Oshawa Assembly (also known simply as ''GM Oshawa'') is an

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

assembly plant in

Oshawa Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, owned and operated by

General Motors Canada General Motors of Canada Company (), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based company General Motors. It is headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. After the 2008 financial crisis, GM Canada received a combined loan ...

. Vehicles were primarily produced for the US, Canadian, and Mexican markets, as well as exports for various countries around the world, particularly South America and the Middle East. Historically the Oshawa plant was the source of all right-hand-drive market GM exports with complete vehicles or

knock-down kit A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then exported to another country or r ...

s shipped to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom until the end of the 1960s. At one time, the factory was one of the largest auto manufacturing facilities in the world, with two car assembly plants, a truck assembly plant, as well as parts production including Harrison radiators, AC Delco batteries (for both GM and other vehicle manufacturers) and American Axle. Between 1999 and 2019, it had won more quality and productivity awards than any other GM plant. The plant is part of the larger GM Autoplex. The facility has over 10 million square feet (930,000 m²) of vacant factory floor. It was converted to a state of the art flexible manufacturing facility in 2008, which involved the consolidation of two car plants under the same roof and the addition of a $1.3B paint shop which can accommodate 27 different body styles, including cars, pick up trucks and vans. Approximately 3,600 hourly and 400 salaried employees were working at the plant, with many more engineers working at GM's Regional Engineering Centre across the road. The hourly-rated workers were represented by their union,

Unifor Unifor is a Canadian general trade union founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. It consists of 310,000 workers, and associate members in industries including manufactu ...

Local 222. In August 2017, it was rated highly by its employees in The Best Places to Work in Canada rankings by Indeed, garnering 4th spot overall, and 1st for wages and benefits. On November 26, 2018, GM announced that production of new cars at Oshawa would wind down in 2019 and cease by the end of the year. The closure would affect 2,500 union workers and 300 management. On May 8, 2019 GM announced they would be spending $170 million ( CAD) to transition the plant from vehicle assembly to the production of body stampings and other subassemblies, and would convert 22

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s (220,000 ft²) of the facility to a test track for the development of autonomous vehicles. On November 4, 2020, GM announced plans to bring pickup production back to the Oshawa Assembly Plant due to strong demand for GM pickup trucks. Oshawa pickup production started on November 10, 2021 when the first Canadian-made Silverado HD was completed. The Silverado 1500 began production in Oshawa in May 2022.

History

The facility had produced vehicles since 1907. It was one of six locations building Chevrolet Motor Company automobiles before it was acquired by

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

in 1918.2 May 1918 - GM buys Chevrolet
at the History Channel In January 1918, Oshawa became the first Canadian GM plant to minimize the issue of large scale layoffs by cutting the second shift and alternating day- and night-shift workers at two-week intervals. This system was later adopted at other plants around the continent. The plant later moved to the GM Autoplex facilities in the southern part of the city starting production on November 7, 1953. From its beginnings, the Oshawa plant supplied right-hand-drive vehicles to international markets in kit form for local assembly, or as completed vehicles until the late 1960s. International markets saw U.S and Canadian-only GM vehicles such as the Bel Air, Pontiac Parisienne, Pontiac Laurentian, and

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car that was built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made auto ...

. In the mid-1980s, GM began a large transformation of the facility, naming the site "Autoplex." The changeover came in three steps, the first being conversion of the truck plant to GMT400 production in 1986. The next step was retooling Line 2 for the new W-body Regal, which began production in mid-1987. The final installment was a long changeover of Line 1 for the Chevrolet Lumina, which went into production on January 8, 1989 as a 1990 model. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix were discontinued in June and November 2007 respectively. The

Buick LaCrosse The Buick LaCrosse is a four-door, front-wheel-drive sedan manufactured by Buick since model year 2005, and marketed variously across four generations for the North American and Chinese markets. The first-generation LaCrosse replaced the Centu ...

