OSHAWA -- General Motors will build a replacement for the Chevrolet Impala and
produce a Cadillac sedan at its Oshawa car complex, creating up to
1,000 new jobs during the next few years, industry officials say.
The
Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association revealed Tuesday in a
"critical automotive intelligence" note to member companies that GM
will start producing a newer Impala or its replacement vehicle in
February 2013, and the Cadillac XTS sedan in January 2012 in Oshawa.
A
senior official for the Canadian Auto Workers said later the addition
of those vehicles should generate between 750 and 1,000 jobs in an
extra shift at GM's Oshawa complex.
Keith Osborne, a union
staff representative responsible for GM, said though the company has
not confirmed the additional products, the association's information
makes "a lot of sense."
"It fits the configuration we have
at the Oshawa site and is good news," he said. "It will mean an extra
shift from what we have now."
GM plans to unveil a Cadillac XTS concept model at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week.
The
manufacturers association's disclosure follows recent auto production
announcements by GM in Ingersoll and Toyota in Woodstock that will
boost employment in southern Ontario's recession-ravaged manufacturing
sector.
The Oshawa complex builds the Camaro muscle sports
car with one shift on a flexible manufacturing line and employs two
shifts to assemble the existing Impala full-size car on another line.
GM's workforce in Oshawa totals about 4,600.
However,
GM has disclosed to union officials in the past that it planned to
eventually phase out production of the Impala by early 2013, without
identifying a replacement product.
It is not clear whether the new product would carry the Impala badge or another name.
The
company recently announced plans to begin producing the Buick Regal
mid-size sports sedan on the flex line during the first quarter of next
year. It will likely create about 750 jobs and another shift on the
flex line, according to the union.
Although GM has indicated more products are coming to Oshawa, it has not identified them or the timing for production.
A GM spokesman declined to comment on the parts association's note about the Impala and Cadillac models.
Osborne
said the union has pressed GM for details on a replacement product for
the Impala because of the company's intentions to phase out the model.
"But they have been unusually silent on it except to say, `We're going to need workers,'" he said.
At
one point several years ago, GM announced it would end Impala
production in Oshawa, but the company changed its mind months later
because of the car's continuing popularity in the U.S. market.
The
parts association's note is unusual because automakers announce models
and plants, rather than suppliers. That allows automakers to control
information flowing to competitors and to maximize publicity for the
product.
The note from the association's new president,
Steve Rodgers, says GM's Oshawa and Hamtramck, Mich., assembly
operations would share production of the next generation of Impala
models in a "sourcing change."
Rodgers added GM's decision
to build the Impala in both plants on its Epsilon platform could
eventually be used as leverage in contract negotiations with the CAW.
He
also said that when GM produces all four vehicles in Oshawa, it will
have an annual capacity of less than 400,000, down from earlier
estimates of 500,000.
"The volume issue is something the
APMA will monitor closely to make sure we are aware of volume changes
and the impact it will have on our supplier members," he said.
GM, the country's biggest automaker, has received about $10.6 billion
in aid from the federal and Ontario governments in the last year to
help it restructure operations and stay alive.
That has
included closing a truck assembly operation in Oshawa and upheaval at
the nearby car complex with thousands of job losses.
-- Tony Van Alphen is a business reporter for the Toronto Star
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