Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupes, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet
Camaro, eh? Oshawa plant tapped to build Chevy's ponycar
Several readers alerted us to a report out of Canada on Friday stating that GM has selected its Oshawa, Ontario plant to build the new Camaro. A formal announcement is expected on Monday.
The news caps a good week for the Canadian Auto Workers union, who also learned that GM's plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs in the city were scuttled because Impala sales are so strong. That, plus the Camaro announcement, clear up the picture for the 2 years remaining on the CAW's contract with GM, during which no permanent layoffs are expected at the Oshawa facilities, according to sources who spoke to The Globe and Mail.
General Motors is expected to detail plans to create a flexible manufacturing facility in Oshawa with an annual production capacity of up to 500,000 vehicles, including the Camaro. Reports put GM's annual sales projections for the new musclecar at 100,000 units. The Zeta rear-drive platform that it will be built on is expected to be used for a host of other GM vehicles in the pipeline.
Thanks to tipsters bojac, CTG and Matt D!
[Source: The Globe and Mail]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jamie 2:26PM (8/19/2006)
Kind of old news, but so is the 'green light' for the Camaro.
Actually when GM began their restructuring, they announced that one Oshawa plant would be closed. But the CAW wisely stepped in and offered GM an enticing deal to manufacture the Camaro. The rest is history, but I am surprised it took GM so long to finalize the contract.
Perhaps now GM can also add the El Camino and Nomad to the mix. That would be nice. :)
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WillDaThrill 2:42PM (8/19/2006)
And what better place to build one of America's dream hotrods than Canada? Hey, while your at it, why don't you save some Canadian jobs too. Isn't outsourcing fun boys and girls?
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FireSermon 3:16PM (8/19/2006)
Let's see... the last gen Camaro and Firebird were built in Canada and Oshawa has consistently been one of GM's best plants, if not the best. Makes perfect sense to me.
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G 3:29PM (8/19/2006)
Canadians make the best quality cars outside of Japan. The only Lexus plant in the world outside Japan is in Ontario, Canada. Toyota and Honda both have high-rated plants in Canada, and GMs top rated plant is in Ontario, Canada. So basically if GM wants a good car, its either Japan or Canada.
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BOB 4:37PM (8/19/2006)
Once the Camaro and Firebird were built in Los Angeles (Van Nuys plant) near to their biggest market.
From what I gather, labor/management relations were pretty much a "what not to do" textbook for the Japanese, and the behavior of some of the UAW workers there still blackens the reputation of the union.
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JumpOverTheCamaro 5:48PM (8/19/2006)
WillDaThrill:
Well, when GM doesn't have to pay huge UAW/Healthcare dues for each car it builds, then maybe they'll start building more cars in the US again. Remember, Canada has universal healthcare: Therefore, no healthcare required for workers up there. Same goes with Japan.
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David 9:04PM (8/19/2006)
Hmmm... Universal healthcare. Who pays for that? And why stop there? How about universal housing and food? Socialistic practices are what has driven the cost of healthcare out of reach to begin with.
Remember, Cuba has universal healthcare, and its citizens likely get as much healthcare from Castro as they get in packages shipped to them by their kind relatives and friends in the US.
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WillDaThrill 5:14AM (8/20/2006)
So true, so true JumpOverTheCamaro! As for the rest of you nay sayers, they built Ford Taurus' in Canada too didn't they?
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gypsygirl5 8:23AM (8/20/2006)
GM has been in Oshawa since the early 1900s. Building in Oshawa is NOT outsourcing...cars and parts have crossed the border duty-free since the 60s. We have as much right as anyone to build this car...more, in fact, as we have the top quality and productivity in North America. We have govt health care to sweeten the pot. We as a union made several painful concessions last spring in order to get future product. It is strictly a business decision by GM.
We were told, in fact, that if we did not have the best quality in the Corp., GM would not have even looked at future product here, as our Canuck-buck is no longer sitting at 60 cents US.
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J D 8:35AM (8/20/2006)
Canadians been building GM cars in Oshawa for more than 98 years. McLaughlin-Buick and Chevrolet being the first models built. McLaughlin was a partner in GM. Oshawa has built some of the great cars and truck for GM and has a reputation for quality that is second to none including the Japanese in North or South America (JD Power). It is also the highest productivity plant of any automaker.
