Our daughter Dr. Laura summed up the Volkswagen GTI succinctly: “I want to buy this car.”

She and her siblings learned how to drive in our VWs, so they have what I call a “post-judice” towards them.

That’s a word I made up, indicating judging after (“post”), not before (“pre”) the fact.

My tester was a 2020 car, the soon-to-be-replaced A7 body style (officially now “MK VII”, but most VW-philes stick with the old nomenclature).

Pricing for my tester started at $30,845. It had the “Autobahn” package, the seven-speed dual-clutch manumatic (DSG) gearbox, and the “Advanced Driver Assistance Package”. This brought the total to $39,895. I said “started” (past tense) above, because the 2021 edition will come in Autobahn trim with that package, making its list price of $35,995 look like a bargain.

Subtle red badging, a red line across the grille, and the lovely 18-inch wheels will be the only clues that yours is the GTI model. The interior in some ways reminded us of our 2003 Jetta Wagon. VW figured out long ago how to do things like mirror adjustment and window controls, so why change?

One thing that has changed is you can now turn the headlight switch full right when you buy the car, and never touch it again. As all cars should, its lights go off when you shut the car off, after a time delay to let you get to your front door. The dash displays looked familiar too, although there’s tons more information now. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both supported. There’s even a lap timer function if you’re taking the car onto the track, and no head-up display.

The SatNav screen is bright, but for whatever reason, I had to re-configure the map whenever I switched the screen to another function. As usual, it will take a while to figure out what all the buttons and controls do.

Interior trim quality, fit and finish may be a small step down from our car, but they’re still pretty good. Heated seats and steering wheel are included. The seats also fit both father and daughter perfectly, with just the right balance of comfort and support. The rear seat is a bit snug for adults, but the flat roofline and big rear doors make access easy. The hatchback body style means easier access to the sizable trunk.

One key feature my tester had that won’t be available in the 2021 car is the “delete leather seat” option. The almost-plaid upholstery may not be to everyone’s taste, but I liked it. Besides, you’re sitting on it, not staring at it.

The turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine develops 228 horsepower at a peak of 6,200 r.p.m. and a healthy 258 lb-ft of torque from 1,500 to 4,400 r.p.m. This provides strong performance, accompanied by a suitably sporting exhaust note. Shifting, as you would expect from the dual-clutch gearbox, is absolutely seamless. If you think you can shift better than it can (hint: you can’t…) you can either use the steering wheel paddles, or the gearshift lever.

Sadly, VW gets the latter backwards. This just has to be back to upshift and forward to downshift. How did this get by their test drivers? One behaviour I have not experienced before with VW DSGs, and one I only noticed on occasion here, was a slight hesitation when starting from rest. It felt like the engine revved up, then released its automatic clutch before slinging me down the road. Other times, response was immediate; not sure what was going on there.

The drive mode selection system lets you tailor the car’s behaviour to the circumstances, or your mood. The settings – Eco, Comfort, Normal, Sport and Custom – are largely self-explanatory. The car’s brain chooses from a variety of things like throttle response and damper behaviour to suit.

I left it in Sport most of the time because that’s the kind of car this is.

Ride quality is on the firm side, but I found it fine, even on our winter-ravaged roads.

The tester had winter tires, so absolute grip levels weren’t high. But the crisp steering and well-sorted handling made the car a delight to drive. There was a hint of torque steer – a tugging on the wheel in quick corners – but corrections by both driver and the car’s Directional Stability Control system soon sorted that out.

And I always smile when VW’s clever back-up camera pops out from behind the VW logo on the tailgate to show the view behind. This means an always-clean screen.

I’m not sure to what extent this car impresses simply because we’re so familiar with VWs.

But there’s a singularity to this car, a wholeness, a sense that all of its functions work together in near-perfect harmony. This has been characteristic of GTIs in the past. It’s still here now.

The vehicle was provided to the writer by the automaker. Content and vehicle evaluations were not subject to approval.

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If Canadian automotive manufacturing is an orchestra of sorts, then Jerry Dias could be viewed as the conductor.

Dias has made a 40-plus year career of union work, from beginning as a shop steward to being elected National President of Unifor in 2013. But his watershed moment came this autumn when he successfully negotiated collective agreements with all three Detroit automakers to keep vehicle production in Canada, including crucial commitments for electric vehicle production thanks to investment from the federal and Ontario provincial governments.

