GM to invest $450 million in Cami assembly plant in Ingersoll: report

WATCH:On the eve of the start of the annual Toronto auto show, General Motors and Ford announced plans to produce new models in Canada. Sean O’Shea reports.

TORONTO – General Motors will spend $560 million to prepare its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont. to build the next generation Chevrolet Equinox, the U.S. automaker said.

The company will spend $190 million directly at the plant on equipment and tools and $370 million in vendor tooling with suppliers in Canada.

“These investments, which follow planning and study with our partners, are a further vote of confidence in our employees, our business and our future in Ontario and Canada,” said Steve Carlisle, president and managing director of General Motors of Canada.

The investment announcement at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto follows a 2013 investment of $250 million in new equipment at the plant .

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The CAMI plant currently produces the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain. It employs about 3,000 workers.

Production of the Terrain is expected to move to Mexico in 2016.

The Ontario and federal governments praised the investment by GM.

“This welcomed investment underscores GM’s confidence in Ontario as a global leader in automotive manufacturing, and a great destination for building the next generation Chevrolet Equinox,” Ontario Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid said.

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The decision at the CAMI plan comes as workers at General Motors’ assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont., wait for the company to make a decision about that location’s future.

GM has said it does not expect to make any decisions about the Oshawa plant until “well into 2016.”

Oshawa has two production lines including a flexible manufacturing line and a consolidated line.

The flex line builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Camaro convertible, Chevrolet Impala, Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS, while the consolidated line builds the Chevrolet fleet Impala and Chevrolet Equinox.