Latest news with #ChevroletBrightDrop
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM drowning in unsold BrightDrop vans as mounting EV inventory sparks mass layoffs
General Motors' all-electric CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario is halting production of BrightDrop delivery vans, Unifor said Friday. Unifor is Canada's largest private sector union, representing 320,000 workers. The company will initiate temporary layoffs starting April 14 and production will stall for three weeks, Mike Van Boekel, plant chair for Unifor Local 88, which represents hourly workers at CAMI, told the Detroit Free Press. Workers will return for two weeks in May for limited production, and then the factory will close for another 20 weeks. During this downtime, GM plans to complete retooling work to prepare the facility for production of the 2026 model year of commercial electric vehicles. CAMI Assembly had run two shifts while producing Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles. When production resumes in October, Unifor said the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future — a reduction expected to impact 450 workers. 'This is devastating for our members,' Van Boekel told the Detroit Free Press. 'We are losing these shifts indefinitely.' About 1,200 Local 88 members work there assembling Chevrolet BrightDrop EVs and constructing battery modules and packs. 'This is a crushing blow to hundreds of working families in Ingersoll and the surrounding region who depend on this plant,' Unifor National President Lana Payne said in the statement. 'General Motors must do everything in its power to mitigate job loss during this downturn, and all levels of government must step up to support Canadian autoworkers and Canadian-made products.' GM Canada confirmed CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand. In case you missed it: GM storing poor-selling Canadian-made electric vans on Michigan lot 'GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop, and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition,' the company said in a statement emailed to the Free Press. 'This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and rebalancing inventory. Production of BrightDrop and EV battery assembly will remain at CAMI.' GM's struggles with BrightDrop inventory come less than a year after the company folded the commercial vans into its Chevrolet brand in a bid to boost its performance. GM has tried and failed to gain ground against competitors, including Ford and Rivian, in the electric van space, an effort further hindered by the vehicle's high price tag. Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said the opaque trade environment spurred by President Donald Trump's vacillating tariff announcements hardly aided the company's U.S. sales projections. 'If there's a tariff with Canada, how do you build any vehicle of volume there to be sold in the U.S.?' Fiorani asked. Tariffs with Canada currently stand at 25%, though the auto industry is still seeking clarity about whether vehicles and parts compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are included. GM produces BrightDrop 400 and BrightDrop 600 vans at CAMI Assembly, Canada's — and GM's — first full-scale all-electric vehicle manufacturing plant, which required massive investment to retool for EV production, including funding support from both governments. As the Free Press first reported, a glut of those slow-selling delivery vans has built up on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. CAMI produced 3,500 electric Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery vans last year — compared with nearly 200,000 Chevrolet Equinox crossovers the plant produced five years earlier — according to the Automotive News Data & Research Center. Of those, GM sold only 1,529, compared with Ford's 12,610 E-Transit vehicles and Rivian's 13,243 EDV. GM reported sales of just 274 Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles so far this year, up 7% from 256 sold in the first quarter of 2024. Last month, a Free Press photographer captured images of hundreds of vehicles lining a Flint storage lot. Reuters published similar photos from CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario. CAMI reopened in late 2022 following a retooling period outfitting the facility for electric vehicle production. Production stalled again this year with a scheduled two-week shutdown to 'align production schedules and balance inventory,' a GM spokesperson said in a statement. Part of the reason BrightDrop sales are lagging in the U.S. is the comparatively high price tag to nearest competitors. Before incentives, the vehicles cost about $74,000. Ford's E-Transit van with extended battery range, for example, is $51,600 — more than $20,000 cheaper — even before applying incentives. GM launched BrightDrop in 2021 as a wholly owned subsidiary with expectations its revenue would top $10 billion by 2030 with low-20% profit margins. BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz said in 2022 that the company expected to be making 50,000 trucks a year starting in 2025 and bring in 'a lot of revenue.' Katz left the company in late 2023 without specifying why as GM began reorganizing BrightDrop to function less independently and reduce costs. 'Make no mistake — the world is moving rapidly towards electrification. If Canada and the U.S. hit pause now, we may never catch up,' Payne said in the statement. 'We risk surrendering our future unless we act decisively to support our own industry.' The economics, and the lack of charging infrastructure, likely made it difficult for the company to find a foothold in the U.S. market, Fiorani said. 'It should be easy to convince a business that you can drive this thing. On paper, it's a good idea. But business owners that are not used to taking risks won't buy something they don't understand fully,' he said. 'In early 2020, when everybody was delivering things directly to their homes, this was a perfect vehicle for that market.' Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM faces BrightDrop EV crisis: Overflowing lots and mass layoffs
