Automotive News Canada - October 2016 - 12

* OCTOBER 2016

GM Oshawa's new lease on life
Now that a new contract
with Unifor has been ratified,
one of Canada's oldest
plants will be adapted for
new investment and product

By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

HOUGH CONCERNS
had persisted for some
time that General
Motors of Canada's
Oshawa Assembly was
slated to be fully shut
down by 2019, Unifor's
recent contract negotiations with the automaker succeeded in securing investment
and production plans at the facility for
the foreseeable future.
The facility, one of Canada's oldest having begun production of
McLaughlin Buicks in 1907, currently
builds the Buick Regal, Cadillac XTS,
and Chevrolet Impala on the flex line
and the Chevrolet Equinox on the consolidated line.
Under the terms of the newly ratified labour agreement, GM will

(PHOTO: GENERAL MOTORS CANADA)

GM's Oshawa assembly plant will get a $400-million investment to add
capability to accommodate production of cars as well as trucks.
invest $400 million in facilities, tools,
machinery and equipment to add
capability to the flex line to accommodate production of both cars and
trucks, which will make it the only
facility in North America capable of
doing so.
GM's commitment also includes
a mid-cycle enhancement and extension of the Cadillac XTS and extension of the Chevrolet Impala. A new
model has been promised to the facility, though no specifics have yet been
confirmed.
However, plans continue to end
production on the consolidated line

in 2017 as GM's CAMI Assembly in
Ingersoll, Ont., assumes full responsibility for building the new generation
of the Chevrolet Equinox. The consolidated line is not "flexible," being capable of building only one vehicle model
at a time.
With facilities spread over about
700 acres and totalling eight million
square feet (750,000 square metres) -
5.1 million square feet (475,000 square
metres) for manufacturing operations
and 2.9 million square feet (269,000
square metres) for supplier truck

parking and manoeuvering - the facility employs 2,700 people and is supplied
with more than 8,300 unique parts by
more than 880 vendors.
Oshawa Assembly has been responsible for producing a number of GM's
more memorable models over the
years, including the Chevrolet Caprice
Classic, Chevrolet Bel Air, Buick
Century, and Chevrolet Camaro.
Since 1999, it has received nine
awards for plant quality - four gold,
four silver and one bronze - in the
annual J.D. Power and Associates
Initial Quality Study.
It was also the site of one of the
most significant labour disruptions in
Canadian history. In 1937, more than
4,000 employees went on strike from
April 8 to 23 demanding concessions
such as an eight-hour work day, better wages and working conditions,
and recognition of United Automobile
Workers Local 222, which continues to
represent the workers to this day.
In its heyday in the 1980s, when it
was known as the GM Autoplex and
included Oshawa Truck Assembly
(shuttered in 2009), the facility was one
of the largest automotive production
plants on the planet, turning out as
many as 730,000 vehicles each year.
General Motors declined to say how
many vehicles the plant built in 2015
but according to the Automotive News
Data Center, the number is 274,538.
- ANC

Cadillac's Project Pinnacle not coming to Canada
'Voluntary' program in
the United States meets
strong dealer opposition
By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

THE CONTROVERSIAL
Cadillac Project Pinnacle program will not be forced on
Canadian dealers, a representative of General Motors of
Canada has told Automotive
News Canada.

The program, conceived of
by brand president Johan de
Nysschen and poised to take
effect in the United States
on Jan. 1, 2017, will divide
American Cadillac dealers into
five tiers based on anticipated
sales numbers. The high-volume top-tier dealerships will
be expected to create a deeply immersive luxury selling
experience for their customers,
while lowest-volume tier-five
dealers are being nudged toward
a virtual selling platform that
would no longer require them to

maintain a constant inventory.
Corresponding compensation
will be delivered by Cadillac
head office based on sales performance.
Though Project Pinnacle is

ostensibly voluntary, dealers
in the United States have been
pushing back against it, with
various state associations writing letters to the head office
imploring executives to reconsider the plan.
The program is said to
cast unreasonable performance expectations and facility upgrade liabilities onto
dealers, discriminate against
smaller and more isolated dealers, and even violate state franchise laws.
In response to the outcry,

de Nysschen defended the plan
to Automotive News Canada as
legally "bulletproof" and supported by Cadillac's dealer
council.
Cadillac representatives
in Canada were unavailable
for comment on the reasoning
behind the decision not to apply
the program north of the border.
However, the relative isolation
of Canadian dealers and the fact
that they operate in a significantly smaller market are likely
contributing factors.
- ANC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - October 2016