Automotive News Canada - September 2017 - v2 - 3

SECOND FRONT
Tanguay receives
Order of Canada
Former Toyota
Canada president
brought Lexus
brand to Canada,
built a plant in
Woodstock, Ont.,
brought innovation
to the industry
By PERRY LEFKO

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

RAY TANGUAY, KNOWN AS
Canada's Car Czar, has been
awarded the Order of Canada,

Ray Tanguay "has long been a
pillar of the Canadian automotive sector." ( P H O T O : T O Y O TA )

one of the country's highest
civilian honours.
The former president and
chairman of Toyota Canada
received it for his role in
expanding Canada's manufacturing industry. He was one
of 30 Canadians honoured in a
ceremony Aug. 25 in Ottawa.
"Ray Tanguay's exemplary leadership has long been
a pillar of Canada's automotive sector," reads a post on
the Order of Canada's website.
"Job creation, innovation and
stability were the hallmarks
of his tenure, and he helped
chart the way forward for
Toyota [in Canada] as a multinational corporation."
Tanguay has received an
honorary doctorate of engineering from the University
of Waterloo and an honorary
doctorate of law from Wilfrid
Laurier University, which
he said were both fantastic,
but receiving the Order of
Canada is the "pinnacle" of all
awards.
"That's the ultimate

SEE A HUMBLE PAGE 26

Key newsroom additions
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA HAS ADDED TWO EDITORIAL
members, including a full-time reporter based in
Toronto.
John Irwin, 24, joins the publication as a
general-assignment reporter. He arrives from
Automotive News in Detroit. Previously, he was
an intern for Bloomberg News, where he covered the auto industry from its Detroit bureau
in 2014, and corporate finance in New York in
Irwin
2015. Irwin is from Westland, Mich., and graduated from Central Michigan University in 2015
with a degree in journalism and political science.
Dave Guilford becomes managing editor,
based in Detroit. Guilford, 68, previously worked
as news editor of Automotive News, managing editor of Automotive News International and
General Motors reporter.
Prior to Automotive News, he was managing editor of Detroit Business, a metro business
weekly published by Crain Communications, which publishes Automotive News Canada. Guilford previously worked as a
reporter and editor at four Michigan newspapers. - ANC

09.17

NISSAN'S NEW STORE DESIGN

Airy, see-through
- and expensive
At HGregoire Nissan Chomedey, tablets are provided for customers to spec out vehicles.

(PHOTO: JOHN IRWIN)

'Everything has to be
transparent. We have nothing
to hide,' says Nissan Canada
President Joni Paiva
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

LAVAL, QUE. - A DECADE FROM NOW,
Canadian Nissan dealerships will look a lot
like this.
HGregoire Nissan Chomedey was built from
the ground up as a model for what the automaker's global NREDI 2 dealership design template should look like nationwide. Gregoire
marked its opening in August by hosting a
group of top Nissan executives and media.
Nissan Canada President Joni Paiva said
NREDI 2 - Nissan Retail Environment Design
Initiative - is meant to emphasize transparency above all else. He said the HGregoire
store reflects this in everything from its large,
swooping glass windows that allow customers
to see outside and into the service centre to its
open showroom floor that places the customer
lounge in the middle of it all.
"Everything has to be transparent," Paiva
said. "We have nothing to hide."
He said the NREDI layout will help
Canadian dealers establish additional trust
with customers.
"We have designed this concept around the
customer. Many things aren't necessarily tangible, but it's about conveying free movement
inside the store," he said. "And they can see
how their car is being maintained."

PLANS TAILORED TO DEALERS' NEEDS
Nissan unveiled its NREDI 2 design initiative globally last year. Paiva said 12 Canadian
Nissan dealerships have made the switch
to the new layout. Eighteen are in construction right now, and another 70 are signed on.
He said half of the Canadian dealer network
would be completed by 2022.
Nissan Canada would not disclose how
much renovations or new construction would
cost the average Canadian dealership, though
it is clear they are costly. HGregoire said
it spent about $50 million opening two new
Nissan stores in September.
Paiva said Nissan Canada and architects
work with each dealership to tailor plans to
the store's needs. While each store should look
more or less the same on the surface level,
each location has elements on the back end
that dealers requested.
"We are flexible with dealers in taking into
account their needs," he said. "We value a lot
of their input professionally."
Kevin Ouellette, an associate architect at
R.H. Carter Architects Inc. who oversees much
of the architectural planning for NREDI stores,

SEE NISSAN STORES PAGE 26

Large windows and a sense of transparency
are the essence of the new NREDI2 dealership design, Nissan says. ( P H O T O : N I S S A N )

TRANS-CANADA NEWS 5,000 KILOMETRES OF STORIES
Two new dealerships
for Le Prix du Gros
TROIS-RIVIERES, QUE. -
Construction is under way on two
new concessions for auto dealership
group Le Prix du Gros, here and in
Laurier-Station, Que. At the site on
Highway 40 in Trois-Rivières, the
consortium is building one of the
province's largest used-vehicle centres with a surface area of more
than 30,000 square feet (2,800 square
metres) over two floors that can
house more than 200 vehicles.

After the acquisition of Sylvain
Chevrolet of Laurier-Station in 2016,
Le Prix du Gros also undertook the
construction of a new Kia outlet in
this city on the outskirts of Quebec
City. In addition, the automotive
group recently launched a media
campaign featuring its new spokeswoman, Synvain Rénove, an anti-hero who makes humorous postings
on social-media networks. "We did
not want to [hire] a big star," said
Yanick Lecours, marketing director.
"We preferred someone accessible

for whom our customers can identify
[share] a smile."

New look for Rallye Mitsubishi

GATINEAU, QUE. - RALLYE
Mitsubishi officially celebrated its
grand opening June 8, even though it
began receiving customers in January
this year. The dealership became the
first in Canada to show Mitsubishi's
new corporate image and colours.
Despite having about 50 people
on site, the open-concept structure
is vast with 28,000 square feet (2,600

Rallye Mitsubishi is the first
Mitsubishi store in Canada with
the new corporate design theme.

square metres) of open space. Rallye
Mitsubishi chose to adapt to its young
clientele by abolishing closed sales

SEE TRANS-CANADA PAGE 26

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - September 2017 - v2