GM’s Oshawa plant celebrates a half-million Silverados amid production cutback chatter

Oshawa Assembly is celebrating the 500,000th Chevrolet Silverado to roll off the line since the plant re-opened in late 2021, but with rumours swirling that some of that truck production is on its way out, making it to a million might be a challenge.

GM Canada is also reveling in one million aftermarket parts produced in the past four-and-a-half years, with the milestones reflecting the “scale and consistency” of manufacturing operations in Oshawa, noted GM Canada President Jack Uppal.

“Oshawa Assembly is a world-class operation because of the people who show up every day and build these trucks and parts with exceptional skill and pride,” said Uppal. “We continue to invest in Oshawa because we believe in what this plant delivers for our customers and for Canada.”

There is chatter from some industry insiders, however, that the plant will lose the light-duty truck production when the company switches to the next-generation vehicles at the end of the year.

Auto Forecast Solutions, a ‘business intelligence’ software company based out of suburban Philadelphia, is reporting that the assembly plant in Oshawa, which makes both light-duty and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado trucks (the only plant to do so), is going to lose light-duty production when the next-gen Silverado begins production.

Losing that production could mean going down to one shift, just months after the plant lost a shift and at least 500 workers in February.

The company denied the report, with Jennifer Wright, GM Canada’s Executive Director of Communications saying GM is not making any move to reduce production in Oshawa.

Wright did acknowledge that production locations for future light-duty Silverados have “not been disclosed,” but cited a recent $343 million investment in the plant as evidence of truck production at the plant remaining a priority.

“There is no planned production scale-back at Oshawa Assembly,” she said. “Oshawa Assembly continues to play a key role in GM’s full-size truck lineup, and current employment and shift structure are expected to be retained when the plant transitions to next- generation truck production.”

Sam Fiorani, the Vice President of Global Vehicle Forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, claimed GM only offers enough product to keep the plant in operation and to maintain “stability” at the Canadian powertrain plants, without offering any long-term commitments.

He also said the parent company in Detroit considers Oshawa a “pawn” to be used as leverage in contract negotiations with the union and considers the plant important “only when it needs it.”

Unifor, the union representing auto workers (and other sectors) in Canada is currently in contract talks with Ford to establish a “pattern,” that will guide the union in negotiations with GM and Stellantis.

GM Canada continues to say it is preparing to build the next generation of gas-powered full-size pickups, without any promises that production will include light-duty trucks.

“We build great trucks and parts at Oshawa. Our customers agree: our plant has proudly earned 28 J.D. Power awards for quality, the auto industry’s leading measure of consumer satisfaction,” said Jake Currie, Oshawa Assembly plant director. “We will bring the same commitment and dedication to the next generation of trucks we will build here.”

For the record, it was a sharkskin metallic grey Silverado HD – equipped with the Z71 off-road package – that became the half-million milestone truck to roll off the assembly line.