Automotive News Canada - November 2017 - 1

CARTRADICTION: WHY NO EVS IN POPULAR CATEGORIES?/P3

NOVEMBER 2017 | VOL. 2, NO. 11 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION

NAFTA LOOPHOLE: 23-year-old-deal allows today's tech to slide through

Common technologies such as radar,
lidar and lithium ion batteries aren't on the
tracing list because they didn't exist in 1994
By JOHN IRWIN

TORONTO BUREAU

THE NATIONAL-ORIGIN
rules that are a key point of
contention in North American
Free Trade Agreement negoti-

ations don't account for newer
technologies and are therefore
obsolete and ineffective.
An outdated list of parts to
be counted omits modern hightech components, meaning
that non-NAFTA parts can be

imported into the region without tariffs.
That represents a huge
loophole. NAFTA's tracing list,
used by companies to determine how much of a vehicle is sourced in Canada, the
United States and Mexico, has
not been revised since the pact
was ratified in 1994.
The list therefore includes
cassette players, rarely used
today. But it excludes options

NAFTA hasn't been updated
since it was signed, which
means new technology is not
accounted for. ( P H O T O : T E S L A )

such as touch-screen displays
and even CD players.

That allows those parts to
be built outside NAFTA but
not count against a vehicle
when determining how much
of its value was produced within the three member nations.
Under the agreement, at
least 62.5 per cent of a vehicle's
components must be sourced
from the three countries to
avoid a tariff.

SEE APMA PAGE 23

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT TAKING MONTHS
TO PAY EV REBATES TO DEALERS

Millions overdue
r
rdue

Retailers caught out
for six months or more
paying interest on money
they fronted on good faith
By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

AUTO DEALERS SAY THAT
Ontario's payments under the Electric
Vehicle Incentive Plan (EVIP) have
slowed to a trickle, with an average
wait time of six months or more. Some
dealers are awaiting amounts of more
than $500,000.

"They owe me, just in my BMW
store and my General Motors store,
about $780,000," Chris Budd told
Automotive News Canada. Budd is
the owner of Budds' Group of companies, which operates nine dealerships
in Oakville and Hamilton, Ont. "Just
the GM dealers alone in the Greater
Toronto Area - not all of Ontario,
just the GTA - I believe they owe
them $2.3 million and counting.
"It seems like about five months
ago they just stopped paying. They
gave no notice to dealers that there
were any issues.
The receivables just started to mount up.

There seems to be a massive backlog.
You don't get calls back from anybody."
Wait times for rebates on EV sales
in Ontario initially averaged two to
three months, dealers say. Provincial
officials say they fell behind as the
volume of rebates grew, but have
drawn up a plan to improve payment times.
Meanwhile, dealers have
substantial unpaid balances.
Robin Pawlak, controller at Barry Cullen

Chevrolet-Cadillac in Guelph, said that
the dealership has received only three
payments from EVIP since the end of
August and is owed $644,000 as of early
November.

SEE ONTARIO PAGE 23

Dealer Chris Budd says his
GM and BMW stores are
owed $780,000 by the Ontario
government for EV rebates.
(PHOTO: BUDDS' GROUP)

ITS World Congress in Montreal

MESSAGES TO AUTOMAKERS ARE LOUD AND CLEAR

1) AUTONOMOUS-TECHNOLOGY FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
2) GET INVOLVED IN SMART-CITY PLANNING
Pages 24/25
http://www.AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - November 2017