was discontinued from Oshawa #2 in December 2008 and moved to Fairfax Assembly for 2010. In the fourth quarter of that year, it began producing the new

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

. Both the

Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. Serving as the premium mid-size/intermediate car of the Buick product range for nearly its entire production, the Regal initially served as the divisional counterpart of t ...

and the Camaro Convertible launched on the Flex Line in the first quarter of 2011. The plant began the production of high performance 2012 Camaro ZL1 and the 2012 Buick Regal GS in 2012 and will build the 2013 Cadillac XTS in the first quarter of 2012. 2013_Cadillac_XTS_--_2012_DC_1

In August 2010, the plant began assembling the Chevrolet Equinox in partnership with another GM facility in Ingersoll, Ontario, known as CAMI Automotive. The metal bodies are made at CAMI, trucked two hours east to Oshawa, where they are inserted on the conveyor just before the paint shop. The bodies are painted and then go through the general assembly process at the Oshawa plant. The entire process was developed as a quick way to respond to high demand for the Equinox product. The CAMI facility does make Equinox and GMC Terrain from start to finish at their own plant, but they did not have the capacity to put more bodies through paint and general assembly. In mid 2018, it was announced that the previous generation of the

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long-running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from the to ...

1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500 would be sold alongside their successors for the 2019

model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated as MY) is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...

, as the

1500 LD and the GMC Sierra 1500 Limited. Final assembly of these trucks, which would only be sold in Double Cab, Standard Bed form, would occur at Oshawa Car Assembly. This marks the first time since 2009 that Oshawa Assembly ( Oshawa Truck Assembly), which also assembled the

1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500 in Extended Cab form, would assemble trucks. Later that summer, GM also began final assembly of Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD Double Cab models. On November 26, 2018, General Motors announced the closure of the Oshawa car assembly plant complex ending 111 years of auto manufacturing in Oshawa. The final vehicle, a white GMC Sierra pickup truck, rolled off the assembly line on December 18, 2019. On November 4, 2020, GM announced "Subject to ratification of the 2020 agreement with Unifor, General Motors plans to bring pickup production back to the Oshawa Assembly Plant. Construction will begin immediately at Oshawa Assembly and will include a new body shop and flexible assembly module, to support a fast response to strong customer demand for GM’s new family of pickup trucks." Oshawa pickup production started on November 10, 2021 when the first Canadian-made Silverado HD was completed. The Silverado 1500 began production in Oshawa in May 2022.

Awards

The plant won the J.D. Power Gold Award for initial quality in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006; as well a numerous other individual awards for the specific models it produces. In 2007, the plant won silver for initial quality, and a Gold Best in Segment award for the Pontiac Grand Prix, and Bronze Best in Segment for the Monte Carlo. In all, the plant has won 19 J.D. Power awards for quality since 1999. In recognition of that achievement, J.D. Power awarded the Founder's Award to the Car Plant in the summer of 2008; it is an award that has been presented only six times in the lengthy history of J.D. Power & Associates. Harbour Consulting rated Oshawa #1 (building the Impala and Monte Carlo) as the second most efficient in North America, the top-rated in the study was Oshawa #2 (building the LaCrosse and Grand Prix).
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Vehicles produced

Current models

As of September 2022: * Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2022–present) * Chevrolet Silverado HD (2022–present)

Former models (Autoplex/South plant)

Some of the former models produced at the plant. GM would move production to and from other factories, such as relocating production of their lower selling vehicles to smaller facilities across North America. The Oshawa facility frequently produced the vehicles in the highest demand in North America. * Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LD (2019) * Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD (2019) * GMC Sierra 1500 Limited (2019) * GMC Sierra 2500HD (2019) * Chevrolet Impala Limited (2014-2016) * Cadillac XTS (2013-2019) *

(2011-2017) * Chevrolet Equinox (2011–2017) *

(2010–2015) * Buick LaCrosse/Allure (2005–2009) * Pontiac Grand Prix (2004–2008) *

(2000–2019) * Buick Century (1997–2005) * Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1995–2007) * Chevrolet Lumina (1990–2001) *

(1988–2004) * Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (1985–1988) * Chevrolet Celebrity (1982–1987) * Pontiac 6000 (1982–1988) *

Chevrolet Malibu The Chevrolet Malibu is a mid-size car that was manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet from 1964 to 1983 and from 1997 to 2025. The Malibu began as a trim-level of the Chevrolet Chevelle, becoming its own model line in 1978. Originally a rear-w ...

