Unifor Says Stellantis Likely Completed Sale of Brampton Plant to Roshel
The union believes the idled Brampton assembly facility has been sold to defence contractor Roshel, with an announcement expected next week.
The Unifor union said it believes automaker Stellantis NV has finalized the sale of its idle Brampton assembly plant in Ontario to defence contractor Roshel Inc. A source familiar with the transaction, who cannot speak publicly, indicated that the sale will be announced early next week and that Stellantis plans to lease the facility back for production, though details were not disclosed.
Unifor, which represents about 3,000 workers laid off when the plant closed in 2023, said it met with Stellantis on Friday. The company did not confirm or deny the sale, but Unifor’s national president Lana Payne said the refusal to comment was taken as confirmation that the plant has been sold.
Stellantis spokesperson LouAnn Gosselin said the automaker had “nothing to announce” on Friday afternoon, and Roshel declined to comment.
According to the source, the deal includes Stellantis repaying federal funds it received to retool the facility after its 2023 closure. Stellantis had previously announced a preliminary agreement to sell the plant to Roshel and reiterated that position in a statement to The Globe.
The plant was originally slated for Jeep Compass production, a plan later moved to Illinois, prompting criticism from the union and the federal government over alleged breaches of funding terms. Unifor ended collective-bargaining talks with Stellantis in September over the proposed sale.
Western University professor Fraser Johnson said the transaction appears to be part of Stellantis’s broader effort to address low profits, weak sales and excess capacity, noting that U.S. tariffs have further weakened the business case for operating the plant. He added that while the sale offers Roshel a rare opportunity to acquire a world-class facility, the shift from auto assembly to limited-run armoured-vehicle production is unlikely to generate the same level of employment or supply-chain activity.