Scarborough Van Assembly was a vehicle manufacturing plant owned 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 ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

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, which opened in 1952 to build Frigidaire refrigerators. Vehicle production began in 1974. It was located in Golden Mile, between

Victoria Park Avenue Victoria Park Avenue is a major north-south route in eastern Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the western border of Scarborough, separating it from Old Toronto, East York, and North York. The common nickname for it is VP or Vic Park. History ...

and

Warden Avenue A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically iden ...

. The plant employed 2,800 workers before closing in 1993. The site is now a retail shopping mall, known as Eglinton Town Centre.

History

The plant began building Frigidaire refrigerators in 1952 then started as an automotive components manufacturing plant in 1963 before being converted into a van assembly plant in 1974. The plant produced GM vans as well as GM and Chevrolet cube van cabs and chassis. In 1986, the one-millionth van was produced at the Scarborough van plant. Around Thanksgiving of 1989, General Motors announced that they would be closing the van plant in Scarborough, and awarding the van contract to

Flint Truck Assembly Flint Assembly is an automotive assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, United States, owned and operated by General Motors. The plant currently assembles heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks for the North American ...

. The last van rolled off the Scarborough line on May 6, 1993. Production was then transferred to Flint Truck Assembly and the process of dismantling the plant began. After three years at Flint, the van division moved to Wentzville Assembly in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, in July 1996. After closure, most of the site became Eglinton Town Centre retail space and a

Cineplex Odeon Cineplex Odeon is a theatre brand owned by Cineplex Entertainment in Canada, after acquiring the Cineplex Odeon Corporation in 1998. As of 2023, there are 61 Cineplex Odeon locations in Canada. The former corporation was one of North America's ...

theatre was built and opened in 2000. The southern end of the property was purchased by the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

in the mid-1990s for the construction of the Comstock Bus Garage that opened in 2002 replacing two older garages.

Employee Re-deployment and fate

The Scarborough plant employed 2,800 people. Most of the employees were transferred to

Oshawa Truck Assembly Oshawa Truck Assembly was a General Motors Canada automotive factory in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in its original location in downtown Oshawa in 1918 in order to build ambulances for World War I and Chevrolet vehicles before it merged w ...

Oshawa Car Assembly Oshawa Assembly (also known simply as ''GM Oshawa'') is an automobile assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, owned and operated by General Motors Canada. Vehicles were primarily produced for the US, Canadian, and Mexican markets, as well a ...

shortly after its closure. The former workforce were laid off again in 2009 and the latter was closed on December 18, 2019, but was restarted November 10, 2021.

Models produced

* Chevrolet Van (1974–1993) * Chevrolet Beauville (1974–1993) * Chevrolet Sportvan (1974–1993) * GMC Rally Van (1974–1993) *

GMC Vandura GMC may refer to: Government India * Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, in Gujarat * Gobichettipalayam Municipal Corporation, in Tamil Nadu * Guntur Municipal Corporation, in Andhra Pradesh * Guwahati Municipal Corporation, in Assam * Gwalior Mun ...

(1974–1993) * GMC Vandura HD (1985–1993)

References

Tour of the plant

{{General Motors factories Demolished buildings and structures in Toronto Buildings and structures in Scarborough, Ontario General Motors factories Former motor vehicle assembly plants Motor vehicle assembly plants in Canada 1952 establishments in Ontario