Stellantis Explored Building Chinese EVs at an Idled Canadian Plant

Stellantis proposed assembling Leapmotor electric vehicles at its idled Brampton, Ontario plant using knock-down kits imported from China, according to reporting from Bloomberg and The Globe and Mail. Stellantis owns a 20 percent stake in Leapmotor.

The Brampton facility has been closed for more than two years after Jeep Compass production moved to Illinois and roughly 3,000 Unifor workers were laid off.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly rejected the knock-down kit assembly proposal in April 2026. Stellantis has federal funding obligations tied to a $529 million government package and must keep the Brampton plant operating until 2035 under the terms of that support.

The talks reflected Stellantis searching for lower-cost EV volume to fill idled Canadian capacity during a broader corporate reset, but Ottawa drew a line between full manufacturing and kit assembly from Chinese suppliers.

This is the most Canadian possible compromise, and Ottawa said no.

Stellantis wanted to keep Brampton warm by bolting together Leapmotor EVs from Chinese knock-down kits while collecting on $529 million in federal support that requires the plant to run until 2035.

Industry Minister Joly's April 2026 rejection draws a bright line: kit assembly is not the manufacturing Canada agreed to fund.

For GTA auto families, especially Chinese Canadian and Italian Canadian households with generations in the Brampton supply chain, the 3,000 Unifor layoffs are not abstract.

The plant has been dark for two years since Compass production left for Illinois.

A Leapmotor kit line would have brought some jobs back, but not the kind of engineering and stamping work that kept suburbs like Brampton and Mississauga prosperous for decades.

Stellantis owning 20 percent of Leapmotor explains the logic.

The company needs affordable EV volume and has Chinese partner product ready to ship.

Canada opening a 49,000-unit quota for Chinese EVs at reduced tariffs makes kit assembly look like a loophole: import the hard parts, claim domestic assembly, satisfy funding rules.

Joly's rejection closes that loophole for now.

The tension between jobs and brand identity is real in Ontario.

A Chinese EV built in Brampton is not a Grand Cherokee, but it beats an empty plant for workers who need paycheques.

Asian Canadian communities watching Chinese EVs arrive through the front door while Stellantis tried a side entrance will note the politics: Ottawa welcomes retail imports on its terms, not assembly shortcuts that undermine the manufacturing bargain taxpayers signed up for.