For spearheading this achievement that has brought Canadian auto manufacturing back from the brink, Dias is the Toronto Star Wheels 2020 Newsmaker of the Year.

Earlier in 2020, calling the situation in Canadian auto manufacturing dire was no exaggeration. General Motors halted the lines at the Oshawa assembly plant in December 2019, ending more than a century of production. The Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Windsor Assembly Plant, which produces the automaker’s minivans, cut its third shift on July 10 when Dodge Grand Caravan production ended, eliminating 1,500 jobs. And rumours began to swirl in June that the Ford Edge was about to be discontinued, leaving the fate of the Blue Oval’s Oakville Assembly facility in the balance.

Meanwhile, negotiations were under way to activate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a revised North American free trade agreement often referred to as the “new NAFTA.” Securing favourable terms for Canada in that agreement acted as a keystone for the automotive collective bargaining that followed soon after the USMCA came into force, Dias told Toronto Star Wheels.

“We were the only union that was really hands-on, and we never missed one round of bargaining,” Dias said. “So much of the final [USMCA] has our fingerprints all over it.”

Dias cited victories such as softening the Trump administration’s proposals around the percentage of a vehicle’s content that must originate in the United States, plus the added requirement that at least 45 percent of a vehicle built under USMCA must be at labour rates of at least USD$16 per hour. These examples of Unifor’s influence set the stage for the collective bargaining that was to follow, he said.

“[It] put some barriers around the industry that would protect workers in the United States and Canada, but also it was about elevating the standard of living for Mexican auto workers,” Dias said. “A Mexican auto worker should be able to afford the vehicle that they build.”

Less than a month before the USMCA was enacted, the other shoe dropped: Dias received a tip confirming that the Edge’s days were numbered and Oakville Assembly would need new product to survive. With that knowledge in hand, and with encouraging phone calls from Ford executives who were willing to collaborate on a solution, Unifor selected Ford as the first of its three collective bargaining targets in late September.

The result of that first round: a $1.8-billion investment in retooling Oakville to build five new battery electric vehicles beginning in 2025, products that had previously been earmarked for Mexico, plus a new derivative for the company’s engine plant in Windsor.

The second round of negotiations with FCA ended with the automaker committing $1.58 billion for the its Ontario-based plants. Windsor will be retooled for additional plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles with at least one new model headed to the plant, resulting in the third shift being recalled and up to 2,000 jobs created by 2024. In addition, Bramalea Assembly will build three new variants of the Dodge Charger and Challenger and will continue to produce the Chrysler 300 sedan, and the Etobicoke Casting Plant will see two new products and an investment of $14 million.

These commitments to Canadian EV production in particular were make-or-break for the industry, Dias said.

“There have been over $300 billion worth of global announcements on EVs, and not one nickel had been allocated to Canada,” he said. “Forecasters are saying that by 2040, 50 percent of the world market will be electric vehicles. … If you’re not in the game today, then you’re out.”

In the final round of negotiations with General Motors, the shock announcement was the resurrection of Oshawa. The line will start back up in 2022 building light and heavy-duty pick-ups, heralding a $1.3 billion investment and the return of 1,700 jobs to Oshawa alongside $109 million in upgrades to the engine plant in St. Catharines.

Dias said Oshawa can only restart because it was never fully decommissioned and dismantled. Instead, it was converted to produce aftermarket parts, a 10-year arrangement that was a direct result of Unifor’s negotiations with the automaker when vehicle production stopped in 2019.

“We basically got a stay of execution,” Dias said. “We bargained that GM would maintain the integrity of the plant, which [maintained] the ability to build vehicles in the future.”

After many months of careful strategizing – “the ultimate chess game,” as Dias called it – the end result was three home runs with three automakers investing profoundly in the future of Canadian automotive manufacturing.

The scope of this victory is enormous, from securing a future for Canadian parts suppliers to establishing a domestic supply chain for electric vehicle battery production that will inject millions more dollars into the Canadian economy.

But Dias said his rewards come through seeing first-hand the impact these deals will have on the people they’re designed to help most: Canada’s humble and hard-working auto workers.

“My father, two of my sisters, my nieces and nephews live in Oshawa,” he said. “Manufacturing shut down, including the entire auto industry, for a period of time. You lost your job, and then the pandemic hit and there was no chance of finding other employment. It was the deepest, darkest moments that people can live through.

“[With the news that Oshawa would resume production,] all of a sudden the whole community changed. The mood changed. Now, things are going to completely rebound. Their despair has changed. It’s replaced by hope.”

