Automotive News Canada - February 2021 - 1

M&A SPOTLIGHT: WHO'S BUYING AND WHY/P18-19

FEBRUARY 2021 | VOL. 5, NO. 2 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION

SALES

Less on the lot to sell but higher profit per vehicle

By GREG LAYSON

D I G I TA L A N D M O B I L E E D I T O R

AT THE TAIL END OF A COVID-19induced lockdown in Ontario that
began on Boxing Day, Toronto dealer
Shahin Alizadeh called January sales
a " bloodbath. " Analysts, however, held
a brighter market view as the spring
selling season approaches.

Microchip
shortage
compounds
supply woes
Plants are being
idled once again,
when the number
of cars on lots was
already thinning
By JOHN IRWIN

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

A GLOBAL SHORTAGE OF
a tiny computer part is
expected to continue creating
big probfor
COVID-19 lems
automakers and dealers in Canada
well into 2021, exacerbating
a shortage of vehicles the
industry has been dealing
with throughout the COVID19 pandemic.
" You're having suppliers
and different
manufacturers now once
again having
to temporarily
Reuss:
idle their proMicrochip
duction [due
impact
to a shortage
depends on of microchips].
the vehicle
That's very
nameplate. worrisome
FILE PHOTO
for our dealers, " said Tim
Reuss, CEO of the Canadian
Automobile Dealers
Association (CADA).
" Vehicle supply is the life-

SEE CADA PAGE 22

Even with a January drop
of 17.4 per cent, signs
point to inventory issues
and not a troubled market

inces, but dealer profitability remains robust.
" January wasn't
great, but it's not
going to colour the
Alizadeh:
entire year or even
Calls
the first quarter, " said
inventory
Robert Karwel, the
shortage
senior manager of J.D.
" atrocious. " Power Canada's Power
FILE PHOTO
Information Network.

Indeed, Canada's 2021 sales year
got off to a " disappointing " start in the
wake of tight inventories and government lockdowns in a number of prov-

$1BCAMI
SURPRISE

SEE INVENTORY PAGE 22

Will EV
batteries
come from
Canada?
The industry would
have to start from
scratch, but the
only ingredient
that seems to be
missing is a plan
By JOHN IRWIN

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

ONTARIO PREMIER
Doug Ford's vision of a
made-in-Canada battery supply chain to support a budding electric-vehicle industry will
require a SUPPLIERS
massive
buy-in from the auto and mining sectors to become a feasible and necessary goal, industry experts say.
" It is very possible for
Canada to pull it all together, " said Conrad Layson,
alternative-propulsion
analyst at AutoForecast
Solutions, an industry forecaster based in Chester
Springs, Pa.
" Canada has the raw materials and the knowledge base.
What is lacking is the physical infrastructure. "
The Premier has said
Ontario - and Canada as a
whole - could become leaders in battery manufacturing. And multibillion-dollar

The rush to sign a deal
to build electric vehicles
and why the union didn't
want to gamble by
waiting
/P4
waiting/P4
ANALYSIS The viability
of GM's new electric
van business/P3

Despite the sagging volume, plenty
of positive signs exist, Karwel said.
New-vehicle sticker prices were
up five per cent over last January to
$43,000 on average, while incentives
continue to fall. Sticker prices are up
because automakers are answering
consumer demand for high-priced,
high-margin light trucks and SUVS,

SEE THE FUTURE PAGE 23

Buy Sell Dealership Expertise

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www.LACLTD.CA 647.223.3855

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http://www.AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA http://www.LACLTD.CA

Automotive News Canada - February 2021

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