, the US automaker moved Equinox partially to Mexico and Terrain production left for the southern country altogether. The move dimmed prospects for local Canadian production, and the shuttering of the company's plant in Oshawa, Ontario, didn't help matters.
However, GM ponied up $800 million to invest in CAMI for the electric van with deliveries scheduled to start in late 2021. And with the investment, GM Canada will be poised to take a star role in GM's new side hustle in general, Brightdrop. The company hopes to own logistics and delivery from long-hauls to last-mile delivery infrastructure. The EV600 plays a massive part in that, as does the company's EP1 -- a battery-powered rolling pallet designed to help workers do more while exerting themselves less.
The final plans remains subject to ratifying the agreement with the local government and the Canadian union, Unifor, this year. However, with the EV600 moving into CAMI, GM noted Equinox production will phase out of the facility over the next two years. Where the compact SUV goes next remains unclear.
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