Automotive News Canada - July 2016 - 1

NEWS SPECIAL APMA CONFERENCE [PAGE16/17]

JULY 2016 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION

WHEN AUTOMOTIVE NEWS PARENT
COMPANY CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
researched the idea of a Canadian
news operation, you told us unanimously that you
wanted more coverage.
Automotive
News has been
reporting on
the Canadian
industry for
most of its
91 years,
but clearly there
are more sto-

Canada
will drive
GM's future
technology

1,000 new Canadian engineers
will guide autonomous, connected
and alternative-fuel vehicles
By KELLY TAYLOR

WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT

CANADA WILL PLAY A MAJOR ROLE
in deciding the global future of the world's
largest carmaker, as General Motors plans
to hire 1,000 Canadian engineers in the next
five years to research, design and prototype
autonomous, connected and alternative-fuel
vehicles.
From its Communitech research facility in Waterloo, Ont., to its software centre
in Markham,
Ont. and its
planned Urban
Mobility
Campus in
NEW
the heart of
Toronto, GM
TORONTO
Canada has
MOBILITY
been granted a
CAMPUS/P10
major stake in
the future of a
global brand bracing for significant upheaval
in how the world's population gets around.
"This is a real testament to the talent we
produce in Canada," said Jennifer Wright,
GM Canada spokeswoman. "With these
high-calibre graduates, the company believes
Canada doesn't have to take a back seat to any
other jurisdiction.
"This is a huge feather in the cap for
GM Canada, proving the company believes
Canada can lead in the future of connected
vehicles and the future of mobility."

WELCOME TO ISSUE 1
JEFF MELNYCHUK/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ries to tell from a real Canadian perspective.
Leveraging a century of Crain's
commitment to journalism, there is
a new suite of print and digital news
products dedicated to reporting on the
Canadian automotive business, from
automakers and suppliers, to dealers
and dealership operations, and finance
and insurance companies.

The Canadian automotive market is
a very different business culture with
a very different dynamic than the U.S.
market. There are nearly 2.4 million
vehicles built in Canada every year,
pumping $84 billion into the national economy. Aside from the numbers,
there are personalities and big issues
to cover.
To that end, we've enlisted report-

ers and editors from Moncton, N.B.
to Vancouver, B.C. But that's not all.
Automotive News Canada also has
the global team of Automotive News
writers, editors and researchers. That
means a commitment to delivering the
best news via a monthly printed product with up-to-date Canadian sales figures, an up-to-the-minute website full of
daily news stories, a weekly newsletter
delivered to your in-box every Monday
morning, and breaking-news alerts
whenever major events happen. Learn
more at www.automotivenews.ca.
With that, let's share our great stories. Welcome to the first issue of
Automotive News Canada.

COLD
PLAY
TAKATA RECALL

It's not actually hot enough in Canada
for the company's troubled airbags to fail (yet),
but 4.3 million are being recalled anyway.
Automakers, dealers pick up the pieces.
BY ROBERT BOSTELAAR
O T TAWA C O R R E S P O N D E N T

NOT ONE TAKATA AIRBAG IS KNOWN TO have misfired in
Canada, yet the impact of a worldwide recall for the safety-devicegone-wrong is resonating across the country's auto sector.
Already, 4.3 million airbags have been recalled in Canada to
replace inflators that can explode with too much force and scatter
shrapnel through a vehicle cabin. Globally, the recall could top 100
million units by 2019; the car industry's largest recall ever.
The cost of replacing all these devices, when the bill is finally totaled, will also be mammoth, and not just for Japanbased Takata Corp. and the multiple automakers it supplies. Canadian car dealers, caught with vehicles on
their lots that can't be sold until repairs are made,
are pressing for compensation.
For regulators, meantime, the airbag
debacle could add impetus to plans
to toughen Canada's recall laws.
And all for inflators believed
to pose little risk unless
exposed to years of high
heat and humidity that can
cause their ammonium
nitrate-based propellant
to degrade.

SEE ZERO TAKATA PAGE 21

SEE 1,000 NEW PAGE 10

HOW THEY DO IT

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

BEST PRACTICES

FCA DEALERSHIP WITH A TINY FOOTPRINT
HAS THE BIGGEST SALES IN CANADA P14

New Calgary
dealerships
keep popping
up despite
wretched
economy
Some owners say
it's too late in the
process to stop
now, while others
hope for a quick
rebound
By HARRY PEGG

CALGARY CORRESPONDENT

COME HELL, HIGH
water or an oil collapse
that has ravaged Alberta,
something seemingly strange is happening:
new dealerships are popping up like dandelions in
Calgary.
Oil is hovering around
US $50 a barrel and
Alberta is in a serious
economic downturn as
companies lay off workers; nearly 63,000 jobs
were lost in the province in 2015, according to
Statistics Canada.
But economic woes
- tens of billions of dollars in energy investment
alone have been canceled
or deferred - haven't
dampened the optimism of
auto dealers. They remain
bullish on the province's
ability to rebound, particularly in Calgary, which
was hard hit by the oilprice collapse, and where
60,000 in the Calgary census metropolitan area
were looking for work in
December, according to
figures from crown corporation Alberta Treasury
Branches Financial (ATB
Financial).
Five new dealerships

SEE CALGARY PAGE 21

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Automotive News Canada - July 2016

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