GM to Suspend BrightDrop Van Production in Ontario
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General Motors Co. will temporarily halt production at a factory in Ontario that makes commercial vans, the second Canadian assembly plant to shut this month.
The Detroit-based automaker plans to start short-term layoffs on April 14, with workers coming back in May for “limited production,” according to a statement from Unifor, the union representing workers at the plant. After that, the assembly line will shut down until October.
The plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, makes . Demand for the product has been soft: The automaker sold just 274 of them in the first quarter. “This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and rebalancing inventory,” a General Motors spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
GM’s plan is to have the factory on just a single shift when workers return later in the year, Unifor said, which will result in the indefinite layoff of nearly 500 people.
Thousands of workers have been temporarily laid off across Canada’s auto industry since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on carmakers, and Unifor’s president has warned that’s “just the start of it.”
Stellantis NV shut down a plant that makes Chrysler and Dodge vehicles in Windsor, Ontario, for two weeks, citing the uncertainty in the industry since the U.S. put tariffs on foreign-made autos last week. That factory has 4,500 unionized workers.
Ingersoll has a population of about 14,000 and GM is the largest local employer, Mayor Brian Petrie said in an interview.
“President Trump is betraying America’s closest friend and attacking our economy,” Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, said in statement on April 11 following Unifor’s news release. “We must strengthen our economy and end our reliance on the United States.” Canada has retaliated against Trump’s tariffs, launching import taxes of as much as 25% on vehicles assembled in the U.S. this week.
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