GM confirms end of light-duty Silverado in Oshawa, boost heavy-duty truck output

General Motors Co. GM-N is set to end production of the light-duty Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup at its plant in Oshawa, Ont., in November, and replace the volume by boosting output of the heavy-duty Silverado as the automaker retools the plant to make the GMC Sierra HD by 2028.

The Detroit-based automaker announced the $144-million investment to make the GMC Sierra HD in Oshawa after recent collective bargaining talks in August with Unifor, which represents 1,800 workers at the factory east of Toronto.

GM spokesperson Jennifer Wright confirmed Silverado 1500 production will stop in November but declined to say when GMC Sierra HD output will begin. Employment levels will stay the same with the loss of the Silverado 1500, Ms. Wright said.

Jeff Gray, president of Unifor Local 222, which represents workers at the plant, said the new GMC truck will be produced in Oshawa by late 2028.

Mr. Gray said he has not heard of any coming job losses. “The company has indicated to us there will be no change of volume in the plant, but that’s always subject to change, right?” he said by phone.

The factory currently makes the light-duty Silverado and its larger cousin, the Silverado HD. The GMC Sierra HD is much the same as the Silverado HD, with different trim and options.

“We felt that just building the Chevrolet Silverado HD wouldn’t give us enough volume to maintain two shifts. So that’s why when we went into negotiations in August, we fought for the GMC truck in our plant,” Mr. Gray said, “so that having those two trucks, the GMC HD and the Chevy Silverado HD will give us that volume to maintain two shifts.”

Total production at the plant in 2026 is expected to be 114,000 trucks, nearly evenly split between the light- and heavy-duty Silverado models, said Sam Fiorani, vice-president of global vehicle forecasting at Pennsylvania-based AutoForecast Solutions.

He expects Sierra output to be about 40,000 in the first year of production.

Ms. Wright said the automaker does not disclose production volumes.

GM last year announced plans to increase employment and production of the Silverado 1500 at its factory in Fort Wayne, Ind., eliminating one shift – about 500 jobs – in Oshawa. GM plants in Pontiac, Mich., and Silao, Mexico, also make the Silverado, which was 2025’s second-best-selling vehicle in the U.S., according to Automotive News and Cox Automotive, behind only the Ford F-150 pickup.

“The union’s position has always been that they’re moving the 50,000 units of light duty a year to Fort Wayne for political purposes to appease Donald Trump,” Mr. Gray said.

GM has also announced a $215-million investment at its propulsion plant in St. Catharines, Ont., that will make the factory the sole source for new transmissions.

Similarly, Ford Motor Co. F-N concluded its recent labour talks with the announcement it will spend US$500-million at its Essex, Ont., engine factory and US$400-million at its Oakville, Ont., Super Duty pick-up assembly plant. Production at long-idled plant is expected to begin this month, Mr. Fiorani said. Ford did not respond to e-mailed questions.

The United States has imposed 25-per-cent tariffs on the non-U.S. content of Canadian-made cars in what Mr. Trump has said is an attempt to restore domestic manufacturing while weakening Canada’s economy. The tariff is scheduled to rise to 50 per cent by Jan. 1 and include auto parts. Canada has responded with similar tariffs, with exceptions based on a car company’s Canadian production.

About 90 per cent of the cars produced at Ontario’s plants are shipped to the U.S.

The trade war has hit Ontario’s auto sector hard, with GM idling its electric van plant in Ingersoll and Stellantis NV in talks to sell its Brampton factory, which has not made a car since 2023.

Mr. Fiorani noted Ford’s Oakville investment announcement was made before Mr. Trump ratcheted up his tariff threat to 50 per cent, but said the trucks have a high U.S. content that makes eating the U.S. tariffs on the popular trucks a bit easier for Ford.

“Ford needs Super Duties,” he said. “It’s a very profitable vehicle and their [U.S.] plants that build them rely on overtime, so adding another plant to alleviate some of that pressure is important here,” he said. And GM is counting on continued strong sales of GMC trucks in Canada, thus avoiding U.S. tariffs, he said.

Like GM, Ford is investing in Canadian plants for several years down the road, he said.

“These investments take years to implement and a decade or more to pay off. So it’s very rare that an investment in a plant will disappear shortly after it’s announced or any investment is made. Automotive manufacturers need to look long term, and it goes beyond one administration on the U.S. side or Canadian side,” Mr. Fiorani said. “And that’s good news for Canadians.”

Still, Greig Mordue, an engineering professor at McMaster University whose specialties include automaking, said investment announcements made by automakers during collective bargaining talks often get abandoned. Such spending is a management prerogative, not a labour decision, he said, pointing to commitments made and reversed in recent years by the Detroit Three.

These include Stellantis’s commitment to build cars in Brampton, GM’s van plant in Ingersoll and Ford in Oakville, where the automaker abandoned plans to retool to make electric vehicles.