GM extends Oshawa plant life to 2017 with Equinox production

General Motors says it will extend the life of its Oshawa, Ont., assembly plant until at least 2017 by spending $12 million to produce Chevy Equinox SUVs there.

GM Canada said in a release Wednesday that the move "will help to meet strong North American customer demand for the Chevrolet Equinox."

Currently, Equinoxes are built at the nearby CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont. Under a program already in place, the CAMI plant produces more Equinox chassis than the plant is currently able to paint and assemble, so the excess are shipped to the nearby Oshawa plant to be finished.

Wednesday's announcement means that arrangement will be expanded. It also extends the life of the Oshawa plant by at least another year. Currently, Oshawa makes the Camaro but that assembly line is set to end in November. Other assembly lines that make versions of the Chevy Impala, the Buick Regal and the Cadillac XTS in Oshawa are set to be cancelled or moved elsewhere no later than 2016.

GM currently employs about 9,000 people in Canada and the company has invested approximately $800 million in its Oshawa and St. Catharines, Ont., operations over the past three years. It recently announced a further $800 million investment in its CAMI operation in Ingersoll.