As far as universal health care goes, you should try it. The fact that the US and State governments spend twice as much per person on health care and have tens of millions uninsured is nothing to brag about. Employers in Canada pay health premiums and everyone has coverage. To the big 3 as well as Toyota and Honda this equates to more than a US $10 an hour per worker savings. This "socialist" practice is something that the Capitalists seem to like about investing in Canada. The US is the ONLY developed country in the first world without universal health care.
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The other Bob 12:38PM (8/20/2006)
No, the Taurus was built in Chicago and Georgia.
Not sure if I call building in Canada outsourcing, and I am one of the biggest outsourcing critics. They build in Canada, because among other reasons, Canada actually allows American-built cars to sell cars there and has the market to buy them, unlike Japan and countries without a middle class.
This is a two way street, one of the few.
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Brocktoon 12:48PM (8/20/2006)
David:
It's not the rest of the world's fault that the US citizens don't demand more for their tax buck. After all, every single other first world nation has at least basic universal health care, and somehow manages to only maginally higher personal taxes. In the case of Canada, some regions are consistantly lower in taxation than the American average, and still manage to provide it.
Let me let you in on a little secret: Free marketeers like to refer to any group of people uniting to get a discount "Socialism". What I find funny it that when corporations do the same thing, they are persuing the noble strategies of "finding synergies", or achiving "economies of scale".
Riddle me that, Batman.
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Richard Warren 3:03PM (8/20/2006)
#4 tThe Van Nuys plant Firebirds were the worst by far.
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WillDaThrill 3:07PM (8/20/2006)
Look, don't get all offended and s**t. Damn, I'm just looking out for the American worker. It just seems that more and more of us are losing jobs when everyone else is gaining jobs (or saving jobs as quoted in the statement above). Kind of our own fault cause we get fat off the land and yet always seem to ask for more.
I can care less where it's built, hell all I've ever driven were foreign cars (Honda, Nissan, Isuzu; had a '98 Dodge Avenger, but the engine was Mitsubishi and it had a stretched Eclipse interior). Stop getting all offended, I poked fun at GM, not Canada.
Well, I guess my second comment did, but it was unintetional and I was replying to G's comment.
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gypsygirl5 3:54PM (8/20/2006)
Fair enough. However, we are losing jobs, too. When I started at GM in Oshawa in 1983, there were over 20 000 employees in Oshawa alone. We're about half that now. Our other Canadian assembly plants, in Scarborough and Ste-Therese, have long since closed. We will down even more jobs, as plant 2 will eventually also close, even though getting the flex plant will keep it going a while longer...we'll build out the present Impala while they gut and retool plant 1 for the Camaro et al.
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WillDaThrill 8:06PM (8/20/2006)
That sucks, but at least I know my Camaro will be well built.
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Kowell 10:20PM (8/20/2006)
hey the last gen Camaro's and Firebird were built in BoisBrillant.... I'm sure the thousands who lost their jobs when the models were killed would LOVE to get their job back and reopen the plant.
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Glenn 1:10AM (8/21/2006)
Great news to hear.
100,000 cars; that is a lot of cars. They must be planning on doing V6 etc like the Mustang to expect numbers like that.
I wonder if Chrysler will rethink doing only top end (expensive) Challengers.
The US and Canada BTW have a unique agreement on DOMESTIC cars; so it is a balancing act and what is good for Canada is also good for the US. I am not 100% on my understanding; but it was set up along the lines of Canada producing the same number of cars it buys. Wouldn't it be great if Japan had to live up to that too.
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gypsygirl5 8:25AM (8/21/2006)
Those who worked at Ste-Therese/Boisbriand (as well as at the long-defunct Scarborough Van plant) got preferential hire at Oshawa. Oshawa is the last plant standing in Canada (with the exception of a couple small parts plants).
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Tommy 11:02AM (8/21/2006)
The 1966 Auto Pact laid the foundations for the later free trade arrangements between Canada and the US. The treaty allowed US-built cars duty-free into Canada with the stipulation that for every car imported to Canada, one must be assembled in Canada.
This worked out great for Canada, since now the ratio is about 1:3 (for every car exported to Canada from the US, 3 are built by the manufacturers in Canada). Seeing the positive results of the Auto Pact quieted the protectionists on the Canadian side, and allowed for the US-Canada and eventually NAFTA free trade agreements.
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