Automotive News Canada - September 2019 - 19

* S E P T E M B E R 2019

Quarterly reporting touted as more relevant than monthly
CONTINUED FROM PA GE 1

chief communications officer based in
Auburn Hills, Mich.
GM and FCA will next report Canadian
quarterly sales in October. That has industry insiders reconsidering how they as
well as manufacturers will conduct business in the future.
Robert Karwel, senior manager of J.D.
Power's automotive practice in Canada,
said the change makes sense for automakers.
"Stepping back away from that 30-day
cycle is probably a good thing because it's
healthier to focus on a longer portion of
time," Karwel said.
"Thirty days is not a trend; it's a point
in time. They should just be treated as a
point-in-time number, that's it.
"But our nature is to look at it ... and
panic and feel compelled to act. We can't
stop ourselves from reacting to those numbers."

MONTHLY ANOMALIES
But quarterly reporting won't necessarily minimize industry temptation to use
incentives to help boost monthly sales figures, he said.
"Each automaker is still going to know
what their own internal numbers are like
for the month, and if they need to react,
be certain that they will," said Karwel.
"However, what a quarterly reporting
window should do is help push us, at least
in the direction, where sales programs
are designed from the onset for perhaps a

60-day planning window, to try to get away do our own reporting and where we can
from the swings of a 30-day sales horizon." add value and insight into the trends," she
said. "So, I think you're going to get a comRebekah Young, a director of fiscal
bination of factors of others not reporting
and provincial economics at Scotiabank
on a monthly basis.
Economics, said monthly reporting forces
Young envisions a Canadian report on
dealers and automakers to lose sight of the
the industry which pulls in more
long-term view.
economic indicators, such as wage
"That is one of the challenges with monthly reporting: There
growth and retail sales, and how
is high volatility with sales that is
these indicators are doing relative
highly unpredictable and not relatto Canadian auto sales.
ed often to [economic] fundamen"This gives us space to look at
tals, when you look at short-term,
longer-term trends."
month-to-month data," Young said.
So far, on the ground, little has
"The monthly reporting puts
changed, said Chris Budd, dealer principal at Budds' Chevroletshort-term pressure on dealers and Chevrolet
dealer Chris
Cadillac-Buick-GMC in Oakville,
automakers to manage short-term
Budd: A
Ont.
numbers in spite of volatility. You
switch to
"When I first saw them [GM] do
might have to get your numbers up quarterly
through fleet sales or fire sales."
reporting has it in the States, I thought, 'I wonThat's exactly what happened
little effect on der how that will affect us?'" Budd
said. "But it doesn't really, on the
in July and August, according
operations.
dealer end. We still know what we
to Scotiabank Economics. Fleet
FILE PHOTO
did in a month, and we see what
sales grew by double-digits in both
others did around us.
months. Scotiabank didn't provide hard
"We know what our objectives are. It's
fleet numbers because they are proprietary.
sort of a nonissue for us."
"We may start delaying our Auto News
Budd dismissed the notion that GM
Flash by a day so we can report every
dealers might have an advantage by knowing their sales numbers internally and
month on fleet versus retail," Young said.
those publicly reported by the competiRETHINKING REPORTING
tion.
"Maybe it matters to the manufacturer,
The changes have the financial instituI don't know," he said. "But for the dealtion reviewing the future of data analysis
ers, it's neither here nor there." - ANC
because monthly data becomes "far less
reliable" as more automakers pull back
- Grace Macaluso contributed
from monthly reports, Young said.
to this report.
"We're going to have to rethink how we

Major political parties bark a lot, but where are the teeth?
CONTINUED FROM PA GE 1

plant, set to close in mid-2020.
"The red carpet going south
will continue," D'Agnolo
said. "Our governments need
to step up to the plate, but
they've been silent. They have
to put provisions in place to
stop this [job loss] from happening."
Industry groups, however, expressed confidence that
Canadian politicians will back
the industry's interests regardless of who wins the election.
"I
NEWS ANALYSIS think the
two main
parties get it when it comes
to the automotive sector,"
said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts
Manufacturers' Association.
"I'm not terribly worried with
one party over the other."
Mark Nantais, head
of the Canadian Vehicle
Manufacturers' Association,
said carmakers have forged
constructive working relationships with government,
regardless of political stripe.
"Whoever wins the election
... we look forward to working
with the government," he said.
"In Canada, the current government and the government
prior to that, everyone is interested in making Canada the
best investment environment
that we can."
The industry's priorities
will remain the same, regardless of which party is in government, he added.
"We'll continue to work
with governments on things
like investment supports,
reducing regulatory burden
and ensuring we have regu-