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The nine finalists for the North American Car of the Year (NACTOY) awards for 2021 have been announced. Here are this year’s finalists listed in alphabetical order within each category:

Car of the Year:

Genesis G80

Hyundai Elantra

Nissan Sentra

Truck of the Year:

Ford F-150

Jeep Gladiator Mojave

Ram 1500 TRX

Utility Vehicle of the Year:

Ford Mustang Mach E

Genesis GV80

Land Rover Defender

The final round of voting takes place in early January 2021, and the winners will be revealed on January 11.

“In this very challenging year, these nine vehicles emerged as our Finalists out of an unusually strong field of 27 Semifinalists,” said NACTOY president Gary Witzenburg. “Each one of them – especially the 15 in the ultra-competitive utility vehicle category – is excellent in nearly every way. Not to mention the automakers’ unusually difficult challenge of getting our 50 jurors from all over North America into their candidate vehicles for testing and evaluation prior to our later-than-usual voting deadline.”

“Just as individual car buyers have their own purchase criteria, each of our 50 expert jurors has his or her own individual process for evaluating candidate vehicles,” said NACTOY Vice President Jack R. Nerad, “which results in a robust and comprehensive competition that looks at the contenders from every possible angle. We are proud of the vast experience and diversity of our panel of jurors.”

Two of those 50 jurors, Lesley Wimbush and yours truly, are Wheels regulars.

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As racing is finished for 2020 – and good riddance to this awful year, I say – here are the top 10 motor sport stories of 2020.

1. THERE WAS RACING:

The fact that there was racing at all, post-Rolex 24 at Daytona in January and the Daytona 500 in February, was a miracle in itself. Word of the coronavirus was around earlier than that but nobody got terribly excited about it, including the World Health Organization. When the pandemic was declared in mid-March, though, the world ground to a halt. Racing – all kinds, from Formula One to IndyCar, IMSA and NASCAR – was threatened. Pro racing drivers were playing video games, it was that bad. All sanctioning bodies were frantic to find a way to run because of television contracts and sponsorship money that depended on performance. NASCAR was the first to go, without spectators, and little by little the rest of the leagues followed suit. Spectators were allowed in at some venues but, for the most part, people got their racing fix via television. Even the Indy 500 was run without people present – in August, three months late. That’s the good news about racing in 2020. Here’s the bad news about 2021: it will probably be very much like 2020, even with the vaccine. Only when the numbers drift down to nearly zero will the doors of speedways and race tracks be thrown open and thousands of people let in. My crystal ball says, don’t hold your breath.

2. GROSJEAN’S GREAT ESCAPE:

There have been big accidents in motor sport since racing began but the crash in the Grand Prix of Bahrain involving Romain Grosjean of Haas F1 was, without doubt, one of the worst. His car, out of control, hit an ARMCO barrier while traveling about 135 miles an hour. The car sliced through the barrier and separated, with the engine and gearbox going one way and the halo-protected cockpit another. A fuel line leading from the pump near the cockpit to the tank at the back was exposed and continued pumping fuel that immediately ignited, enveloping the cockpit. The medical car that chases the field on the first lap of any Grand Prix pulled up and Dr. Ian Roberts jumped out, stopping momentarily to turn on a fire extinguisher held by a momentarily confused corner worker before heading toward the fire and the cockpit where Grosjean was trapped. And then, out of the fire, came what appeared to be a ghost. It was Romain Grosjean, who jumped over the barrier and hobbled away with an injured foot, some banged-up ribs and slight burns to the backs of his hands. It was a miracle. There is no other word for it.

3. SOCIAL ACTION:

When George Floyd died in police custody in June – a police officer knelt on his neck for 20 minutes – it set off a firestorm of rage felt around the world. Lewis Hamilton, the only black driver in Formula One, convinced the series and his fellow drivers to pause for a moment before each race to show respect. The series agreed to promote the slogan “We race as one,” while Hamilton himself wore a t-shirt that said, “Black lives matter.” Meantime, Bubba Wallace, who convinced NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag, was the target, apparently, of a noose left hanging in his NASCAR garage. Whether it was meant for him or not, it resulted in NASCAR, its owners, other drivers, engineers and mechanics walking behind Wallace as he and his crew pushed his car to the front of pit lane at the race in Talladega – an incredible sight. NASCAR star Kyle Larson, meantime, was overheard using a racial slur during an online racing game and was fired by his team and suspended by NASCAR for the 2020 season. And Roger Penske is mentoring a minority-owned Road to Indy entry in the USF2000 series with the aim of having a black driver qualify to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 2023. No other sport did as much.

