Automotive News Canada - February 2017 - 6

* FEBRUARY 2017

Practical
LUXURY
Canadians love their
luxury tall wagons;
competition grows
By STEVE MERTL

VA N C O U V E R C O R R E S P O N D E N T

DETROIT, Mich. - FORGET
electric vehicles and autonomous cars, at least for now; the
real action in the auto business remains the burgeoning
market for tall wagons, especially from profitable luxury
category.
Whether it's higher-trim
versions of a broad-range
model or stand-alone luxury
badges, demand in Canada has
grown and automakers recognize their importance to the
bottom line.
"There's a general movement towards wanting the

creature comforts and the technology that goes with the higher models," Mike Sparanzini,
brand manager for GMC and
Buick in Canada, said in an
interview at the recent North
American International Auto
Show in Detroit, Mich.
GMC used the Detroit show
to unveil its redesigned midsized 2018 Terrain, whose topline Denali trim is expected to
make up a big chunk of total
sales. Meanwhile, Chevrolet
debuted a new Traverse that
will feature a High Country
trim package above its existing
Premier edition, which stickers at almost $53,000 for the
current model.

FULL-SIZE, PLUG-IN HYBRID
Audi, which has three Q
model tall wagons ranging
from about $35,000 to $62,000,
pulled the wraps off a Q8 plug-

Audi's new Q8 is a likely competitor to the Mercedes-Benz
GLE and the BMW X6. ( P H O T O : A U D I )

From the moment Jaguar added the F-Pace to its lineup of cars, the wagon became the top
seller for the company. ( P H O T O : J A G U A R )

in hybrid full-size SUV at the
Detroit show that will head
for production later this year.
Audi noted its Q5 (starting
MSRP in Canada is roughly
$51,000) accounted for more
than 25 percent of the company's North American sales.
Luxury brand Cadillac,
which had record retail sales
in 2016, expects to expand its
three-model tall-wagon lineup perhaps as soon as 2018,
doubling its presence, said
Mahmoud Samara, Cadillac
Canada's managing director.
New models with the most
growth potential will get priority, Samara said in an interview. For instance, he said,
Cadillac does not have a small
luxury utility to compete with
BMW's X1, the Mercedes GLA
or Audi Q3.
"A lot of customers attracted to those vehicles are the
urban city customers, which
is where the growth is coming
from," Samara said.
Mercedes-Benz showed a
freshened GLA compact wagon
at the Detroit show, while
Nissan displayed its tech-laden
QX50 concept, likely a harbinger of the production version.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is
luxurious and also agile as
the company touts sportscar-like athletic ability.
( P H O T O : A L FA R O M E O )

FCA's Alfa Romeo division
unveiled its Stelvio wagon at
the Los Angeles Auto Show
last fall, while the F-Pace has
become Jaguar's best-selling
model in Canada. Its affiliate Land Rover saw Canadian
sales spike 18 per cent in 2016.

FAVOURABLE FACTORS
Canadians' desire for luxury wagons has been helped
by sustained low-interest
rates and loan terms up to 96
months, along with stable fuel
prices, which make owning
and operating them less onerous.
Many manufacturers see
the same opportunity, result-

ing in more entries in the luxury category, Samara said.
The key is to clearly differentiate the Cadillac brand and
its products from its mainly
German competitors, he said.
For Sparanzini that means
aiming Buick's battery of wagons (Encore, Envision and
Enclave) at educated affluent
women, offering a more cosseted environment.
GMC, with its rough-andready truck heritage, skews
more to men, albeit with profitable luxury touches. Top-line
Denali models make up 24 per
cent of GMC sales in Canada,
said Sparanzini.
The fact there are more
players in luxury categories does not trouble Dieter
Zetsche, chairman of Daimler
AG and head of Mercedes-Benz
car division.
"Our success is not based
on a lack of competition,"
Zetsche said in a brief interview at the Detroit show.
It's just the opposite, he said.
Increased competition challenged Mercedes to raise its
game, "which seems to prove
we do some things right."
- ANC

Urban planner says traffic engineers have 'ruined' cities

'We're stuck in a
debate between a
car-centric society
and mass transit'
By JIL McINTOSH

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

DETROIT, Mich. - WIDE roads
and city streets encourage
speeding and reduce safety,
delegates attending a City of
Tomorrow symposium heard
at the recent North American
International Auto Show here.
City planner and urban
designer Jeff Speck says existing projects that make cities
safer do so mostly by throwing
out current designs.
Traffic engineering
has "ruined" many North
American cities, he said, "and
it stands in our way as we try
to make these cities better."
He said the United States
loses 10.6 people per 100,000
to traffic deaths every year,
while Canada loses 6.0/100,000.
He did not account for the

large disparity between countries.
Research shows that
attempting to clear congestion
by adding lanes only makes
the problem worse, he said, as
highway projects in California
and Texas have proved. Road
lanes are also wider than
they've been in the past, which
encourages drivers to speed
up, endangering pedestrians.
In 2015, Speck worked with
Oklahoma City, deemed the
"least-walkable" city in the
United States, to rebuild 40
blocks of the downtown core.
By narrowing lanes, removing
unnecessary ones, introducing
bike lanes and on-street parking and increasing sidewalk
space, collisions and deaths
went down, while tourism
went up.

QUESTION CONVENTION
"When someone says a road
needs to be widened, call them
out," Speck said. "Now that
we know the problem, we can
work to a cure."
Wanis Kabbaj, who looks
after healthcare logistics at

United Parcel Service (UPS),
examined big-city traffic patterns from a biological standpoint.
"We have created cars that
can reach 130 miles per hour,
but (in cities) we drive them at
the same speed as 19th-century
horse carriages," Kabbaj said.
Looking at biological vascular systems, he saw a link with
traffic. "Biology moves gases
and proteins inside us," he
said, "but while we have some
tunnels and bridges, the vast
majority (of transportation) is
on the surface."
He envisions a future city
"3-D pattern" that eschews
wasted space. "We're stuck in
a debate between a car-centric
society and mass transit," he
said. "We should create systems that combine individual car comfort with trains and
buses."
Kabbaj's ideal is an urban
train where passengers would
board cars intended for specific areas, which would detach
from the train at the closest
intersection to take riders to
their final destination. - ANC

At a symposium at the recent Detroit auto show, urban planners explain how traffic flow and city living are entirely at
odds with each other. ( P H O T O : J I L M c I N T O S H )

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - February 2017