Automotive News Canada - March 2018 - v2 - 8

OPINION

03.18

Canada Congress
learning curve
JEFF MELNYCHUK

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THE AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA CONGRESS NEVER FAILS TO
reveal new trends, epiphanies and quotable quotes. The second
annual event took place Feb. 15 at the Four Seasons Hotel in
downtown Toronto.
The format allows speakers ample talk time at the podium and
then Automotive News Canada
editors grill them on stage
about what they've said. It's
informative, largely unscripted
and, well, a lot of fun.
Turn to pages 16-18 for
detailed coverage of the speakers, but consider this column a
list of three of our favourite
highlights.
1) HASN'T EVERYONE SEEN
"THE TERMINATOR" MOVIES BY Magna CEO Don Walker reads
a story about Don Walker in the
NOW? LIKE, EVERYONE?
February edition of Automotive
Foteini Agrafioti, chief sciNews Canada at the Canada
ence officer for RBC Royal
Congress in Toronto, Feb. 15.
Bank, is pretty calm about arti- ( P H O T O : J E F F M E L N Y C H U K )
ficial intelligence (A.I., if you're
new here) and she gave a fascinating talk that had the audience
riveted even if it had absolutely nothing to do with cars. Zero.
In a nutshell, A.I. learns whatever it's tasked with so quickly that
a new benchmark for speed needs to be found because humans
just aren't good enough anymore. Agrafioti, whose talk focused on
predicting purchase patterns, was calm and even smiling when she
said that A.I. is only doing small tasks and only what it's being told
to do. Fascinating stuff, but I've seen
"The Terminator."
The second annual
2) MAGNA CEO DON WALKER
ACTUALLY DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU
Automotive News
THINK ABOUT HIM. REALLY.
Canada Congress
Not one to ever mince words,
brought several hundred Walker, in the middle of a supplier
industry professionals panel discussion, received raucous
after slamming the Ontario
together to get insight applause
government for its new labour law
on the industry.
(Bill 148) that dramatically increases
minimum wage in the province.
Coupled with high electricity costs, Walker said that the government seems hell-bent on driving business out of Canada.
"I want to be vocal because quite frankly ... I don't really care
about what people think of me or the company. Somebody's going
to speak up and say, 'Look, if you're running a brand and if you're
going to criticize the government, they can lambaste you and can
hurt your product.'" Magna doesn't have a brand, so people have
nothing to not buy when they disagree with him.
3) A DEALER-STAFFING CRISIS RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES
Technology in new cars is rapidly advancing, making it a challenge for dealers to land and retain qualified service staff. But a
dealer panel also warned that technically adept staffers who are
increasingly needed to sell the cars - still others are needed to
run the dealership - are in desperately short supply.
"You can imagine if the auto-parts manufacturers and the banks
are having trouble attracting quality people, how difficult is it for the
automobile dealer?" said panel participant Michael Croxon, CEO of
NewRoads Automotive Group. You've been warned. - ANC

EST. 1925.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
KEITH E. CRAIN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
K.C. CRAIN, GROUP PUBLISHER
JASON STEIN, PUBLISHER

DAVE VERSICAL, DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS, AUTOMOTIVE NEWS GROUP

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

NEWS DEPARTMENT

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For the new TPP, companies stand
to win, but Canada stands to lose
IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT
corporate Canada and Big
Labour agree, especially when
it comes to free-trade deals.
But there is no denying Unifor
and the majority of automakers
and parts suppliers are on the
same page when it comes to
the revamped Trans-Pacific
Partnership.
Unifor, which represents
thousands of autoworkers, simply hates the deal, now called
the Comprehensive and
Progressive Agreement for
Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP). The Automotive Parts
Manufacturers' Association
(APMA) - though not every
one of its members - can't
stand it either. And the deal
"concerns" the Canadian
Vehicle Manufacturers'
Association (CMVA), which represents the Detroit Three in
Canada. The Global
Automakers of Canada and
Japan Automobile Producers
Association approve of the
deal, which isn't ratified.
I know stances. I've talked
to representatives for all those
associations over the last
month and posted a number of
stories on our website. So as
the nays pile up against the
yeas, I can't help but believe
- even if it's not true - the
deal is a raw one for Canada's
auto industry.

