Automotive News Canada - May 2019 - v2 - 1

BEST PRACTICES: STORING 1,400 SETS OF TIRES UPSTAIRS/P7

MAY 2019 | VOL. 4, NO.5 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION

Canada uncompetitive? Toyota shrugs
As other automakers idle assembly lines,
Toyota touts Lexus NX production for 2022
By JOHN IRWIN

governments and a talented
labour pool that drives innovative thinking.
"Over time, we built a
FOR YEARS, CANADA HAS
reputation at
been known as a
[Toyota Motor
tough place to make
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing
money building
Canada Inc.] that
cars.
we're a good place to
Toyota sees things differently, crediting support from
the federal and provincial
SEE TOYOTA PAGE 4
TORONTO BUREAU

Auto executives berate
Canada's power costs,
corporate taxes and
uncompetitive incentives
for new investment. Toyota
has a different take, adding
Lexus NX production
alongside the related
Toyota RAV4. P H O T O : T O Y O TA

Suppliers
diversify

Responding to U.S. trade uncertainty,
Canadian companies explore new countries
and venture into nonautomotive territory
Linda Hasenfratz
of Linamar

By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

MOST OF LINAMAR CORP.'S SALES
growth in 2018 came from its nonautomotive
business, a sign that the global parts supplier's diversification strategy could be paying
off.
"Diversification is really to give us additional avenues in which to grow our business by [leveraging] off of our strengths in
manufacturing, purchasing, lean manufacturing [and] metal," Linamar CEO
Linda Hasenfratz told Automotive News
Canada.
"It wasn't born out of a desire to

Is India the
next Mexico?
PAGES 16-17

whittle down the automotive. I'd love to see
all of them grow. And if one of them starts to
grow faster than the other, OK, let's do that."
In March, the Guelph, Ont.-based manufacturer reported that its industrial division, which includes agricultural equipment
and aerial work platforms, more than doubled operating earnings to $346.2 million
while sales surged 70 per cent to $1.89 billion. Linamar attributed the increases to the
2017 acquisition of harvesting-equipment
supplier MacDon and "strong market share
gains for scissors [lifts]."

Jonathon Azzopardi
of the Canadian
Association
of Mold Makers

SEE AS LINAMAR PAGE 18

Mike Hicks
of mold
maker DMS

Tim Galbraith
of Cavalier Tool

$170-MILLION PLANT LIFELINE

Oshawa 2.0:

GM to become
a parts supplier
It's a first for the
automaker, which
will cater to the
aftermarket and
other suppliers
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

TORONTO - GENERAL
Motors' $170-million plan to
turn its Oshawa, Ont., assembly plant into a parts operation signals a new business
model for the automaker and
gives the factory a renewed
lease on life.
"Getting that kind of
money is more than a stay of
execution and does allow them
to live to fight another day,"
said Kristin Dziczek, vice-president of industry, labour and
economics at the Center for
Automotive Research in Ann
Arbor, Mich. "That's better
than closing."
GM plans to convert
Oshawa Assembly into a
plant producing parts for
vehicles such as the GMC
Acadia, Chevrolet Traverse
and Equinox crossovers. The
plant also will do stamping
for GM's CAMI Assembly
plant in Ingersoll, Ont., and
the automaker is in talks to
perform similar work for
suppliers including Magna
International Inc. and
Martinrea International Inc.
The Oshawa site will also
become home to a test track

for vehicles with autonomous
and other advanced technologies.

MORE THAN MANUFACTURER
"We are now so much
more than a vehicle manufacturing facility," GM Canada
President Travis Hester said
during a May 8 news conference held with Unifor
President Jerry Dias.
"We are integrated into
the future of our business,
the future of our development
and into an entire business
model for parts manufacturing and accessory, aftermarket parts and component sets
that will sustain us for at least
10 years."
Building parts for other
companies represents a major
shift in the way GM does business, especially since it spun
off its parts division to
create Delphi Corp., more
than 20 years ago. Automotive
consultant Ron Harbour said

SEE OSHAWA PAGE 23

RELATED
STORY/P23

The new autonomous-vehicle
test track for the Oshawa
Assembly site is viewed
as a feather in Canada's
technology hat.
I L L U S T R AT I O N : G M C A N A D A

New federal EV rebates: High-stakes trial by fire
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

CANADA'S AUTO DEALERS HAVE
plenty of reasons to be wary of a new
federal Incentives for Zero-Emission
Vehicles (iZEV) program designed to
energize sales of electric vehicles.
But those interviewed by Automotive
News Canada said a simple mix of
speed and efficiency could go a long

Spotty information, little
lead time for the May 1
rollout, and dealers are
fearful that Ottawa will
also be slow to reimburse

way in avoiding the pitfalls of similar
provincial EV rebate plans.
Oumar Dicko, an economist at

Oumar Dicko:
Concerned
whether the federal
government can
handle the rebate
volume
FILE PHOTO

the Canadian Automobile Dealers
Association (CADA), hoped that the
process would be seamless for consumers and retailers.
"I can only assume there will be a

lot of claims processed at the same time
across the country, so I hope the government system that is in place is efficient and works well enough so that we
can expedite the process," Dicko said.
"That's my concern at the moment
because I can expect there will be a lot
of claims processed when dealers can
actually submit them."

SEE REPAYMENT PAGE 6
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Automotive News Canada - May 2019 - v2

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