USA Today
13-04-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
GM drowning in unsold BrightDrop vans as mounting EV inventory sparks mass layoffs
GM drowning in unsold BrightDrop vans as mounting EV inventory sparks mass layoffs Show Caption Hide Caption General Motors: History, innovation, and legacy Learn about the rich history and notable innovations of General Motors, from its founding in 1908 to its leadership in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. GM Canada confirmed CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand. About 1,200 Local 88 members work there assembling Chevrolet BrightDrop EVs and constructing battery modules and packs. General Motors' all-electric CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario is halting production of BrightDrop delivery vans, Unifor said Friday. Unifor is Canada's largest private sector union, representing 320,000 workers. The company will initiate temporary layoffs starting April 14 and production will stall for three weeks, Mike Van Boekel, plant chair for Unifor Local 88, which represents hourly workers at CAMI, told the Detroit Free Press. Workers will return for two weeks in May for limited production, and then the factory will close for another 20 weeks. During this downtime, GM plans to complete retooling work to prepare the facility for production of the 2026 model year of commercial electric vehicles. CAMI Assembly had run two shifts while producing Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles. When production resumes in October, Unifor said the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future — a reduction expected to impact 450 workers. 'This is devastating for our members,' Van Boekel told the Detroit Free Press. 'We are losing these shifts indefinitely.' About 1,200 Local 88 members work there assembling Chevrolet BrightDrop EVs and constructing battery modules and packs. 'This is a crushing blow to hundreds of working families in Ingersoll and the surrounding region who depend on this plant,' Unifor National President Lana Payne said in the statement. 'General Motors must do everything in its power to mitigate job loss during this downturn, and all levels of government must step up to support Canadian autoworkers and Canadian-made products.' GM Canada confirmed CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand. In case you missed it: GM storing poor-selling Canadian-made electric vans on Michigan lot 'GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop, and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition,' the company said in a statement emailed to the Free Press. 'This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and rebalancing inventory. Production of BrightDrop and EV battery assembly will remain at CAMI.' Many hurdles GM's struggles with BrightDrop inventory come less than a year after the company folded the commercial vans into its Chevrolet brand in a bid to boost its performance. GM has tried and failed to gain ground against competitors, including Ford and Rivian, in the electric van space, an effort further hindered by the vehicle's high price tag. Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said the opaque trade environment spurred by President Donald Trump's vacillating tariff announcements hardly aided the company's U.S. sales projections. 'If there's a tariff with Canada, how do you build any vehicle of volume there to be sold in the U.S.?' Fiorani asked. Tariffs with Canada currently stand at 25%, though the auto industry is still seeking clarity about whether vehicles and parts compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are included. GM produces BrightDrop 400 and BrightDrop 600 vans at CAMI Assembly, Canada's — and GM's — first full-scale all-electric vehicle manufacturing plant, which required massive investment to retool for EV production, including funding support from both governments. As the Free Press first reported, a glut of those slow-selling delivery vans has built up on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. CAMI produced 3,500 electric Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery vans last year — compared with nearly 200,000 Chevrolet Equinox crossovers the plant produced five years earlier — according to the Automotive News Data & Research Center. Of those, GM sold only 1,529, compared with Ford's 12,610 E-Transit vehicles and Rivian's 13,243 EDV. GM reported sales of just 274 Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles so far this year, up 7% from 256 sold in the first quarter of 2024. Last month, a Free Press photographer captured images of hundreds of vehicles lining a Flint storage lot. Reuters published similar photos from CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario. CAMI reopened in