General Motors Canada president Scott Bell says the automaker will bring pickup truck production back to its Oshawa, assembly plant.
The announcement came after the company reached a tentative contract agreement with Unifor.
The automaker says construction will begin immediately at Oshawa and will include a new body shop and flexible assembly module.
Oshawa pickup production is targeted to begin in January 2022.
Unifor's members are to vote on the new tentative agreement on Sunday. The union has unanimously recommended approval to its 1,700 members working at GM plants in the southern Ontario cities of St. Catharines, Oshawa and Woodstock.
GM says its planned new investments will include $1 billion to $1.3 billion at Oshawa with the expected hiring of 1,400 to 1,700 hourly workers as well as $109 million in St. Catharines, to support added engine and transmission production and $500,000 in operations at the Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre.
The news comes on the same day GM reported a huge jump in profits for the third quarter of the year, pulling in $4 billion in profit over three months.
In the U.S., GM's most profitable market where the pandemic has gone largely unchecked, sales fell 9.9% in the third quarter compared with a year ago.
That's still were a dramatic improvement over the 34% sales drop in the second quarter. And sales improved sequentially each month in the most recent quarter, the automaker said, an encouraging trend.
GM's profit was boosted by higher-priced pickup trucks and large SUVs, which have seen strong sales in the U.S. through the pandemic. It was the best quarter on record for GM's Chevrolet Blazer. Sales of the Cadillac XT6 spiked 45% in the U.S. over last year. Large pickups also sold well.