4. SAUDI ARABIA:

Formula One showed – or tried to show – that it had a social conscience in its dealings with racial intolerance during the 2020 season. And then, inexplicably, it announced it would race in 2021 in Saudi Arabia. Of all the Middle East countries, from Iran to Syria to Bahrain and the UAE, Saudi Arabia is the epitome of a country ruled by a ruthless dictatorship. Kidnappings, murder, false imprisonment and torture are a way of life in that par of the world. Never mind that part of the world: the news now is that the ruling prince sent a hit squad to Canada to try to rub out a critic. Of course, the royals running those places aren’t stupid. They hire the world’s best public-relations firms to improve their image. They get Tiger Woods over there to play golf and Roger Federer to play tennis. WWE rasslin’? You bet. The European LPGA Tour just held a tournament there in that liberal, tolerant country where women have equal rights (that’s sarcasm, folks). The prince sits down to be interviewed by retired but still-well-known TV personalities who lob the softball questions and that tyrant comes off sounding like he has nothing but love and affection for his fellow men and women (unless they’re members of his family and he has them all in jail). And people around the world go on social media and see this stuff and say, “Hey, those folks aren’t so bad after all.” Liberty Media, the company that owns F1, is so hungry for money that they ignore all this. They pretend they don’t know they’re being used for propaganda. But they are and they should be ashamed. Lewis Hamilton took the lead in making the series stand up and acknowledge racial injustice. Now he has to say, “I’m not going to race there until all political prisoners, including all the women, are set free.” Unless that happens, if F1 carries on and goes to Saudi Arabia, it will be a black mark that may never be erased.

5. HAMILTON WINS SEVENTH TITLE:

Lewis Hamilton won his seventh world championship this season, tying Michael Schumacher. He will likely re-sign with Mercedes for at least a year and that will probably give him his eighth, making him the greatest of all time. Or does it? (Of course, he could retire, as some are suggesting, because of what happened to Romain Grosjean, and he would remain tied with Schumacher for all time. But I think that’s unlikely.) Now, there have been arguments since motorsport began as to who was the best driver: Vukovich, Fangio, Hawthorne, Nuvolari, Villeneuve, Clark, Stewart, Fittipaldi, Andretti, Gurney and on and on. I tend toward Schumacher because he, essentially, created the team that designed and engineered the car that he drove to five consecutive championships (of his seven in total). Others disagreed, as a Twitter debate showed. What I particularly admired about Schumacher was that when he won a race, he thanked each and Ferrari employee at the circuit individually. One year in Montreal, I watched as he emerged from the debriefing as the “roadies” were packing up for the flight back to Europe. He ran up to them, grinning and high-fiving with them all. He looked genuinely happy to be in their company. Schumacher never lost a championship to a teammate. Hamilton did. And George Russell proved just about anybody can drive that Mercedes. Despite what they might say about him going to the factory to visit, he’s a cold fish around the race track, not paying particular attention to anyone, never mind people on his team. Two years ago, in Montreal, people scattered as he bombed through the paddock on a scooter (the other drivers all walked). Seconds later, a big, overweight, man went running after him. It took a moment for the penny to drop: it was his bodyguard, struggling to keep up. Lewis might not see it, but Schumacher would never do that.

6. ELLIOTT NEW NASCAR CHAMP:

Seven years ago, in 2013, Chase Elliott won his first NASCAR race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park right here in Canada. Now he’s won his first NASCAR Cup championship and let there be no doubt, there’s plenty more where that came from. The 25-year-old son of NASCAR favourite Bill Elliott (Awesome Bill from Dawsonville), Chase Elliott went from the trucks the following year to win the 2014 Nationwide stock car series, the first rookie to win a NASCAR national title and the youngest champion in that league. He was the 2016 Sprint Cup rookie-of-the-year and voted by the fans as the Cup series’ most popular driver. His first Cup win came on the road course at Watkins Glen in 2018, showing his versatility. He, of course, had a great tutor in his father. The late Dean McNulty told a story of that first trucks race at CTMP in 2013. “They were coming out of their trailer and Chase had his collar open. ‘Do it up,’ said his father. ‘There’s a sponsor logo there and you always have to promote your sponsors.’ The-then 18-year-old did it up. “The old man wasn’t leaving anything to chance,” Dean said. And the Dean of Speed was right: a credit to his sponsors and his sport, Chase Elliott is now a big-league champion at age 25, with a long career in front of him.

