General Motors is laying off 500 employees at its CAMI plant in Ontario, Canada, due to falling demand for its BrightDrop electric delivery vans. The automaker will eliminate one of the factory’s two shifts, temporarily idling operations for 20 weeks starting in May.
The layoffs are the latest setback in BrightDrop’s relatively brief and turbulent history. Initially launched as an independent unit within GM in 2021, BrightDrop was integrated back into the main company structure in 2023. The electric van division also faced substantial challenges last year, including a major recall prompted by battery fire incidents. Subsequently, GM repositioned BrightDrop under its Chevrolet brand later in 2024.
GM emphasized that this latest round of job cuts is unrelated to the ongoing trade tensions and tariffs tied to policies enacted by former President Donald Trump. Instead, the automaker cited significantly weak market demand as the primary reason behind the decision to scale back production at the CAMI facility.
