Oshawa Truck Assembly was a

General Motors Canada General Motors of Canada Company (french: La Compagnie General Motors du Canada), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of US-based company General Motors. It is headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. In the aftermath of the ...

automotive factory in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It opened in its original location in downtown Oshawa in 1918 in order to build ambulances for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

vehicles before it merged with GM. The plant later moved to the GM Autoplex facilities south of the city starting production in 1965 until it was definitely closed in 2009. GM Autoplex also included

Oshawa Car Assembly Oshawa Assembly (also known simply as ''GM Oshawa'') is a manufacturing facility in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, that built various automobiles for General Motors Canada. Vehicles were primarily produced for the US, Canadian, and Mexica ...

and a now-closed battery plant.

Closure

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

announced on June 3, 2008 that this plant would close permanently May 14, 2009, with no plans for new products.GM's Oshawa Truck Plant Closes After 44 Years Of Production
on Citynews.ca, May 14, 2009 The closure was due to high gasoline prices in much of the world, as well as a deep recession caused by the

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

. These dramatically decreased demand for fuel-inefficient light trucks and truck-based vehicles, especially in the crucial market of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. GM itself had been in a precarious financial situation for several years, which dramatically worsened as a result of the 2008 economic problems, eventually forcing it to seek government aid and potentially filing for bankruptcy. At the time of the announcement, the Oshawa Truck plant was manufacturing the

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from th ...

and

GMC Sierra GMC Sierra (Classic) may refer to GMC counterparts, either as model names or as trim lines, to the following Chevrolet vehicles: *Chevrolet C/K *Chevrolet Silverado *Chevrolet Suburban The Chevrolet Suburban is a series of automobiles bui ...

. Three weeks prior to the announcement of the closure, General Motors and the

Canadian Auto Workers The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...

union reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining contract on May 15, 2008, a full four months before the existing contract was due to expire. As part of the agreement, GM pledged to maintain production at the Oshawa truck plant and made other production commitments. On June 3, 2008, less than three weeks after ratification of the new contract, GM announced that, due to soaring gasoline prices and plummeting truck sales, it would close four additional truck and SUV plants, including the Oshawa truck plant. In response, the CAW organized a blockade of the GM of Canada headquarters in Oshawa. The blockade was ended by an

Ontario Superior Court The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

order after 12 days. Further discussions between GM and the CAW resulted in an agreement to compensate workers at the truck plant and additional product commitments for the Oshawa car assembly plant. The last truck off the line, a black 2009 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab, was raffled off to an employee and the proceeds went to the Hospital for Sick Children. It marked the end of 44 years of production.

Vehicles produced

Some of the models (all

except where indicates) produced at the plant included: *1915-1922 Series 490 *1923-1926 Superior *1927 Series AA *1928 Series AB *1929 Series AC *1930 Series AD *1931 Series AE *1932 Series BA *1933

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

*1933-1942

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

*1941-1952 Deluxe *1953-1957

150 150 may refer to: *150 (number), a natural number *AD 150, a year in the 2nd century AD *150 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *150 Regiment RLC *Combined Task Force 150 See also * List of highways numbered 150 The following highways are numbered ...

*1953-1957 210 *1953-1957 Fleetline *1953-1957

Townsman A municipal council is the legislature, legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, ...

*1999-2009 Silverado *2005-2009

*1965-2000 C/K, Silverado ;Notes

References

{{General Motors factories General Motors factories Former motor vehicle assembly plants Motor vehicle assembly plants in Canada Buildings and structures in Oshawa 1965 establishments in Ontario 2009 disestablishments in Ontario