late 2022 following a retooling period outfitting the facility for electric vehicle production. Production stalled again this year with a scheduled two-week shutdown to 'align production schedules and balance inventory,' a GM spokesperson said in a statement. Part of the reason BrightDrop sales are lagging in the U.S. is the comparatively high price tag to nearest competitors. Before incentives, the vehicles cost about $74,000. Ford's E-Transit van with extended battery range, for example, is $51,600 — more than $20,000 cheaper — even before applying incentives. Falling far short of projections GM launched BrightDrop in 2021 as a wholly owned subsidiary with expectations its revenue would top $10 billion by 2030 with low-20% profit margins. BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz said in 2022 that the company expected to be making 50,000 trucks a year starting in 2025 and bring in 'a lot of revenue.' Katz left the company in late 2023 without specifying why as GM began reorganizing BrightDrop to function less independently and reduce costs. 'Make no mistake — the world is moving rapidly towards electrification. If Canada and the U.S. hit pause now, we may never catch up,' Payne said in the statement. 'We risk surrendering our future unless we act decisively to support our own industry.' The economics, and the lack of charging infrastructure, likely made it difficult for the company to find a foothold in the U.S. market, Fiorani said. 'It should be easy to convince a business that you can drive this thing. On paper, it's a good idea. But business owners that are not used to taking risks won't buy something they don't understand fully,' he said. 'In early 2020, when everybody was delivering things directly to their homes, this was a perfect vehicle for that market.' Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM drowning in unsold BrightDrop vans as mounting EV inventory sparks mass layoffs
General Motors' all-electric CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario is halting production of BrightDrop delivery vans, Unifor said Friday. Unifor is Canada's largest private sector union, representing 320,000 workers. The company will initiate temporary layoffs starting April 14 and production will stall for three weeks, Mike Van Boekel, plant chair for Unifor Local 88, which represents hourly workers at CAMI, told the Detroit Free Press. Workers will return for two weeks in May for limited production, and then the factory will close for another 20 weeks. During this downtime, GM plans to complete retooling work to prepare the facility for production of the 2026 model year of commercial electric vehicles. CAMI Assembly had run two shifts while producing Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles. When production resumes in October, Unifor said the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future — a reduction expected to impact 450 workers. 'This is devastating for our members,' Van Boekel told the Detroit Free Press. 'We are losing these shifts indefinitely.' About 1,200 Local 88 members work there assembling Chevrolet BrightDrop EVs and constructing battery modules and packs. 'This is a crushing blow to hundreds of working families in Ingersoll and the surrounding region who depend on this plant,' Unifor National President Lana Payne said in the statement. 'General Motors must do everything in its power to mitigate job loss during this downturn, and all levels of government must step up to support Canadian autoworkers and Canadian-made products.' GM Canada confirmed CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand. In case you missed it: GM storing poor-selling Canadian-made electric vans on Michigan lot 'GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop, and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition,' the company said in a statement emailed to the Free Press. 'This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and rebalancing inventory. Production of BrightDrop and EV battery assembly will remain at CAMI.' GM's struggles with BrightDrop inventory come less than a year after the company folded the commercial vans into its Chevrolet brand in a bid to boost its performance. GM has tried and failed to gain ground against competitors, including Ford and Rivian, in the electric van space, an effort further hindered by the vehicle's high price tag. Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said the opaque trade environment spurred by President Donald Trump's vacillating tariff announcements hardly aided the company's U.S. sales projections. 'If there's a tariff with Canada, how do you build any vehicle of volume there to be sold in the U.S.?' Fiorani asked. Tariffs with Canada currently stand at 25%, though the auto industry is still seeking clarity about whether vehicles and parts compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement are included. GM produces BrightDrop 400 and BrightDrop 600 vans at CAMI Assembly, Canada's — and GM's — first full-scale all-electric vehicle manufacturing plant, which required massive investment to retool for EV production, including funding support from both governments. As the Free Press first reported, a glut of those slow-selling delivery vans has built up on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. CAMI produced 3,500 electric Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery vans last year — compared with nearly 200,000 Chevrolet Equinox crossovers the