Automotive News Canada - March 2023 - 12

12
* MARCH 2023
A hybrid plan for St. Catharines Propulsion
The Ontario engine and
transmission facility
has 'long been on the
bubble' for closure, says
an analyst, but adding
electric powertrains
provides 'the chance
for a long-term future'
By ROSEANN DANESE
WINDSOR CORRESPONDENT
GENERAL MOTORS' ST. CATHARINES
Propulsion Plant will play a " critical
role " in the automaker's electric vehicle
strategy, but it's expected to do double
duty building powertrain components
for internal combustion vehicles for the
foreseeable future.
GM Canada President Marissa West
announced Feb. 20 that, subject to comThe
announcement, Fiorani
said, " provides them the chance
for a long-term future. "
" This is an interesting retooling
because we don't have much
experience, changing a plant from
internal combustions to motors.
So, there's no real measurement
of it yet. "
St. Catharines Propulsion Plant makes V-6 and V-8-engines
and six- and eight-speed transmissions, but it will also begin
building electric powertrains for GM's Ultium platform vehicles.
That won't happen overnight, however. PHOTO: GM CANADA
pleting support agreements
with the federal and provincial
governments, the
automaker will retool the
St. Catharines, Ont., plant
to produce drive units for
EVs.
West: The investment in St.
Catharines is subject to financial
support from the provincial and
federal governments. FILE PHOTO
The factory " will play
a critical role " in GM's
plans to build one million
EVs in North America by
2025, West said in a statement.
It will continue to
produce internal combustion
engines, and once the
retooling is complete, the
EV motors will also be
assembled.
The EV powertrain capability
would " support 500
jobs, " but GM has remained
tight-lipped about the timeline,
including the start of retooling.
The investment takes the St.
Catharines plant off the endangered
list, said Sam Fiorani,
vice-president of global vehicle
forecasting for AutoForecast
Solutions, a U.S.-based global
industry forecasting and consulting
firm.
" The plant itself has a large
pool of workers who are at or
close to retirement age, " Fiorani
said. " So, this plant has long been
on the bubble because of that. It's
one of the easiest to shut down if
necessary, simply because there
aren't that many working-age
people that you have to find other
work for or pay for their unemployment. "
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The plant should have the
space for a ramp-up of electric
motors in addition to
the existing demand
for internal combustion
engines, Fiorani
said. " The transition
itself will take quite a
few years before we see
internal combustion
engines squeezed out
completely, " he said.
THE FIRST IN CANADA
The transition is
expected to allow GM
to produce drive units
for multiple vehicles
built on the company's
Ultium EV platform.
St. Catharines will be
the first Detroit Three
plant in Canada to produce
EV propulsion systems,
securing a future
and Unifor but without the fanfare
that typically accompanies
multimillion-dollar industry
investments.
'TOP OF MIND' FOR UNIFOR
Payne told Automotive News
Fiorani: " The
transition itself
will take quite
a few years
before we see
internal
combustion
engines
squeezed out
completely. "
FILE PHOTO
role for the plant in the industry's
transition to EV manufacturing,
Unifor President Lana Payne said
in a statement Feb. 20.
Brendan Sweeney, managing
director of the Trillium Network
for Advanced Manufacturing, a
nonprofit organization that promotes
Ontario manufacturing,
expects it will be two or three
years before the electric motors
are produced at the St. Catharines
plant.
" Historically, the really complicated
part and the really valuable
part was the engine and transmission.
They were complicated
enough to make [so] that most of
the companies did it in-house. "
St. Catharines Propulsion Plant
is getting a less labour-intensive
component that will not need as
many workers, he said.
Neither GM nor Unifor would
comment on the impact of the
retooling on the workforce, which
currently consists of about 1,100
hourly and salaried employees
producing engines and transmissions.
Sweeney
expects that once the
plant switches over to electric
motors, fewer workers will be
needed.
" The battery is the big, expensive,
heavy part, and now you
don't need a fuel tank. You don't
need an exhaust system. You need
a couple of little motors to drive
it. ... The propulsion and powertrain
system on an electric vehicle
is not complicated.
" The long story short, it's nice,
it's good, it's not great. This is not
a transformational investment, "
he said.
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The St. Catharines announcement
follows one in September
for Toledo Propulsion Systems
in Ohio. It's the first GM propulsion
plant in the United States
to be transformed for EV-related
production. The investment is US
$760 million.
SC 13120
The Toledo-built drive units
are to be used primarily for large
EVs: the Chevrolet Silverado,
GMC Sierra and GMC Hummer.
The St. Catharines announcement
was made jointly by GM
Canada in early March that she
expects St. Catharines to build
400,000 of GM's initial production
of one million EV motors.
The plant will remain
a hybrid operation for
some time, however.
Payne said the St.
Catharines plant and
Ford's Windsor and
Essex engine plants in
Windsor, Ont., have
been " top of mind. " The
union has been holding
discussions with
GM and Ford on their
futures.
" It's important to get
these investments early
because they're there
for the long term - 30
years, for sure, investments
- and you don't
want to be left out of the
mix. "
The St. Catharines
announcement was
made ahead of Detroit ThreeUnifor
contract talks, set to begin
in August, potentially as a bargaining
chip.
" Twenty or 30 years ago, the
company offered up more economic
benefits to the employees, "
Sweeney said. " Now that plays
second fiddle. That's the last
thing they talk about.
" The first thing they talk about
is: 'OK, are you going to continue
to employ us; and if so, what are
we going to do? What vehicle are
we going to make? What components
are we going to make?'
" The crux of negotiations isn't
'Did we get another dollar?' It's
'Did we get work to do?' " - ANC
- With files from David Kennedy
ST. CATHARINES
QUICK FACTS
* Opened: 1952
* Size: Two-million-squarefoot
building (190,000 square
metres) on a 140-acre property
(56 hectares).
* Employment: About 1,100
people, including salary and
hourly, as of January.
* Union: Unifor Local 199
PRODUCTS
* 5.3- and 6.2-litre V-8 engines
(full-size pickups and SUVs,
and the Chevrolet Camaro)
* 3.6-litre V-6 engine (midsize
SUVs and Cadillac CT4-V
sedan)
* Six-speed automatic transmission
(Chevrolet Equinox)
* Eight-speed dual clutch
automatic transmission
(Chevrolet Corvette)
Source: General Motors
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Automotive News Canada - March 2023

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