Latest news with #MikeVanBoekel
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
CBC
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
GM halts production, lays off hundreds at Ingersoll, Ont., assembly plant, to reopen in October
Social Sharing The General Motors CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ont., will shut down next month with plans to reopen in the fall at half capacity. The company said in a statement Friday that production is coming to halt as a direct result of the market and available inventory to build the BrightDrop electric delivery vehicles manufactured at the plant. "CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand," GM said in a statement. "GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition." Two models of the BrightDrop Zevo are made on site and sales have lagged behind the competition, with numbers released by GM showing a total of 427 vehicles sold in Canada in 2024 and 1,529 in the United States. "It's heartbreaking, certainly for the individuals who are affected by it in our community," said Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie. "We want to take care of people, that's what it's really about. Everybody has families and I know that there is an action centre being set up at Unifor to help people, and we'll be certainly doing everything we can through the town to work with our partners to support people." The news follows the temporary closure of Stellantis's Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ont., that was announced in early April, following the imposition of U.S. auto tariffs. The CAMI plant employs approximately 1,200 workers. Unifor said layoffs will start Monday, with some production continuing into May. After that, production will stop until October, the union said in a statement. "When production resumes in October, the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future — a reduction that is expected to result in the indefinite layoff of nearly 500 workers," the statement read. "Our members have endured so much — from retooling disruptions to months of rotating layoffs — and now they're facing a major production slowdown and job loss," said Unifor Local 88 CAMI plant chair Mike Van Boekel. "Global demand for last-mile delivery vehicles is only growing. Our members have the skill, the experience and the pride to build world-class electric vehicles right here in Canada — all we need is the opportunity to keep doing it." Politicians respond to the news Following confirmation of the layoffs and shutdown, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre issued a statement on social media. He reiterated previous commitments to protect Canada's auto industry. "I am incredibly saddened by the layoffs at the GM CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll," Poilievre wrote. "This morning, I spoke with Unifor Local 88 GM Plant Chairperson Mike Van Boekel and expressed my commitment to protect Canadian auto workers." Poilievre's statement took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump, saying Trump "is betraying America's closest friend and attacking our economy." Conservative candidate Arpan Khanna, who is running for re-election in the riding of Oxford, which includes Ingersoll, issued a statement as well, minutes after the news broke. "This situation goes beyond just a headline — it's a major loss for our community. It's 500 of our families, friends and neighbours," Khanna said. Petrie remains hopeful that production will return to the plant in the future. "We have the best workforce in the world. I know that's going to be successful in the long term. You can't move that, you can't take it anywhere else. It's here and it's been made a successful for over 100 years and will continue to do so."
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hundreds of workers laid off at Ingersoll, Ont. assembly plant as GM halts production
The General Motors's CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ont., will shut down next month with plans to re-open in the fall at half capacity. The company said in a statement Friday that production is coming to halt as a direct result of the market, and available inventory to build the BrightDrop electric delivery vehicles manufactured at the plant. "CAMI is making operational and employment adjustments to balance inventory and align production schedules with current demand," GM said in a statement. "GM remains committed to the future of BrightDrop and the CAMI plant and will support employees through the transition." Two models of the BrightDrop Zevo are made on site, and sales have lagged behind the competition with numbers released by GM showing a total of 427 vehicles sold in Canada in 2024, and 1,529 in the United States. The news follows the temporary closure of Stellantis's Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ont., which was announced in early April, following the imposition of U.S. auto tariffs. The CAMI plant employs approximately 1,200 workers with the Unifor union saying Friday that layoffs will start Monday, with some production continuing into May. After that, production will stop October 2025, the union said in a statement. "When production resumes in October, the plant will operate on a single shift for the foreseeable future – a reduction that is expected to result in the indefinite layoff of nearly 500 workers," the statement read. "Our members have endured so much — from retooling disruptions to months of rotating layoffs — and now they're facing a major production slowdown and job loss," said Unifor Local 88 CAMI Plant Chairperson Mike Van Boekel. "Global demand for last-mile delivery vehicles is only growing. Our members have the skill, the experience, and the pride to build world-class electric vehicles right here in Canada — all we need is the opportunity to keep doing it." More to come.
