General Motors will spend $1 billion to transform its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada to make commercial electric vehicles. They will be sold to delivery giants that include FedEx.
GM has reached a tentative deal with autoworker union Unifor that will see the manufacturer build its new line of electric commercial vans north of the border. The deal still needs to be ratified by Unifor’s membership.
Unifor President Jerry Dias said that, along with the significant investment, the agreement between GM and the union will mean new products and job security for autoworkers in Ontario. In a statement, Dias said that more details of the tentative deal will be presented to Unifor Local 88 members at an online ratification meeting. The results of the ratification vote are scheduled to be released Monday night.
The Government of Ontario also issued a statement over the weekend. They praising the deal as “good news” for the provincial economy.
A GM spokesperson said in a statement that the plan is to build BrightDrop EV600s. They are an all-new GM business venture announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. They will offer a cleaner way for delivery and logistics companies to move goods.
Delivery is Booming
The growth of online shopping has increased demand for electric delivery vehicles. BrightDrop’s first customer is FedEx, which will begin receiving the first EV600 electric vans in the second half of 2021.
GM’s Ingersoll plant currently makes the Chevrolet Equinox. Unifor said the contract would bring total investment to nearly $6 billion, after new agreements were ratified with GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler in 2020.
Last November GM agreed to a $1.3 billion investment that will bring 1,700 jobs to Oshawa, Ontario. There was another $109 million investment in production in St. Catharines, Ontario, in order to insource new transmission work for the Corvette and support continued V8 engines.
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