General Motors has announced that it will be laying off 500 employees at its Canadian factory due to a decline in demand for its all-electric BrightDrop vans, as reported by CNBC.

According to GM, the decision to cut jobs is not related to the ongoing trade tensions initiated by President Donald Trump. The company will be reducing its operations at the CAMI plant in Ontario by eliminating one of its two shifts and idling the facility for a period of 20 weeks, starting in May.

This development marks the latest challenge in the brief yet eventful history of BrightDrop. General Motors established BrightDrop as a separate entity within the company in 2021, but later integrated it back into the company in 2023. In 2024, BrightDrop’s vans were subject to a recall due to several instances of battery fires. Later that year, General Motors transitioned the BrightDrop unit under the Chevrolet brand.