plant produced five years earlier — according to the Automotive News Data & Research Center. Of those, GM sold only 1,529, compared with Ford's 12,610 E-Transit vehicles and Rivian's 13,243 EDV. GM reported sales of just 274 Chevrolet BrightDrop vehicles so far this year, up 7% from 256 sold in the first quarter of 2024. Last month, a Free Press photographer captured images of hundreds of vehicles lining a Flint storage lot. Reuters published similar photos from CAMI in Ingersoll, Ontario. CAMI reopened in late 2022 following a retooling period outfitting the facility for electric vehicle production. Production stalled again this year with a scheduled two-week shutdown to 'align production schedules and balance inventory,' a GM spokesperson said in a statement. Part of the reason BrightDrop sales are lagging in the U.S. is the comparatively high price tag to nearest competitors. Before incentives, the vehicles cost about $74,000. Ford's E-Transit van with extended battery range, for example, is $51,600 — more than $20,000 cheaper — even before applying incentives. GM launched BrightDrop in 2021 as a wholly owned subsidiary with expectations its revenue would top $10 billion by 2030 with low-20% profit margins. BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz said in 2022 that the company expected to be making 50,000 trucks a year starting in 2025 and bring in 'a lot of revenue.' Katz left the company in late 2023 without specifying why as GM began reorganizing BrightDrop to function less independently and reduce costs. 'Make no mistake — the world is moving rapidly towards electrification. If Canada and the U.S. hit pause now, we may never catch up,' Payne said in the statement. 'We risk surrendering our future unless we act decisively to support our own industry.' The economics, and the lack of charging infrastructure, likely made it difficult for the company to find a foothold in the U.S. market, Fiorani said. 'It should be easy to convince a business that you can drive this thing. On paper, it's a good idea. But business owners that are not used to taking risks won't buy something they don't understand fully,' he said. 'In early 2020, when everybody was delivering things directly to their homes, this was a perfect vehicle for that market.' Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at jcharniga@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM faces BrightDrop EV crisis: Overflowing lots and mass layoffs Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM's ‘woefully underutilized' CAMI plant ideal spot for joint GM-Hyundai vans, analyst says
Stung by years of low production volumes and frequent shutdowns, General Motors' 'woefully underutilized' CAMI Assembly Plant is a potential beneficiary of a commercial vehicle tie-up between the U.S. automaker and Hyundai, according to industry analyst Sam Fiorani. The Ingersoll, Ont. plant produced an estimated 3,500 electric Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery vans last year — compared to nearly 200,000 Chevrolet Equinox crossovers five years earlier — according to the Automotive News Data & Research Center in Detroit. The comparatively glacial output has left much of the plant's workforce working part time since CAMI reopened in late 2022 following a retooling period. But the open capacity also represents an opportunity, as GM advances a potential commercial van partnership with Hyundai, said Fiorani, vice-president of global vehicle forecasting at U.S.-based AutoForecast Solutions. 'If they need a place to build vans in North America, CAMI fits into that plan as having enough space, and the ability to build electric vehicles.' Sign up for the Automotive News Canada Daily to get the top news of the day in your inbox each business weekday afternoon. Production dockets are filling up at GM's U.S. plants, Fiorani added, making CAMI the 'best choice' for the vans. GM Canada did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Hyundai Canada would not comment on the possible partnership or the prospect of Canadian production. Top company executives signed a preliminary collaboration deal centred on the co-development and production of certain vehicles last year. 'The two companies are continuing discussions; nothing has been determined at this time,' Hyundai Canada spokesperson Brad Ross said in an email. But according to a March 20 Reuters report that cited Hyundai documents and a source familiar with the talks, the proposed partnership would cover two sizes of commercial electric vans destined for the North American market under both Hyundai and GM brands. The vans would initially be imported, but manufacturing could shift to North America in 2028, the source told Reuters. Hyundai is exploring building a new plant, adding production to an existing facility or contracting out the manufacturing, the source added. Long-term imports would not be a viable option, Fiorani said, given the longstanding 25-per-cent tariff on truck imports into the United States, known as the chicken tax. But many hurdles remain, Fiorani warned, including firming up the partnership and the likelihood of new U.S. auto tariffs. The outlook for U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, including vehicles, has changed nearly weekly over the past two months, as U.S. President Donald Trump advances an array of levies on top trading partners. Auto tariffs on global vehicle imports into the United States are expected to come into effect April 3, while further tariffs targeting Canada are expected to be layered on as early as April 2. Fiorani said any added production at CAMI requires free trade between the U.S. and Canada. He does not expect any public announcement on new product for the plant until the current trade fight is resolved. Mike Van Boekel, plant chair for Unifor Local 88, which represents hourly workers at CAMI, said the union has received no word on possible product from GM, but membership would be keen to build the added product. 