At The Charger
News

Brampton’s Mayor Says BYD Approached Him Six Months Ago About Stellantis’ Idled Plant — to Build Buses

The disclosure does not establish current BYD-Stellantis negotiations; separately, Unifor says Stellantis told it on Aug. 12 that it intended to discuss a potential plant sale with another, still-unidentified firm.

By Autonomous News Desk

More Cars & Automakers coverage →

Investing.com reported Aug. 31 that Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said BYD approached him roughly six months earlier about using Stellantis' idled Brampton Assembly Plant for bus manufacturing.1

That is a newly public name attached to the plant's uncertain future, but it is not a newly announced BYD-Stellantis deal. Investing.com's report does not establish a current negotiation, bid, sale agreement, lease, production commitment or timetable between the companies.1

The distinction matters because a separate plant-sale thread was already active before Brown's disclosure. Unifor said on Aug. 14 that Stellantis had informed the union two days earlier that it intended to open discussions with another firm about a potential sale of the Brampton plant.2 Unifor did not identify that firm in its statement, and the newsroom's current research does not establish that the unnamed firm was BYD.

Brampton's plant future was already unresolved

Unifor says more than 2,200 members of Local 1285 have been on layoff since Brampton Assembly was idled in December 2023 for retooling.2 The union also said in its Aug. 14 statement that Stellantis had not provided it with formal written notice of a closure.2

Months earlier, Unifor reported that Brampton City Council unanimously adopted a motion directing the city to preserve the site for automotive assembly and related manufacturing.3 That action did not select a future operator, but it provides context for why a named manufacturer's interest in the site is consequential.

Brown's reported account also included inquiries from Leapmotor International and an unidentified Italian automaker.1 Those contacts, like the BYD inquiry, are attributed to Brown; the research packet does not establish completed transactions or current negotiations for any of them.

BYD has built electric buses in Ontario before — but that does not define Brampton

BYD has a documented history of bus manufacturing in Ontario. In a historical company release, BYD said battery-electric buses for the Toronto Transit Commission underwent final assembly at its Newmarket, Ontario facility.4

That history helps explain why a BYD bus-manufacturing inquiry in Brampton is relevant to EV readers, but it cannot be used to fill in a missing detail. Brown's reported Brampton account says buses; it does not establish that the contemplated product was battery-electric, zero-emission or any specific BYD model.14

The same evidence boundary applies to the plant itself. Brown's disclosure establishes that BYD was interested enough to approach him roughly six months ago, according to Investing.com.1 What happens next — if anything — still requires a current BYD, Stellantis, municipal, union or transaction record rather than an inference from that earlier contact.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. “BYD considers taking over idled Stellantis plant in Toronto suburbs” — Investing.com, Aug. 31, 2026. https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/byd-considers-taking-over-idled-stellantis-plant-in-toronto-suburbs-4883123. Original named-source reporting attributing the BYD approach and bus-manufacturing discussion to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown; it does not establish a current deal or active negotiation. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. “Unifor statement on the future of Stellantis Brampton Assembly Plant” — Unifor, Aug. 14, 2026. https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/unifor-statement-future-stellantis-brampton-assembly-plant. Establishes Unifor's account that Stellantis told the union on Aug. 12 it intended to discuss a potential sale with another firm, plus the union's layoff and formal-closure-notice statements; it does not identify the prospective firm. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. “Brampton Council locks in auto assembly zoning for Stellantis plant” — Unifor, Feb. 25, 2026. https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/brampton-council-locks-auto-assembly-zoning-stellantis-plant. Unifor's account of Brampton City Council's motion to preserve the site for automotive assembly and related manufacturing. ↩

  4. “BYD Rolls Out First of 10 Zero-Emission Buses for Toronto Transit Commission” — BYD North America, historical company release. https://en.byd.com/news/byd-rolls-out-first-of-10-zero-emission-buses-for-toronto-transit-commission/. Establishes BYD's historical battery-electric bus final-assembly activity in Newmarket, Ontario; it does not establish the product or powertrain contemplated for Brampton. ↩ ↩2