Pickup trucks are doing more than hauling trailers for General Motors: they are helping carry its earnings. On October 20, 2026, the automaker reported a roughly 22% increase in third-quarter adjusted core profit, supported by strong truck demand as U.S. electric-vehicle sales fell.
That makes Oshawa, Ontario, part of the story. Its assembly plant builds combustion-powered Chevrolet Silverados, linking Canadian manufacturing to one of GM’s most important businesses. Yet the picture is not simply trucks winning and EVs losing. GM’s Canadian EV sales more than doubled, while Oshawa’s future depends on specific production commitments—not the company’s profit total alone.
Core Profit Reaches US$4.1 Billion
GM reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of US$4.106 billion for the quarter ended September 30, up from US$3.376 billion a year earlier. The precise increase was 21.6%, or approximately US$730 million. Revenue rose 2.9% to about US$50 billion. Together, those results show that earnings improved considerably faster than revenue, an important distinction when assessing whether an automaker is simply selling more vehicles or generating stronger returns from its business.
The term “core profit” needs some care. GM’s adjusted measure excludes specified items that management does not consider part of normal operating performance; it is not the same as bottom-line profit. Net income attributable to shareholders reached US$3.335 billion, compared with US$1.327 billion a year earlier. Both measures improved, but by different amounts. For employees, dealers and suppliers, the useful takeaway is that GM’s financial performance strengthened—not that every operation became 22% more profitable or that each factory contributed equally.
Pickup Demand Strengthens the North American Business
GM’s U.S. light-duty full-size pickup sales increased 9% during the third quarter. Chevrolet’s Silverado lineup grew 5% overall, with its light-duty models rising 13%. Those gains stood out because GM’s total U.S. vehicle deliveries fell 5.5% to 670,974. Trucks were therefore providing support in a market where not every model was moving in the same direction. Commercial demand also helped GM maintain its position as the leading fleet seller.
The financial effect was visible in North America, where adjusted profit reached approximately US$3.6 billion and the adjusted margin rose to 8.7%, from 6.2% a year earlier. That margin measures the share of regional revenue retained as adjusted earnings. The distinction between volume and vehicle mix is central: selling fewer vehicles overall does not necessarily mean earning less. A contractor replacing a work truck and a family delaying an electric SUV purchase can contribute to very different outcomes within the same company’s results.
Oshawa Builds Silverados—but Not Every Silverado
Oshawa Assembly builds Chevrolet Silverado light-duty and heavy-duty pickups, making the Ontario plant directly relevant to GM’s truck business. GM identifies it as its only North American facility producing both versions on the same assembly line. The plant resumed vehicle production in 2021, giving the community a renewed connection to truck manufacturing. Its ability to handle different Silverado configurations is a distinctive feature within GM’s wider production network, rather than evidence that Oshawa supplies the entire market.
Two distinctions prevent that Canadian connection from becoming misleading. First, other factories also build Silverados: GM’s Flint Assembly in Michigan produces heavy-duty trucks, for example. Second, the Silverado EV belongs to a separate manufacturing operation, including Factory ZERO in Detroit-Hamtramck. Oshawa’s established truck role is in combustion-powered models. Consequently, an increase in Silverado sales cannot be converted directly into an Oshawa production increase, and GM’s quarterly results do not provide a separate profit figure for the Ontario plant.
New Investment Gives Oshawa a More Concrete Future
The most concrete evidence for Oshawa’s future comes from production commitments rather than GM’s earnings headline. In February, GM Canada announced C$63 million for stamping upgrades supporting next-generation full-size trucks. That investment built on C$280 million announced in June 2023. Stamping work supplies the metal parts needed to manufacture vehicles, making it an important link between a future product announcement and the factory equipment required to build it.
A further development arrived with the collective agreement ratified on August 30. According to Unifor, the deal secured C$144 million to add next-generation GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups at Oshawa and reaffirmed the C$63-million stamping investment. Those commitments predate October’s earnings announcement, and Sierra production remains a future assignment rather than an existing operation. The planned addition would broaden the plant’s truck lineup beyond its established Chevrolet products. For workers and local suppliers, however, an additional truck assignment provides something more tangible than an encouraging corporate profit figure: a specified product around which future manufacturing work can be planned.
Stronger Profits Do Not Automatically Restore Lost Shifts
Strong truck earnings do not automatically translate into more shifts at Oshawa. Earlier in 2026, GM’s reduction from three shifts to two eliminated approximately 500 jobs at the plant. The August bargaining report subsequently said Oshawa was expected to operate on two shifts throughout the new collective agreement, based on customer demand and company production forecasts. That is a more specific guide to the employment outlook than the assumption that higher corporate profits must immediately reverse earlier staffing cuts.
