Automotive News Canada - May 2019 - 23

* MAY 2019

New Oshawa AV test track is 'linked'
to GM's other Canadian tech sites
Scaling down
manufacturing
while ramping up
tech footprint

indicator that Ontario is the
right place for r&d, product
development and commercialization of the technologies of the vehicles of the
future."
GM plans to build a test
By JOHN IRWIN
track on 55 acres (22 hectTORONTO BUREAU
ares) at Oshawa Assembly as
part of a $170-million investTORONTO - The autonoment in the factory. GM
mous-technology test track
Canada President Travis
that General Motors
Hester said the test
plans to build on the
track will support
site of its Oshawa,
the research being
Ont., assembly plant
done on autonomous
is the latest sign that
systems, active safeGM sees opportuty systems and infonities in Ontario's
tainment at nearby
tech talent, even
technical centres.
Raed Kadri,
as it scales down
of the
"Think of the test
Ontario
Canadian manufactrack as linked to the
Centres of
turing.
two vehicle developExcellence:
"This reinforcment sites we have
Ontario is the here in Canada,"
es that Ontario has
right place
strength in automoHester said at a May
to develop
tive innovation and
8 news conference.
vehicles of
plays a key role in
"We need to be able
the future.
what the future of
to [test] software
FILE PHOTO
vehicles will be,"
algorithms in a safe
said Raed Kadri, director of
way, and the test track is a
automotive technology and
perfect place."
mobility innovation at the
In recent years, GM has
provincially funded Ontario
invested heavily in Ontario
Centres of Excellence.
r&d, product development
"This is just another
and commercialization of the

technologies to take advantage of the talented labour
pool and leading researchers in artificial intelligence,
engineering and related
fields. The company has one
technical centre in Oshawa
and another that opened in
Markham, Ont., in 2018.
Kadri said such investments are crucial for the
province as it looks to
solidify itself as a major
North American tech hub.
Technology companies and
suppliers notice investments
that automakers such as
GM make in Ontario, helping spur them to invest there
themselves.
"Everybody looks to what
others are doing and notices that others have noticed
something here," he said.
In many respects, Oshawa
Assembly will become a
physical symbol of GM's
transformation in Canada.
The test track will be on the
site of a plant that was once
one of the largest auto factories in Canada. It will soon
employ about 300 workers
and will only make parts for
GM and, potentially, suppliers. - ANC

Oshawa's big plus is big stamping machines
CONTINUED FROM PA GE 1

building up Oshawa's stamping operations
gives GM a return on investment on the
plant's pricey machinery.
"The issue there is that [stamping] takes
a lot of capital investment," said Harbour,
senior vice-president of automotive and manufacturing at Oliver Wyman, a U.S.-based
global consulting firm. "Those presses are
really expensive. The presses that most
[automakers] have are large enough to build
multiple parts and large parts like body sides
and hoods.
"That kind of capacity hasn't been plentiful in the supply base, so they probably said,
'Look, we have a stamping plant here, and
we could use it.'"

FEW JOBS SAVED
But the new strategy, which resulted from
negotiations between union and management, will save only 300 of the 2,600 hourly
jobs that will disappear when vehicle assembly ends in December. Unifor expects the
number of workers to grow to 500 within
three years as GM adds more business at the
plant.
At its peak, the Oshawa plant was one
of the largest auto factories in Canada and
employed about 23,000 people.
About half of the plant's hourly workers will be eligible for retirement packages, while others will be able to transfer to
another GM Canada location. The rest will
be searching for new jobs, as will workers
at many of the suppliers that make parts at
Oshawa.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive
Parts Manufacturers' Association (APMA),
said keeping the plant operating provides
stability to the auto sector and keeps hope
alive for new-vehicle assembly for Oshawa.
"If you're a large supplier who has got a
big future regardless of General Motors in
Oshawa, at least your planning people will
continue to keep General Motors Oshawa
on a list of potential customers," Volpe said.
"Maybe not [in] three years, five years, 10

GM Canada President Travis Hester, upper
right, and Unifor President Jerry Dias
announce Oshawa Assembly's transition
to a stamping plant. It's a logical step, say
analysts, since such spare equipment in
the industry is rare. P H O T O : J O H N I R W I N

years. But you keep your eye on it.
"It's no consolation if you lost volume.
But if you're a supplier who has got a lot of
business in Ontario, especially on this end of
the highway in the [Greater Toronto Area],
a full closure by General Motors might have
given you pause for thought on your other
customers in Ontario."
While Unifor looks to one day return
vehicle assembly to Oshawa, the union
faces major hurdles, including declining
new-vehicle sales and excess capacity within GM's plants, said Dziczek of the Center for
Automotive Research.
Oshawa and two assembly plants in
the United States were unallocated in 2018
to reduce GM's capacity, she said. Yet
underused plants remain.
"You do need to see a whole heck of a lot
of new product and upswing in demand for
whatever GM might be building for them to
be able to need that plant," she said.
"[GM] had a million units of underutilized
capacity in 2018, and they might have hot
stuff on the shelves that they're going to put
into plants. But is it enough to bring production up by one million units? I don't know."
- ANC

