GM Halts BrightDrop EV Production in Canada, Announces Extended Layoffs

Production of BrightDrop electric delivery vans at General Motors’ CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, has stopped because the company faces growing delivery van stockpiles combined with diminishing demand for commercial electric vehicles.

Unifor Canada estimates that temporary layoffs for production will commence on April 14 before operations pause for three weeks. The production workers at the plant will return in May for brief manufacturing runs until GM shuts down operations for twenty weeks to prepare for commercial EVs of the 2026 model year.

The work environment suffers a substantial direct effect.

• Operation of the plant after October will occur with one shift instead of its previous two-shift operations schedule.
• About 450 members of the workforce will experience employment cuts.
• There are presently 1,200 members from Unifor Local 88 who keep busy at the facility.

These new setbacks occur following GM’s inclusion of BrightDrop as part of Chevrolet, a short 11 months ago, to increase corporate performance. Multiple industry analysts have identified two main issues with GM’s electric commercial vehicle project: high product costs together with commercial competition from Rivian and Ford.

AutoForecast Solutions vice president Sam Fiorani stated that unclear trade policies during President Trump’s term created selling difficulties that harmed GM’s ability to establish its electric van market presence.