Employees at GM’s Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant have good reason to be happy. Because of the new Camaro and a couple of other strong selling models, they have the one thing that auto industry employees in America have wanted for decades, job security. With sales continuing to be strong for the pony car and the convertible on that way, things are definitely on the upswing.
Like the rest of the auto industry on the North American continent, the Oshawa plant was living in the doldrums for years. There was once two plants at the site, with the second one charged with building trucks. It was shuttered in 2008, raising the fears of employees at the other plant that they would be next.
The Camaro has had direct ties to Canada for some time now, with the previous generation of cars being built at a plant in Boisbriand, Quebec, until the F-body was discontinued. The plant was closed in 2004, and now a shopping center apparently resides where the plant once was.
The plant employs nearly 3,000 people who build the Camaro, Impala, and soon the Chevy Equinox and 2011 Buick Regal. It is an astoundingly massive place that includes more than nine-million square feet of working area! More than 500 Camaros leave the plant per day.
Canadian website Auto123.com wrote a neat profile of the factory. It’s one of the most positive stories we’ve read about the car business here in North America in some time.
Source — Auto123.com — The Rebirth of GM’s Oshawa Plant
