Oshawa Car Assembly

For the plant closed in 2009, see Oshawa Truck Assembly.
Oshawa Assembly
Entrance to the plant as seen in 2013
Map
Operated1953–present [1]
LocationOshawa, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates43°52′03″N 78°51′59″W / 43.8676°N 78.8664°W / 43.8676; -78.8664
IndustryAutomotive
ProductsAutomobiles
Volume5,100,000 sq ft (470,000 m2) [1]
Address900 Park Rd S Oshawa
Owner(s)General Motors Canada
Websitegm.ca/oshawa

Oshawa Assembly (also known simply as GM Oshawa) is a manufacturing facility in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, that built various automobiles for General Motors Canada.

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 kits 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.[citation needed] The hourly-rated workers were represented by their union, Unifor 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.[2] The closure would affect 2,500 union workers and 300 management.[3] 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 hectares (220,000 ft2) of the facility to a test track for the development of autonomous vehicles.[4]

  1. ^ a b Oshawa Assembly on GM Canada
  2. ^ "General Motors Accelerates Transformation" (Press release). November 26, 2018. Retrieved 26 Nov 2018.
  3. ^ McLaughlin, Amara (November 26, 2018). "'They are not closing our damn plant': Union vows fight as GM plans Oshawa closing". CBC News. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "GM announces $170M investment in Oshawa plant that will save 300 jobs". The Canadian Press. May 8, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.