for instance, plans on endlatory cooperation between
ing vehicle assembly at its
Canada, the United States and
Oshawa, Ont., plant at the
Mexico."
end of the year, putCanada's three
ting more than 2,000
major parties will each
workers out of a job,
offer a distinct vision of
though the compawhere to take the counny will retain at least
try, and their plans for
300 employees for a
the auto industry will
stamping operation
likely be no different.
there. Fiat Chrysler
If Prime Minister
also plans to cut a
Justin Trudeau's
shift at its Windsor,
Liberals win, expect to
Mark Nantais,
Ont., assembly plant.
see more of what the
head of the
Toyota, however,
federal government
was the recipient of
has pursued in recent Canadian
$110 million in fundyears, including incen- Vehicle
tives for electric vehi- Manufacturers' ing from the federal
Association,
government in 2018
cles and using grants
said car
for a $1.4 billion overto attract investment.
makers will
haul of its Woodstock,
Conservative Leader
continue
Ont., and Cambridge,
Andrew Scheer has
to push for
Ont., factories. Honda,
pledged to scrap the
policies that
which announced
carbon tax, appears
aid trade.
in 2017 a $492-milnon-committal to EV
FILE PHOTO
lion upgrade to its
incentives, and has
Alliston, Ont., plants, received
touted tax cuts and deregula$41.8 million in federal funding.
tion as a way to attract investment. Jagmeet Singh's New
OPPOSITION MOSTLY COMPLAINS
Democratic Party wants to
expand EV incentives and has
It appears likely that the
called on the government to
Liberal government would
boost spending for auto investcontinue to offer grants and
ment.
other incentives as a way to
Polls as of press time indiattract investment into the
cated the race between the
country, along with pursuing
Liberals and Conservatives
trade deals that give manufacwas too close to call. A Sept.
turers access to new markets.
10 CBC News average of polls
A spokeswoman for Navdeep
showed the Liberals and
Bains, the federal minister of
Conservatives tied at 33.8 per
innovation, science and ecocent support, with the NDP at
nomic development, referred
12.9 per cent.
to his previous comments.
"We think we have a
PRODUCTION CUTS RUN DEEP
diverse economy that has the
Auto manufacturing could
ability to ... design [vehicles],
play a role in October's elecbuild them, commercialize
tion, as news of closures, shift
them. That's what our strategy is all about," Bains told
cuts and investment news has
Automotive News Canada eargenerated headlines in recent
lier this year.
months. General Motors,

If the Conservatives prevail, they appear likely to pursue tax cuts and deregulation
in a bid to win new business
for Canada.
"It is so important for our
country to have a competitive
business environment so that
the industry can employ people, so that it can innovate and
so it can attract investment
for the long term," said Dan
Albas, Tory critic for innovation, science and economic
development.
The New Democrats have
long called for a national auto
strategy, arguing that it is
needed to reverse the loss of
auto jobs and investment.
Brian Masse, MP for
Windsor, Ont., and NDP critic on autos and economic
development, said that while
Canada has attracted about $6
billion in investment since the
Liberals took power in 2015,
Michigan has drawn about $13
billion from the Detroit Three,
alone.
"The age of innovation in
auto is here and [the Liberals
are] nowhere in the game.
We need an auto strategy
now," Masse said during a
recent debate in the House of
Commons.
Unifor's D'Agnolo said any
government incentives granted to the industry should come
with job guarantees.
"There's been incentives by
governments and there are no
conditions on those incentives.
There has to be provisions on
the percentages of parts being
built here and on the number
of vehicles being built here."
- ANC
- Greg Layson contributed
to this report.

TRANS-CANADA NEWS
5,000 KILOMETRES OF STORIES
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ago. The Audi store is
not associated with the
nearby Volkswagen outlet, which belongs to the
Humberview Group as
does the Chevrolet-GMCBuick dealership across
the street.
- Jeremy Sinek

Genesis lands
on Vancouver Island

VICTORIA, B.C. -
Genesis Motors Canada
launched its 22nd location
in Canada, July 3, and its
first on Vancouver Island,
in partnership with the
Kelowna-based Kot Auto
Group.
Genesis Victoria
will feature the Genesis
"omni-channel" business
model that includes an
online sales platform and
at-home service. A brickand-mortar Genesis Retail
Experience Centre will
open within the next couple of years, said brand
spokesman Jarred Pellat.
In the meantime, the
Genesis at Home service
will meet clientele at their
residence or place of business for test drives, consultations or vehicle deliveries, Pellat said. It also will
pick up an owner's vehicle for scheduled maintenance and service within
a 50-kilometre radius of its
temporary base at Victoria
Hyundai. - Joe Knycha

New ONCDA GM not
from the car world

OTTAWA - WITH A
background in administration, not vehicles, the new
general manager at the
Ottawa New Car Dealers
Association (ONCDA)
soon realized one thing.
"There's so much to learn,"
said Roberta Rainville.
The bilingual Ottawa
native brings with her a
decade of experience in the
non-profit sector, which
should be helpful.
The association board,
headed by Vik Dilawri, has
assigned Rainville with
reviewing the ONCDA
strategic plan. She's also
examining its bylaws to
ensure they comply with
upcoming changes to
Ontario's not-for-profit legislation.
And she's learning
about automobile retailing.
From her most recent
role as executive director of the Funeral Service
Association, another
industry in which many
family-owned businesses
are giving way to corporate groups, she can see
some similarities.
For the rest, with a
membership of more than
80 dealerships in Ottawa
and Gatineau, Rainville is
confident she has "experts
I can go to when I have
questions."
- Robert Bostelaar

Automotive News Canada - September 2019

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