7. DIXON WINS SIXTH INDYCAR CHAMPIONSHIP:

I was lucky enough, in 2001, to be in Nazareth, Pa., for a CART race that was won by Scott Dixon, who was driving for PacWest Racing at the time. Roger Penske was the Grand Marshal for that race – his Penske Logistics and Penske Truck Rental companies are headquartered in nearby Reading, Pa. and the grandstands at the now-demolished Nazareth Speedway were full of people wearing souvenir red-and-white Penske dress shirts – and he was asked to say, “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines.” But the microphone cut out after the word, “Gentlemen,” which was a bit of a letdown for everybody. That victory, by the way, was Dixon’s first in Indy car racing and in 2003 he moved to Chip Ganassi Racing, where he’s been ever since and where he’s won all his championships, starting that same year and continuing through 2008, ’13, ’15, ’18 and this year, 2020. Of course, in 2008, he also won the Indianapolis 500. Dixon is a regular participant in long-distance sports car races and has announced plans to run in next January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. He is one of the finest racing drivers and one of the finest family men in racing.

8. JOHN FORCE TAKES A YEAR OFF:

The NHRA lost its biggest star and his entire Top Fuel and Funny Car teams in 2020 when John Force announced before the season started that he would not be competing. Neither did Funny Car champion Robert Height or former Top Fuel champion Brittany Force. Force kept his situation close to the vest but finally had to explain his decision. He simply didn’t feel he could give the value his sponsors expected with COVID-19 around. And there was something else that was unsaid: the 16-time drag-racing champion is 71-years-old. People over 65 are statistically more vulnerable and the last thing a senior needs is to come down with the virus. Good for John Force. It’s better to not race in order to race another day. Hopefully, we’ll see Force and his teams back on the straight line in 2021.

9: JIMMIE JOHNSON MAKES A MID-CAREER CORRECTION:

I think Jimmie Johnson is having a mid-life crisis. I think he thinks he’s 21 again. The seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, including five in a row (and don’t kid yourself; he had a much tougher road to hoe than Michael Schumacher ever did) is no longer competitive in Cup, so has decided to go IndyCar racing. In his prime, nobody was better in NASCAR than Jimmie Johnson. Working with his legendary crew chief Chad Knauss, he was just about unbeatable. But that pairing hasn’t been together for a few years now and Johnson hasn’t been very competitive. At 44, he was close at times, but no cigar. He didn’t even make the playoffs this season and almost half the field qualifies for the playoffs. So rather than bow out gracefully, Johnson struck a deal with Chip Ganassi and he will race the IndyCar road and street courses next year with Tony Kanaan running the ovals. He will also race in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The 24 is a marathon and Johnson could conceivably do okay but the IndyCar Series is something else. As is the case with NASCAR, IndyCar is undergoing a changing of the guard and the new drivers are all young and hungry. I wish Johnson the best of luck but I hope he doesn’t get run over.

10: JASON HATHAWAY, ED HAKONSON WIN FIRST NASCAR CANADA CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Now, I know there are going to be people who will say that there should be an asterisk, or something, beside the names of Hathaway and Hakonson but I don’t care if it was three races or six or two dozen: NASCAR Canada promoted a shortened Pinty’s Series season because of the coronavirus and when the races were over, Hathaway, the driver, and Hakonson, the owner, were the champs. And the really nice thing is that it was the first championship either has won. Hathaway came ciose to the title in 2015, finishing second. He decided to step back from running full-time in the series in 2016, starting select races in Ontario and the Maritimes. He returned full-time in 2019 and won three of six races to win the 2020 championship. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. His car owner, Ed Hakonson, was stricken with polio as a child but never considered it a handicap. He went snowmobile racing and was involved in motorcycle racing. He started sponsoring cars in the CASCAR Super Series in the 1980s and continued to this very day, finally winning a championship in 2020. Well done, Ed. You are a credit to the sport. Oh, and you’re a nice guy too.

Norris McDonald / Special to Wheels.ca

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When I heard the Oshawa GM car assembly plant was reopening, I was genuinely happy for the 2,500 employees who had lost their jobs two years prior. This was also good news for Canadian labor, especially during a global pandemic crisis where jobs are scarce, let alone saving a manufacturing facility that’s been building GM cars and trucks for over a century. Go Oshawa! – I thought as I read the news.

