GM halts BrightDrop van production in Canada – again
The production lines at GM’s Cami Assembly auto plant in Canada will come to a halt in October and remain switched off until spring 2024. Apparently, there is a problem with an unnamed supplier, who cannot deliver enough battery modules for two of the electric BrightDrop models manufactured there.
“CAMI Assembly will take downtime beginning in October, due to previously announced delays in battery-module supply. Vehicle production is expected to resume in the spring of 2024,” read a statement issued by GM Canada.
It is not the first time the plant had to shut its doors. GM had already paused production of the BrightDrop vehicles at Ingersoll in July 2023 due to battery supply problems and resumed in August. BrightDrop’s parent company GM had even sent its own engineering team to help the supplier get its supply chain up and running – but to no avail.
To get the problems under control, the Canadian plant will get its own battery module assembly as reported. The plant should be up and running in spring when the workers return. The new approximately 37,000-square-foot facility will assemble battery modules for GM’s BrightDrop vans and for electric vehicles based on the Ultium platform. The carmaker says it is creating nearly 300 new jobs with the battery assembly.
GM started producing electric transporters for its BrightDrop brand in Ingersoll, Canada, at the end of 2022. The manufacturer had previously only launched a small series with the help of an unnamed partner in the US. The actual production of the cargo vans based on the Ultium platform takes place in Ingersoll. Initially, GM kicked off construction of the Zevo 600, while production of the smaller Zevo 400 was scheduled for the end of 2023.
According to earlier information, production at Ingersoll is expected to reach 50,000 electric transporters annually by 2025. Customers include FedEx, Walmart, Hertz, Verizon, Merchants Fleet, and DHL Canada.
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