4 days ago
Brightdrop EV600 van
Source: Brightdrop
DETROIT — General Motors is cutting production of its all-electric BrightDrop delivery vans at a plant in Canada and will idle the facility through much of this year.
The plant will be reduced from two to one shifts — eliminating 500 jobs — followed by a 20-week idling of the facility that's scheduled to begin in May. Battery pack assembly at the plant also will be down the weeks of April 24 and April 28, ahead of the prolonged shutdown.
The Detroit automaker on Friday confirmed the plans for its CAMI assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, and said the decisions are not related to President Donald Trump's tariffs.
"This adjustment is directly related to responding to market demand and re-balancing inventory. Production of BrightDrop and EV battery assembly will remain at CAMI," GM said in an emailed statement.
GM launched its BrightDrop vans as a fully owned subsidiary in 2021, before folding it into the company's fleet business in 2023. It then folded BrightDrop into its Chevrolet brand in 2024.
BrightDrop electric delivery vans are parked near General Motors (GM) BrightDrop unit's CAMI EV Assembly, Canada's first full-scale electric vehicle manufacturing plant, in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, March 13, 2025.
Carlos Osorio | Reuters
GM had high expectations of making BrightDrop into a new, lucrative growth business for the automaker, but sales and revenue did not meet the company's initial expectations.
BrightDrop was expected to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2023. GM declined to disclose BrightDrop's revenue, but it's highly unlikely the target was achieved.
In 2023 and 2024, the automaker only sold about 2,000 of the electric vans, according to its sales reports.
The idling plans come weeks after a Detroit Free Press report that hundreds of BrightDrop vehicles were lining a storage lot in Flint, Michigan
This is breaking news. Please check back for additional updates.