'Absolutely. We have capacity. We have the workforce. So yeah, for sure. If they want to put vans in here, it would be a good place to put them.' Van Boekel said Canada's free-trade agreement with South Korea could help smooth the way, while the plant's track record with BrightDrop illustrates the workforce can deliver high-quality electric and commercial products. GM recently added a second BrightDrop production shift at CAMI, Van Boekel said, but he is skeptical that sales will support that level of output for long. About 1,100 Local 88 members build the BrightDrop vans at the plant, while another 200 build battery modules and packs at a battery plant that opened next to the main plant in early 2024. As with other plants in Canada, the constant threat of Trump's tariffs is clouding the outlook at CAMI, which already faced an uphill climb, Van Boekel said. To sustain a single shift of BrightDrop production, GM must sell about 1,000 vehicles per month, according to Local 88. GM sales figures for the first quarter of 2025 will not be released until April, but BrightDrop sales in 2024 fell well short of that benchmark. The company sold just under 2,000 of the vans in the United States and Canada last year. GM Canada did not respond to requests for comment about BrightDrop's sales pipeline. Prior to the launch of the vans in 2022, GM said it had booked orders for more than 25,000 of the vans from big-name customers such as FedEx, Verizon and Walmart — far more than it has delivered to date. Originally sold by just a handful of dealers in the United States and Canada, BrightDrop was tucked under the Chevrolet banner in August 2024, a move that will allow it to leverage the brand's sprawling dealership network. While sales have been slow in coming for BrightDrop, CAMI's sole product other than batteries, Fiorani said the plant is one of the more modern factories in North America and is likely to find its footing. 'Something will get built there unless the tariff war between the U.S. and Canada makes it unprofitable.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2025 Ram ProMaster EV Lineup Expands, but Its Base Price Drops by $20K
The 2025 adds two new cargo van configurations, with either a 12-foot or a 13-foot cargo hold. The new cargo setup starts at $58,490, over $20,000 less than the base price for the 2024 step van model, which was the only configuration offered last year. The step van has received its own discount, down by $8000 to a starting price of $71,990. Last year, Ram joined the increasingly crowded electric-commercial-van segment, launching an electric version of its full-size ProMaster to go up against the Ford E-Transit, Mercedes-Benz eSprinter, and Chevrolet BrightDrop. The ProMaster EV was hamstrung, however, by offering a single configuration for the 2024 model year, which also made it significantly pricier than the competition. But the American truck brand is rectifying that for 2025, adding two new body variations and dropping the base price by over $20K. The 2024 Ram ProMaster EV was limited to a single Delivery step van model, which featured a Super High Roof body, a sliding pocket door on the passenger's side, and a roll-up rear door. When we drove the ProMaster EV last fall, Ram said it would add more configurations later, and the company has delivered on that promise with two new cargo variants for 2025. The cargo van models will come in two setups, either a 12-foot cargo length or a 13-foot cargo length, with both bodies sitting atop a chassis with a 159.0-inch wheelbase. Instead of the Delivery model's pocket door, the cargo model features a sliding side door. Most importantly, the new cargo van models receive a drastic decrease in the ProMaster EV's base price. While the 2024 Delivery model started at $79,990, the new cargo configurations see the base price drop to $58,490. Even better, the Delivery version—which Ram now refers to as the step van model—has received its own price reduction to $71,990, down by $8000 from 2024. Ram claims the electric ProMaster cargo models can travel up to 164 miles on a charge thanks to a battery pack with 97.0 kWh of usable capacity. For 2025, Ram also says it has increased the step van's range for city driving to 180 miles, up from last year's estimate of 162 miles. A DC fast-charger will take the ProMaster EV from 20 to 80 percent in less than 55 minutes, with a peak charging rate of 150 kW. The cargo version has a payload of 3020 pounds, while the step van is capable of carrying 2876 pounds, an increase from the 2030-pound rating that Ram quoted in 2024. Both models feature a single electric motor sending 268 horsepower and 302 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels. Customers can now build and price their ProMaster EV online before connecting with a dealership to complete the transaction. The cargo van variants will begin reaching dealerships in the second quarter of this year. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