DIGITAL AND
MOBILE EDITOR
AUTOMOTIVE
NEWS CANADA

GREG
LAYSON

COMMENT
It lowers the percentages
that govern rules of origin to
well below current NAFTA standards. The fear is cars built in
Japan and shipped to Canada
will include a large number of
cheap parts from China. For
that reason, the agreement
does little to stimulate the
Canadian parts sector.
Oh sure, a few, such as
Linamar and Magna, which
both have growing footholds in
- you guessed it - China will
benefit. But, their Canadian
workers in Ontario will not; at
least that's the suggestion by
those against the trade pact.
It seems impossible that so
many groups - including
labour and management -
could so vehemently detest
something and that something
still be good in some way for
the Canadian auto sector.
Flavio Volpe of the APMA
and Jerry Dias of Unifor have
done a good job telling anyone
who will listen that the deal is
a dire one.

Dias says the deal is "harmful" and has "infuriated us,
Ford, Chrysler, GM and the
auto-parts sector."
Volpe has accused the
Canadian government of "trophy hunting" as it looks for
more free-trade deals. He
called the CPTPP's bilateral
arrangement with Japan to
resolve non-tariff barriers
"meaningless ... like a fancy
napkin stapled to a contract."
The CMVA says the deal
"will disadvantage auto companies" in Canada.
But Linamar praised the
deal.
"Perhaps those opposing
TPP are afraid of global competition, I am not. I don't agree
that it will be a negative for the
auto sector," CEO Linda
Hasenfratz said.
"Linamar has facilities in
China. They're going to win,"
Dias countered. "Linamar is
thinking about Linamar, they're
not thinking about Canadians."
No, trade deals don't benefit every industry. That's impossible. There are, for lack of better terms, winners and losers.
But deals are predicated on
give and take. And in the case
of the CPTPP, Canada seems to
giving up a whole lot of auto
and not getting much in return.
The majority can't be wrong,
can they? - ANC

Subtle vs. origami: Opposite
sides of the same design coin
KARIM HABIB, THE MONTREAL-RAISED
al renderings. More concretely, look at Mercedes'
designer leading Infiniti's global styling shop,
EQA concept, a preview of electric-vehicle design
voiced an interesting goal in a profile of him on
shown in Frankfurt auto show in 2017.
Page 10 of this issue.
On the other side of the specHabib said his goal is for
trum are brands that favour
MANAGING
Infiniti vehicles to have a subtle
blade-like spiky surfaces akin to
EDITOR
look, one that reveals its appeal
Formula One racers. Obviously,
gradually: "From a distance, the
brands such as Ferrari and
DAVE
first impression should be
McLaren use these designs to
GUILFORD
reduced, almost restrained. And
signal - and enable - perforwhen you get close, you feel the
mance capabilities.
intricacies, the beauty, the work
But you'll see similar energetiCOMMENT
that's been invested in it.
cally wrought surfaces in more
"In terms of form language,
mainstream luxury brands.
we're trying to clean things up," he said.
Cadillac has rounded its vertical lines somewhat
That puts Habib clearly on one side of a split
in recent vehicle generations, but Lexus in particthat has been emerging in luxury-vehicle design.
ular has shown a series of concept vehicles that
On one side, you have the clean-look minimalists.
marry racing signifiers with origami lines; one that
Probably the leader
stands out is the
of this group is
LF-SA shown at
Daimler design
the Geneva Motor
boss Gorden
Show in
Wagener, who has
Switzerland in
been smoothing
2015. Naturally,
Mercedes-Benz
these design exerOn one hand, smooth minimalist design for Mercedesvehicle surfaces.
Benz EQA Concept. On the other, plentiful knife edges on cises are toned
His philosophy the current Lexus NX. ( P H O T O S : M E R C E D E S - B E N Z , L E X U S )
down for producis that no
tion, but the draunneeded decoration should appear on vehicles.
matic lines survive in models such as the Lexus
As he put it in an interview with GQ magazine last
NX utility or the LS sedan (particularly the front
fall, "That is our design discipline: If we don't like
end).
something, we take a line off; if we still don't like
In this visual debate, who's right and who's
it, we take another line off - which is harder
wrong? That's for high-end shoppers to decide,
than adding lines, right?"
and judging by the success of Lexus and
He has expanded on his aesthetic in a book,
Mercedes, it might be that there are enough par"Sensual Purity: Gorden Wagener on Design,"
tisans of both design schools to make them viawhich shows some stunning futuristic architecturble. - ANC

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