Automotive News Canada - April 2022 - 4

4
* APRIL 2022
A shifting GM shifts Canada leadership
Chief engineer West
replaces U.S.-bound Bell;
strategy unit also created
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
GENERAL MOTORS SHOOK UP ITS
top Canadian leadership ranks April
1, repatriating Scott Bell to the United
States to lead Chevrolet while appointing
Marissa West as president of GM Canada.
She was previously executive chief engineer
for GM's global midsize-truck and
medium-duty-truck and van segment.
The executive shuffle let the automaker
create a new Commercial Growth
Strategies and Operations division headed
by Steve Hill. Bell will step into Hill's former
role as vice-president
of global
Chevrolet.
During his two-anda-half
years as president
of GM Canada,
Bell, 55, steered the
unit through the
COVID-19 pandemic
and oversaw the
reopening of the
Oshawa Assembly
Plant in November
2021. Under his tenure,
the automaker
also laid the groundwork
for electrification,
plotting a $1-billion
retooling of its
Bell: After
two and a half
years at GM
Canada, he will
run Chevrolet's
global
operations.
FILE PHOTO
CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ont.,
and investing $500 million in a new batWest:
From
top truck and
van engineer to
head of Canada
SUPPLIED PHOTO
tery-materials plant in
Quebec with partner
Posco Chemical.
West, 40, will pick
up the baton on GM
Canada's ongoing electrification
efforts and
its wider operations
at what she called a
" pivotal time for both
our company and our
industry. "
" I am passionate
about innovation, and
I can't wait to support
our people and partners
as we unleash our talent and ideas to
drive the transformation of the automotive
industry, " she said in a release.
West will be on familiar ground at the
Oshawa plant, which is now building the
GM's billions raise
Ontario's prominence
Oshawa, CAMI to play
key roles in automaker's
future in Canada
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
GM CANADA WILL ADD A THIRD
shift to begin building the light-duty
Chevrolet Silverado pickup at its Oshawa
Assembly Plant as it firms up about $2.3
billion in spending across its Ontario
operations.
Top company and government officials
announced the mix of fresh and
long-planned investments April 4 at GM's
Canadian Technical Centre McLaughlin
Advanced Technology Track in Oshawa.
The federal and provincial governments
pledged matching $259 million contributions
to the series of projects, amounting
to nearly a quarter of total costs. Ontario
Premier Doug Ford said the government
support locks in $1.8 billion in spending
by GM.
" Today's investment will secure 2,600
jobs for the workers here in Oshawa and
add a third shift at the plant, " Ford said
at the Oshawa press conference. " This is
just another huge win for the people of
Durham [region] and all of Ontario. "
Oshawa Assembly reopened last
November after appearing to close its
doors for good in late 2019. GM initially
committed $1.3 billion to the retooling.
Workers at the plant have been building
the Silverado HD for about five months.
The latest spending will let GM adjust the
production line to also accommodate the
light-duty model of the popular pickup.
Taking the plant to three shifts from two
will create about 800 additional jobs, adding
to the 1,800 workers already employed.
" Oshawa will become GM's only plant
producing both heavy-duty and light-duty
pickups, which positions us very well
for optimal flexibility as we meet strong
North American demand, " said outgoing
GM Canada President Scott Bell, who
was promoted to lead the automaker's
Chevrolet brand April 1.
Production of the light-duty Silverado
and the addition of the third shift are
planned for the coming months, GM said.
$1 BILLION FOR CAMI
Along with the expanded product mandate
in Oshawa, the April 4 announcement
secures funding for a $1-billion retooling
of GM's CAMI Assembly Plant. The
nearly complete overhaul of the factory
in Ingersoll, Ont., which has built the
Chevrolet Equinox crossover for the past
dozen years, was announced in early 2021.
The retooling will make CAMI Canada's
first large-scale electric-vehicle assembly
site.
Spending at the two plants secures the
long-term future of the country's auto sector,
said François-Philippe Champagne,
Canada's minister of innovation, science
and industry.
" We are cementing today Ontario's
place as the second-largest automotive
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, left, and François-Philippe Champagne, minister of
innovation, science and industry, right, join other government and GM officials in
the back of a Silverado pickup during a press conference to announce a number of
GM investments at Oshawa Assembly and throughout Ontario. PHOTO: DAVID KENNEDY
jurisdiction in North America, and that is
a big thing. "
CAMI is scheduled to build its final
Equinox on April 29, setting the stage for
a retooling to start the next day, said Mike
Van Boekel, Local 88 plant chairman for
Unifor, which represents CAMI's hourly
workers.
Once back online in December, the
plant is expected to employ about 1,500
workers, he said. They will be building the
new BrightDrop Zevo 600 and the smaller
Zevo 400 commercial delivery vans.
'HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS' FOR R&D
The more than $2 billion in total spending
also extends beyond GM's assembly
operations, though the automaker would
not provide details. GM has committed
to " hundreds of millions " in Canadian
research and development, Champagne
said, though a full accounting of the plans
was unavailable.
The joint company and government
investment will secure thousands of jobs
and orient the automaker toward EVs,
said Marissa West, GM Canada's newly
appointed president.
" This partnership with the governments
of Ontario and Canada is helping
GM build a more diverse, innovative and
sustainable industry and EV supply chain
for the future - and we are proud to be
doing that right here in Canada, " West
said in a release.
After the final Chevrolet Equinox rolls off the line at GM's CAMI Assembly Plant
at the end of April, the facility will undergo retooling to build the new BrightDrop
commercial delivery vans. PHOTO: DAVID KENNEDY
Government backing for the work is
contingent on several benchmarks, said
Vic Fedeli, Ontario's minister of economic
development, job creation and trade.
" There's a timeline guarantee, and
there's also a job line guarantee. And by
the looks of General Motors' announcement
today and the third shift, they're
going to surpass their requirements. "
A LINK IN EV SUPPLY CHAIN
The public sector support is also part
of a wider strategy to build an in-province
EV supply chain that runs from battery-mineral
mining to vehicle production,
said Fedeli, pointing to the multibillion-dollar
GM deal as the latest in a string
of investments stemming from this goal.
On March 16, for instance, Honda
Canada announced a $1.4-billion investment
to build hybrid CR-V crossovers
at its Alliston, Ont., campus. This was
followed March 23 by the single largest
investment in the history of the province's
auto sector, when a Stellantis and
LG Energy Solution joint venture committed
to spend about $5 billion to build
the country's first large-scale EV-batterycell
plant in Windsor, Ont.
While the CAMI plant is going electric
immediately, GM did not firmly commit
to electrifying Oshawa.
GM's Bell urged patience, saying that
the automaker is committed to having a
fully electric lineup by 2035, but that the
path to getting there would be a transition.
" The
demand is there - the 2,600 jobs,
the third shift. The over $1 billion that
we've invested here is going to help get us
to that point, " he said. " What we're doing
in Canada is playing a big, big role in
GM's future. " - ANC
Chevrolet Silverado HD and will soon add
the light-duty model. In a previous role,
she was responsible for launching the 2020
Silverado.
Before joining GM's truck segment,
West was director of both the Global Noise
and Vibration Center and the Vehicle
Dynamics Center. She has been with the
automaker since 2003 and holds a master's
degree in mechanical engineering from
the University of Michigan. West will relocate
from Michigan.
As West settles in, topping her agenda
are vehicle launches including the
BrightDrop delivery vans at CAMI, building
out dealer and customer support for
connected vehicles, and improving gender
equity and diversity at GM workplaces.
GM employs more than 5,000 people
across Canada, the automaker said.
- ANC
Automotive News Canada - April 2022

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