The agreement also includes a practical response to layoffs. Eligible production employees can receive C$50,000 retirement incentives, with accepted opportunities at the Oshawa complex allowing one-for-one recalls of workers on indefinite layoff. The process is planned to run into 2027 and depends on eligibility, participation and operational requirements. For a household waiting for a recall, those conditions matter directly. The contract creates a route back for some workers, but it should not be described as a blanket hiring announcement or a guaranteed restoration of the third shift.
U.S. EV Sales Face an Unusually Strong Comparison
The U.S. electric-vehicle decline was substantial. Adding Kelley Blue Book’s figures for Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC produces 25,473 EV sales during the third quarter, compared with 66,501 a year earlier—a decrease of approximately 61.7%. Individual models show how uneven the adjustment has been. Chevrolet Equinox EV sales fell 92.4% to 1,905, while Silverado EV sales declined 58%. Those electric-pickup figures describe a different product from Oshawa’s combustion-powered Silverados.
The comparison also needs context. Cox Automotive reported that the overall U.S. EV market contracted 39.5% from the exceptionally strong third quarter of 2025, when buyers rushed to purchase before federal incentives expired. However, total EV sales increased 6.1% from the second quarter of 2026. Both statements can be true: electric vehicles sold far below last year’s incentive-driven peak while improving from the immediately preceding quarter. That does not erase GM’s decline, but it prevents a distorted conclusion that American EV demand is falling at the same pace every quarter.
Canada’s EV Sales Move in the Opposite Direction
Canada delivered a striking counterpoint to the American EV slowdown. GM Canada reported that its electric-vehicle sales increased 118.6% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier. Its total Canadian vehicle sales reached 74,101, although that broader figure includes both electric and combustion-powered models. The company highlighted an expanding electric lineup featuring vehicles such as the Cadillac Optiq and Vistiq, Chevrolet Bolt and Equinox EV, and Silverado EV. The Canadian results show why a U.S. sales decline should not be presented as a worldwide retreat.
Demand also strengthened elsewhere in GM Canada’s showroom mix. Combined sales of the Buick Envision, GMC Terrain and combustion-powered Chevrolet Equinox rose 12.3%. That gives dealers several sources of demand rather than a simple choice between gasoline and batteries. For manufacturing communities, however, retail success and factory employment remain different questions. An EV sold in Canada is not automatically built in Canada, just as a truck assembled in Oshawa may be purchased outside the country.
Lower EV Losses Help Earnings, but the Reset Carries Costs
GM’s earnings improvement is not only about selling more pickups. It also reflects efforts to reduce losses in its electric-vehicle business. In its October earnings presentation, the company said it expected EV losses to improve by US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion across 2026. That is a full-year expectation, not a separate profit gain already earned entirely during the third quarter. It helps explain why softer sales in a loss-making business can coexist with stronger adjusted corporate earnings.
The adjustment has nevertheless carried substantial costs. GM recorded approximately US$200 million in additional EV-related charges during the quarter, bringing its cumulative charges since the second half of 2025 to US$11.2 billion. That cumulative amount spans several quarters and includes both cash and non-cash charges; it is not GM’s loss for the latest quarter. For the company, the challenge is to improve EV economics while managing the consequences of earlier investment decisions. Strong pickup profits offer support, but they do not make the costs of restructuring disappear.
A US$20 Billion Buyback Accompanies a Cautious Outlook
GM paired its earnings announcement with a US$20-billion share repurchase authorization. It is a multi-year program, not a statement that the company immediately spent that amount buying its own stock. Repurchases can increase earnings per share by reducing the number of shares among which profits are divided. They do not, however, explain the 22% increase in total adjusted core profit, which is measured before that per-share calculation. The distinction separates operating performance from decisions about returning money to shareholders.
The outlook was more restrained than the headline profit increase might suggest. GM narrowed its full-year adjusted profit forecast to US$14.5 billion–US$15.5 billion, from US$14 billion–US$16 billion. The midpoint remained US$15 billion. Its revised adjusted earnings-per-share forecast had a midpoint of US$13.25, below the US$13.41 analyst estimate reported by Reuters. Investors therefore had to weigh a stronger completed quarter against expectations for the months ahead. Better recent results did not amount to an unqualified upgrade of every financial target.
The Next Truck Launch Will Test GM’s Momentum
GM’s next major test is renewing the products currently supporting its earnings. In her October 20 shareholder letter, chief executive Mary Barra highlighted the launch of the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty pickups, followed by new heavy-duty trucks and other major vehicles. The company is also developing battery technology rather than treating today’s truck success as a reason to abandon electric vehicles. That creates a demanding balancing act: protecting the business generating profits while improving products whose financial returns are still developing.
For Oshawa, the meaningful milestones are the equipment upgrades, next-generation Silverado work and future Sierra heavy-duty assignment already identified in company and union announcements. Their value ultimately depends on turning commitments into sustained production. The quarter offers a clear reason to take Canada’s truck manufacturing seriously, but not to overlook its workers’ concerns. GM’s results show the strength of pickups in its current business; Oshawa’s long-term opportunity is to remain an important part of that business as the product lineup changes.