But I also wondered: what gives? Two years ago, General Motors CEO Mary Barra was categoric about her decision to close a large chunk of Oshawa. The move, apparently, had to do with the Detroit giant restructuring its entire business, focusing on the sale of SUVs and reinjecting money for the development of EVs. Sadly, the poor old Chevy Malibus and Cadillac XTS’ built in Ontario were just not part of the GM’s future, hence the closure.

So what happened? Why did GM return on its decision by reinvesting $1.3 billion in the facility? I sat down – remotely, or course (because COVID) – with David Paterson, the vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs at GM Canada for some insights.

“We Just Never Gave Up”

The first and immediate question I asked David was the obvious one: would GM have returned to Oshawa if it wasn’t for Unifor’s – the trade union in charge of overseeing operation at Oshawa – grueling fight?

Paterson’s answer was obviously not a simple one, revealing just how complex the entire endeavor has been. Yes, it’s true that Unifor played a large role in getting Oshawa back to near full capacity, but it was also thanks to a series of key events, and a bit of luck, that it all finally came through.

“We never stopped fighting since the start. From day one, Jerry Dias (Unifor president) and I worked tirelessly to come up with solutions that would convince GM’s head office to roll back on its decision”

The first win for David and Unifor was securing a deal for manufacturing parts dedicated to vehicles like the GMC Acadia, Chevrolet Traverse and Chevrolet Equinox SUVs. The $170-million investment may not have saved all the lost jobs in Oshawa, but it still allowed some 300 workers to maintain their salaries, while keeping Oshawa relevant to the eyes of General Motors. Together, David and Jerry felt this was the first step into potential negotiations for a possible return in Ontario.

The next step was to showcase how flexible Oshawa could be by coming up with innovative manufacturing processes that would not only speed up manufacturing, but also save costs. With extremely limited resources, the facility put together a new paint process for GM trucks. Oshawa, by the way, was still responsible for final truck assembly. The process essentially consisted of separating the truck’s bed from its body to facilitate painting. This didn’t go unnoticed at GM.

Thank You Pandemic

But while David Paterson and Unifor kept fighting, a decision had to come from higher up at General Motors. That decision would be triggered by two key events that, believe it or not, had a lot to do with the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The first significant COVID-related milestone for Oshawa was its ability to turn around quickly and manufacture face masks for the Canadian population. This not only showcased Oshawa’s commitment to its community, but further demonstrated its ability to reinvent itself given its limited resources.

The pandemic also spawned another interesting phenomenon: the spike of truck sales. Patterson believes that because North American consumers are mostly not travelling these days and locked down at home, they have been rewarding themselves by buying new toys. And the numbers prove it. ATV, boat, camper, and trailer sales have spiked since this all started. Inevitably, so did trucks sales.

As Mary Barra herself so eloquently put it: “we can’t build them fast enough”

This spike in truck demand forced The General to reconsider its manufacturing capabilities, which is precisely when Oshawa returned to the table. As former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau once said, “luck is when preparation and opportunity meet”. And Oshawa was ready.

Now Looking Ahead

GM’s reinvestment in Oshawa means the facility will oversea Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Heavy Duty truck assembly as of January 2022. A second work shift will then be added in March 2022 for the 1500 series. According to Dias, a third shift could be added during summer of 2022 due to high truck demand, although this has yet to be confirmed.

More importantly, Oshawa will be retooled to become flexible and accommodate future vehicles. While it’s still not confirmed that GM’s upcoming electric trucks, i.e. the GMC Hummer EV, will be assembled in Ontario given the mandate was given to the Orion, Michigan facility, Patterson admitted that in an electric future, Oshawa will inevitably inherit some of that overlap.

The investment will also oversee the continuation and expansion of the McLaughlin advanced technology test track. This is where further development on autonomous technologies, the evolution of GM’s Super Cruise system, as well as several components that’ll find their way into future GM vehicles will be developed.

When I asked how David felt about this win, he simply responded by saying it will go down as one of the most memorable moments of his career. He also went on saying how challenging it has been to put forward Canadian culture and manufacturing knowhow in a company that is so top heavy and diverse.

“You know, GM is a great company. It’s always willing to listen to new and innovative ideas if you bring the right arguments to the table. We never gave up, and we always had faith in the Canadian workforce. I’m proud of the entire team at Oshawa and Unifor. Together, we proved that when you have a vision and you’re confident, anything can happen.” – David Paterson, the vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs at GM Canada

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