Automotive News Canada - August 2020 - v2 - 22

* AUGUST 2020

EVs for Oakville?

in recent years and remain
unclear today.
Ford's contract with the
UAW, ratified late last year,
only lists Mustang production there through the end of
2023. The contract specified
that Ford and the American
union would explore a "viability strategy" for the site, which
will lose production of the
Lincoln Continental at the end
of this year.

Ford hasn't said
what comes after
the Edge, but
there's logic in
going electric

Oakville, but a template for
such a move has been created
by General Motors. It had targeted its Detroit-Hamtramck
Assembly Plant for closure
before deciding to convert it
into a dedicated factory for
electric vehicles.
Ford hasn't commented on
By JOHN IRWIN
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
the AutoForecast Solutions
report beyond saying it has
"no plans to exit the segment"
ELECTRIC VEHICLE
and that the Edge remains "a
production could be a lifecritical part of Ford's winning
line for Ford Motor
portfolio." The comCo.'s Oakville, Ont.,
is launching
NEWS ANALYSIS pany
plant, which will
a slate of new utilreportedly be withities, including the
out a production mandate after Bronco and Bronco Sport this
2023 and will be the subject of
year.
Detroit Three contract talks
The uncertainty about
that began Aug. 12.
Oakville's future comes as the
"If Oakville can gain an
automaker prepares to negotiinvestment in the electriate a new colfication space, that would
lective agreebe a very solid long-term
ment with
play," said Joe McCabe, CEO
Unifor, which
of AutoForecast Solutions.
represents
"That's a decades and decades
4,200 houroutlook of how to build your
ly workers at
electrification strategy."
the plant. The
Citing multiple industry
contract is set Dias:
sources, McCabe's company
Oakville
to expire in
said in June that Ford was
needs a
September.
long-term
cancelling plans to build the
An EV
plan.
next-generation Edge crosssolution for
over in Oakville. That would
Oakville dove- F I L E P H O T O
leave the plant without a
tails with a
model to build after 2023 and
list of economic recovery proput the future of the factory -
posals Unifor unveiled in June
Ford's only assembly plant in
when it urged the federal govCanada - at risk.
ernment to develop a nationTo be sure, there have been
al auto strategy built around
no known proposals to convert the assembly and adoption of

QUESTIONS REMAIN

zero-emission vehicles.
Unifor President Jerry Dias
urged Ottawa to go to the table
with the Detroit automakers to
attempt to bring investments
in green-vehicle production to
Canada.

FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP NEEDED
"They should be reaching
out to the auto companies and
say, 'We all understand what's
at play here and we want to be
a part of the solution,' " said
Dias. "You can't just talk about
green energy and implementing a carbon tax and talk about
the future but then say, 'We
want you to make the investment, but we have no intention
of being a partner.' It doesn't
make any sense."
Ford, as with many of its
competitors, is betting big on
electrified vehicles. The automaker unveiled its electric
Mustang Mach-E crossover
earlier this year and has plans
to roll out EV crossovers and
an electric F-150 pickup in the
years ahead.

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40 ELECTRIFIED FORDS
But unlike GM, Ford has
not announced plans to convert an entire facility for electric vehicles.
The Mach-E will be produced in Mexico, while the
F-150 EV will be built in
Dearborn alongside the
gasoline-powered models.
There are opportunities
for Oakville if Ford chooses to
build EVs there. The automaker has pledged to spend $11.5
billion on electric and hybrid
vehicles through 2022, an
investment expected to deliver 40 electrified vehicles, 16 of
which are to be EVs.
Sibling publication
Automotive News reported last
year that Ford plans to build
midsize EV crossovers, similar
in size to the Edge and Lincoln
Nautilus, for the 2023 model
year. Ford originally planned
to put them in its Flat Rock,
Mich., plant, although plans
for that site have changed

While that could open a
door for Unifor to push for a
major investment in EV production at Oakville, it was
not clear which specific products could in theory be built
there. There was also uncertainty over how quickly electric vehicles will be adopted by Canadians to the point
where production levels match
those at Oakville today. In
2019, the plant built 247,615
units, including 165,003 Edge
crossovers, according to the
Automotive News Data Center
in Detroit.
"We've been pretty slow out
of the market" on EV adoption,
Dias said. "We're all talking
about it, but the market hasn't
reacted yet in the same way
that they have in Europe or
the Scandinavian nations."
But Dias said Unifor will
look for a long-term solution for Oakville, dismissing
the notion of pushing Ford to
extend production of the current Edge by a year through
2024 to get the union to the
next round of bargaining.
"I'm not going to look for a
one-year solution," he said. "I
need to know more than that.
That'll never work." - ANC

COVID-19 accelerates
F&I transformation
The industry faces
a 'big affordability
challenge'

more comfortable with online
shopping, that "inertia," particularly in finance and insurance, is breaking, said Uykur, a
senior consultant.
"That then changes the role
By JOHN IRWIN
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
that a lender or even a captive
finance [company] might need
to play. Do they then need to
be providing services, capabilTHE PANDEMIC IS
ities and technology to a dealspurring change within the
er and [automaker] or
auto lending sector,
whoever else, and not
which might have to
just necessarily being
take on more of an advithe paperwork behind
sory role in finance and
what an F&I managinsurance transactions
er would be doing at a
as car shopping shifts
dealership, for examonline and as Canadians
ple?"
tackle the economUykur:
In certain economic downturn, a new
Economic
ic-recovery scenarios,
Deloitte report says.
slowdown
lenders could "play a
"Before the panmore active role" for
demic there was a slow is likely to
sideline
consumers as "trusted
pace of innovation in
some buyers,
advisers," helping to
Canada's [auto induswhich
try]. It was a growing
lenders need generate new leads for
retailers as the econobusiness and one that
to address.
my recovers, said the
was highly profitable
PHOTO:
report.
for dealers and [autoDELOITTE
While there were
makers] and lenders
signs the pandemic could lead
alike," said Denizhan Uykur,
public-transit-wary consumers
co-author of the June report,
titled "Canadian Auto Industry to dealer showrooms, the economic slowdown could keep
Perspective, Impact of COVIDsome potential buyers out of
19 Scenarios for Auto Retailers
and Lenders."
Now, as customers become
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Automotive News Canada - August 2020 - v2

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