Stellantis to invest billions in Canadian factories
Stellantis has announced a $3.6 billion Canadian investment to convert its Windsor and Brampton assembly plants in the Canadian province of Ontario to manufacture electric vehicles and to expand its Automotive Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Windsor.
The ARDC will also become Stellantis’ first battery lab in North America. In March, Stellantis had also unveiled plans with LG Energy Solution to build a large electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Windsor. The battery cells produced there could thus be processed directly in the region. The ARDC will create 650 “highly skilled engineering positions in a variety of fields” to research eMobility technologies.
The investment of the equivalent of 2.66 billion euros in the Canadian plants is part of the “Dare Forward 2030” strategy of the American-European group. At the Windsor plant, the current product portfolio is to be expanded in 2023 to include a “completely new, flexible multi-energy vehicle architecture”. Stellantis does not give any details in the press release. Actually, the group had announced that it would focus primarily on the all-electric STLA platforms. Windsor then seems to become one of the plants where internal combustion engines will still come off the production line in the future. “The plant will have maximum flexibility to adjust production volumes as needed to meet changing market demand over the next decade,” Stellantis wrote.
Brampton Assembly, on the other hand, is expected to build at least one all-new electric model – the platform is also expected to be flexible, but Stellantis does not mention the “multi-energy” designation here. So it could be one of the STLA platforms. The conversion is to begin in 2024, with production starting up again the following year.
With the eMobility investment, the group also expects better utilisation of the plants. Both production facilities are expected to return to three-shift operation, according to the announcement. “These investments reaffirm our long-term commitment to Canada and represent an important step as we move toward zero-emission vehicles that deliver on our customers’ desire for innovative, clean, safe and affordable mobility,” said Mark Stewart, chief operating officer of Stellantis North America.
“Today’s deal on made-in-Canada electric vehicles is yet another investment in our workers and in our future,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was also present at the event at ARDC. “We’re building a world-class Canadian auto industry, an innovative economy and a clean, strong future for everyone. This is what a healthy environment and a healthy economy looks like.”
Stellantis is not the only major corporation converting to eMobility manufacturing in Canada. General Motors plans to start manufacturing its new BrightDrop brand of electric vans in Ingersoll in December. GM is also converting its plant in Oshawa (also in the province of Ontario) for the production of light electric pickups. And supplier Magna is building battery cases for Ford’s F-150 Lightning in Ontario.
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