Brampton Stellantis automotive plant gets electric vehicle overhaul

Brampton’s Stellantis automotive assembly plant is being retooled to produce electric and hybrid vehicles.

Stellantis announced on Monday that both its Brampton and Windsor plants are getting a $3.6 billion overhaul, converting them to multi-energy vehicle assembly facilities ready to produce electric vehicles.

The Brampton Assembly Plant is the only plant that produces Dodge Chargers, Dodge Challengers, and Chrysler 300s, all of which are models set to be phased out next year.

Stellantis is planning to revamp the plant with a flexible assembly line capable of producing battery-electric and hybrid vehicles, diversifying the automaker’s capacity to meet growing consumer demand for low-emission vehicles.

The province is committing up to $513 million to the developments along with a matching investment from the federal government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Windsor for the announcement and said the multi-billion dollar project will benefit workers, communities, the economy and the environment.

Premier Doug Ford said the investments will ensure the province is positioned to be a “manufacturing powerhouse.”

Some $132 million will go to helping secure the long-term future of the Brampton facility, with another $287 million going towards the Windsor plant.

Stellantis is also planning to modernize its automotive research and development centre in Windsor and build two new electric vehicle and battery pack testing centres.

RELATED: Brampton calling for investment to ensure future of Stellantis assembly plant

Stellantis said these hubs will be central to the company’s research and development operations in North America and serve the company’s needs for technology, process and product development.

Back in February, Brampton held an automotive forum to discuss the future of Brampton’s automotive industry.

A union agreement for the facility is set to expire next year, but Unifor Local 1285 President Danny Price says the new announcement will “protect automotive manufacturing jobs and keep Canadian manufacturing strong.”

The city called the Stellantis facility “an anchor of Brampton’s automotive industry,” providing approximately 3,000 manufacturing jobs and additional “indirect jobs” across the province with suppliers, logistics and trucking companies and HVAC and electrical companies.

Over 90 per cent of the cars made in Brampton are exported, with the vast majority going to the U.S.

The province says vehicle assembly and auto parts production directly support more than 94,000 jobs in Ontario.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the auto sector contributed some 16 per cent of Ontario’s manufacturing GDP at $13.9 billion, just shy of 2 per cent of the province’s total GDP.

Ontario is home to more than 300 companies and organizations pioneering connected and autonomous vehicle technologies.