A few jolts amid
April sales slide
Mitsubishi and
Toyota see hybrid
surge despite
an overall monthly
industry decline
nearing five per cent
By JEREMY SINEK

TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

THE NEW FEDERAL
Incentives for Zero-Emission
Vehicles rebate didn't kick in
until May 1, but Mitsubishi was
prepared.
As a result, April was the
best month this year for the
Outlander PHEV utility vehicle - 505 units compared with
432 in March - although sales
fell short of the same month last
year when the Ontario rebate
was still in effect.
The announcement in March
of a national rebate for plug-in
hybrids and EVs likely stalled
some April sales as people waited for May 1, but, as a bridge,
Mitsubishi Motors Canada in
mid-April launched a $2,500
dealer-incentive program for
the Outlander PHEV. Total
Mitsubishi sales fell 11.5 per
cent, however, on sharply lower
passenger-car sales.
Meanwhile, Toyota Canada
reported that electrified vehicles
accounted for a record one in six
of all its April sales. That was
primarily driven by 2,112 RAV4
Hybrid sales, accounting for 34
per cent of all RAV4 sales.
Toyota's electrified surge contributed to a six-per-cent gain in
April, making it one of the few
major automakers to grow sales
in an overall market that dipped
an estimated 4.6 per cent. April's
overall sales are an estimate
because, starting in the second
quarter, General Motors Canada
switched to quarterly reporting. That follows GM's move
last December to cease reporting
sales by nameplate.
Going forward, total industry

MOVERS & SHAKERS
Compared with the
same month a year ago
Volvo S60: +175%
Ford Fiesta: +146%
Land Rover Range Rover: +123%
Ford E series: +113%
Porsche Cayenne: +112%
Acura ILX: +104%
Hyundai Ioniq: +96%
VW Passat: -80%
Lexus LS: -77%
Jeep Renegade: -73%
Chrysler 300: -71%
Chrysler Pacifica: -70%
Nissan Armada: -69%

FULL OF SURPRISES
Infiniti QX50: +402%
VW Jetta: +244%
Dodge Durango: +223%
Audi R8: -96%
Jaguar XE: -88%
Dodge Charger: -81%

Sales of the Toyota RAV4
topped the Honda CR-V in April
and year to date have closed
in on the Civic, the highestselling vehicle in Canada that
isn't a full-size pickup.
P H O T O : T O Y O TA

sales will be adjusted every quarter when GM Canada reports.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also
announced that it will switch to
quarterly reporting after June.
"April's sales seem to reflect
consumer confidence, which
was down six points after three
straight months of increases,
according to the Conference
Board of Canada," said David
Adams, president of Global
Automakers of Canada.
The only other mass-market
automakers to increase sales
in April were Hyundai and
Kia. Hyundai was largely propelled by the Kona small utility vehicle, which, after barely
more than a year on the market, has edged close to a foothold
among the top-10-selling nameplates. Kia sales were boosted
by another new nameplate -
the Telluride large crossover -
which scored 438 sales in its first
full month.
The Volkswagen brand had a
robust 11-per-cent gain in April,
but weak Audi sales - for the
second month in a row, there
were no Q3s to sell because of
the small utility vehicle's redesign - pulled combined sales
down.
April was another backsliding month for the Detroit Three,
with declines of four per cent
for Ford, 10 per cent for FCA
Canada (despite robust Jeep and
Ram sales) and an estimated 14
per cent for GM Canada.
FCA, with 20,802 sales, was
outgunned by Toyota Canada's
23,234.
Among other automakers that
reported a decline, Subaru sales
were down for the third month
out of four this year. That's
despite the presence of the new
Ascent utility, a vehicle that
didn't exist this time last year.
Mercedes-Benz slumped 20 per
cent, largely on a steep decline
in sales of the GLE tall wagon.
Buyers seemed hungry for
bigger utilities, though, as
the Dodge Durango and Ford
Expedition grew their sales 223
per cent (a record) and 88 per
cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Toyota RAV4
outsold its archrival, the Honda
CR-V. That not only put the
RAV4 back on top of the category but also brought its year-todate total sales (18,633) within
striking distance of the Honda
Civic (19,370). The Civic has
long been unchallenged as the
top-selling vehicle that isn't a
full-size pickup. - ANC

Automotive News Canada - May 2019

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