Automotive News Canada - June 2017 - v2 - 1

CANADA ON FIRE: MAY SALES SET ALL-TIME RECORD/P18

JUNE 2017 | VOL. 2, NO. 6 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION

Oh Canada, look how these automakers plan to celebrate
Bizarre activities, a vehicle giveaway and cross-country
trips are on the list of festivities for the Big Birthday
By MARK RICHARDSON
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

LIKE CANADIANS THEMSELVES,
car companies will mark Canada's sesquicentennial celebrations July 1 with
variety.

CHEVROLET has partnered with

ParticipAction to award prizes to contestants who sign up for "150 activities that define our land and people,"
such as lacrosse, snow shovelling and
sledge hockey. Each completed activity
gives a chance to win prizes that vary

CANADA

150

from Tim Hortons
gift cards up to travel
to the Grey Cup football game, and even a
$40,000 Chevy.

FORD also has a nationwide drive promotion, but is supplying established bloggers with Ford vehi-

BUILDING UP
By MICHAEL GOETZ

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

A TORONTO DEALER GROUP IS TAKING
business diversification to new heights - literally - partnering with a local real-estate developer to build a multi-brand auto mall complete
with 900 condos and "lots of retail."
Several years ago, the Downtown Auto
Group bought a five-acre (two-hectare) parcel of
land near Toronto's Don Valley Parkway where
it crosses over Queen Street East, with the
intent to build a traditional auto mall there.
But something happened in the interim:
Toronto real estate prices.
"At $20-25 million per acre, the current market price for land in this area, it
quickly became clear that the financial
model of the traditional auto dealership

wouldn't make sense for this property," said
DAG President Shahin Alizadeh.
"So, we started looking at options."
With condos selling in Toronto for $750 per
square foot, such a development seemed the
obvious use for such an expensive parcel of
land. But then, said Alizadeh, "where would the
auto mall go?"
DAG considered several options, like parceling the land, and scaling down the auto mall,
but none felt like the optimum solution.
Then Alizadeh had a fateful meeting with

cles to take photos at various Canadian
sites of their choosing. They'll use the
hashtag #GoFurther150 on their own
posts, and one winner will be chosen
to be awarded a four-day vacation in
Newfoundland.

HONDA will give away a new Civic at the
Blue Jays game on Canada Day, as it's

SEE AUTOMAKERS CELEBRATE PAGE 23

TORONTO LAND PRICES
DRIVE AUTO GROUP INTO
THE CONDO BUSINESS

SEE CITY GREETS PAGE 23

CITY WITHIN
ADowntown
CITY Auto
Group (DAG) owns
10 dealerships,
seven of which -
Toyota, Hyundai,
Genesis, Nissan,
Infiniti, Ford and
Lincoln - are moving into the new
Autoplex.
( I L L U S T R AT I O N : D A G )

DAG President Shahin Alizadeh
says that automakers recognize
the value of the community being
built around the dealerships.

SPECIAL REPORT: Engineer pool robust enough for growing tech needs
Fewer grads will have
to leave Canada to find
work in their fields
By JEREMY SINEK
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

CANADA HAS A LONG HISTORY IN
branch-plant assembly of other countries' cars. What has largely been missing is original-vehicle engineering
and research and development done in
Canada by Canadians.
But that's changing in a hurry.
General Motors is growing its prod-

uct-engineering head count in Canada
to 1,000 from about 350. Ford is investing $500 million in research and development, including 300 engineers
based in Canada, many at a planned
research-and-engineering centre in
Ottawa. Meanwhile, FCA's Automotive
Research and Development Centre (a
collaboration with the University of
Windsor in Ontario) last year celebrated its 20th anniversary with an injection of funding from the province.
Can Canada supply enough engineers to staff these facilities? That
doesn't seem to be an issue, according
to Jonathan Hack, a former GM engineer and now president of the Ontario

Society of Professional Engineers
(OSPE). For one thing, Hack says, a
study found "only 33 per cent of engineering degree holders worked in engineering jobs, so there's quite an opportunity."
Another study, by Engineers
Canada, reported engineering-school
enrollment had grown to 81,000 undergraduates in 2015, an increase of 32 per
cent from 2010.

LONG-TERM APPROACH
The growth of engineering opportunities in Canada is a big deal, says

SEE MANY ENGINEERS PAGE 23

GM Canada President Steve Carlisle,
himself an engineer, learns about
autonomous systems from engineers
at the University of Toronto.
(PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO)

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