EVwire brief: Stellantis is in early discussions to assemble electric vehicles from its Chinese partner Leapmotor at its idled Brampton, Ontario plant. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from Doug Ford and Unifor due to concerns about jobs, supply chains, and the use of imported knock-down kits.
The proposal would involve assembling vehicles from knock-down kits shipped from China a model that typically requires fewer workers and limited participation from domestic parts suppliers. This knock-down kit proposal indicates that vehicles would be assembled from pre-manufactured components shipped from China a strategy Leapmotor already uses in markets such as Mexico and Brazil.
The Brampton assembly plant was originally expected to play a key role in Stellantisโ electrification strategy in Canada. As part of a $3.6 billion investment in Ontario, backed by more than $529 million in federal subsidies through Canadaโs Strategic Innovation Fund, Stellantis committed to retooling the facility to build electric Jeep Compass vehicles.
Under the agreement, Stellantis was required to:
Maintain an average of 4,475 full-time employees in Canada
Keep production running at Brampton through December 2035
That commitment changed in October 2025, when Stellantis announced it would move Jeep Compass production to Illinois, citing U.S. tariffs that made cross-border manufacturing uneconomical.
Canadaโs Industry Minister subsequently launched a formal dispute resolution process to recover subsidy funding. Since then, the Brampton plant has remained inactive.
In 2023, Stellantis invested approximately $2 billion CAD for roughly a 20% stake in Leapmotor, forming a joint venture called Leapmotor International to expand global sales of Chinese EVs.
The proposed plan for the idle Brampton plant has already sparked strong reactions from provincial leaders and labour groups representing workers previously employed at the site.
Premier Doug Ford called the plan โunacceptableโ and said his government is โdead againstโ the talks, citing concerns that the knock-down kit approach would reduce employment and exclude Canadian suppliers.
Unifor National President Lana Payne also raised concerns about the limited economic impact of the proposal, stating that the arrangement would:
Use very few Canadian workers
Exclude the domestic supply chain
Provide minimal manufacturing value locally
Similarly, Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association (APMA), warned that assembling Chinese knock-down kits could freeze out hundreds of Canadian auto parts suppliers.
A traditional assembly plant like Brampton typically supports thousands of direct jobs and tens of thousands more across supplier networks, while knock-down kit assembly operations create significantly fewer positions.
The proposal comes shortly after Canada reduced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
In January, Prime Minister Mark Carney reached an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to lower Canadaโs tariff on Chinese EV imports from 100% to 6.1%, the most-favored-nation rate. You can learn more on this agreement by checking out the EVwire article: Canada decided to let Chinese EVs in, starting with 49,000 per year
If the Leapmotor assembly plan proceeds, it would represent the first major Chinese automotive investment in Canada following the tariff changes.
As it relates to the U.S., policymakers there have strongly opposed Chinese vehicles entering their country and therefore, if Leapmotor EVs were to be assembled in Brampton, would likely be limited to Canadaโs domestic market.
Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin confirmed that Stellantis is reviewing options to ensure any investment decision is sustainable but did not confirm details about the Leapmotor proposal.
SOURCE: Bloomberg