(1978–1983) * Pontiac Bonneville *

Pontiac Catalina The Pontiac Catalina is a full-size automobile produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from 1950 to 1981. Initially, the name was a trim line on hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lines. In 1959, it ...

* Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1971–1981) * Pontiac LeMans * Chevrolet Brookwood/ Kingswood/ Kingswood Estate/ Townsman (1969–1972) * Beaumont 1966-1969 * Chevrolet Caprice (1966–1985) *

(1965–1985) * Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS (1966–1967) (Canada only) * Acadian Beaumont (1964–1965) *

Chevrolet Chevelle The Chevrolet Chevelle is a Mid-size car, mid-sized automobile that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors (GM) in three generations for the 1964 to 1977 model years. Part of the GM GM A platform, A-body platform, the Chevelle ...

(1964–1977) * Pontiac 2+2 (1964-1970) *

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

(1962-1971) * Chevrolet Chevy II / Nova *

Chevrolet Corvair The Chevrolet Corvair is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined, Chevrolet Turbo-Air 6 engine, air-cooled compact car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet over two generations between 1960 and 1969. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it was of ...

(1960–1966) * Pontiac Parisienne (1958–1986) * Pontiac Laurentian (1958–1981) * Chevrolet Biscayne (1958–1975) * Pontiac Strato Chief (1958–1969) *

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

(1955–1981) * Chevrolet Delray (1954-1958) * Chevrolet 150 (1954–1957) * Chevrolet 210 (1954–1957) * Pontiac Pathfinder (1954-1958) *

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...

(1953-1969) including

Cutlass A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of ...

and 442 *

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

(1953-1971) including Special, Skylark, LeSabre, and

Wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

Former models (Oshawa North plant)

*1915-1922 Chevrolet Series 490 *1923-1926 Chevrolet Superior *1927 Chevrolet Series AA Capitol *1928 Chevrolet Series AB National *1929 Chevrolet Series AC International *1930 Chevrolet Series AD Universal *1931 Chevrolet Series AE Independence *1932 Chevrolet Series BA Confederate *1933 Chevrolet Eagle *1933-1942

Chevrolet Master The Chevrolet Master and Master Deluxe are American passenger vehicles manufactured by Chevrolet between 1933 and 1942 to replace the 1933 Master Eagle. It was the most expensive model in the Chevrolet range at this time, with the Standard Merc ...

*1941-1952 Chevrolet Deluxe *

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

trucks (1919-1965) *

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

(1921-1930) * Pontiac (1926-1942, 1945-1953) *

(1920-1942, 1946-1953) * Marquette (1929-1930) * McLaughlin-Buick (1907–1942) *

(1951–1953) * LaSalle (1927-1930, 1932-1935) *

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

(1923-1936) * GMC trucks (1923-1965) * Samson trucks (1920-1921) ;Notes

Gallery

Oshawa-20110610-00446 (46731681745).jpg File:Oshawa-20110610-00412 (32704876797).jpg Oshawa-20110610-00457 (32704848027).jpg Tour of GM's Oshawa Car Assembly plant, 2011-06-10, IMG 7426 (32704954377).jpg Tour of GM's Oshawa Car Assembly plant, 2011-06-10, IMG 7451 (33769962718).jpg Tour of GM's Oshawa Car Assembly plant, 2011-06-10, IMG 7472 (46731754145).jpg

References

External links

* {{General Motors factories Buildings and structures in Oshawa General Motors factories Motor vehicle assembly plants in Canada 1907 establishments in Ontario