Automotive News Canada - September 2020 - v2 - 4

SECOND FRONT

3 09.20

* S E P T E M B E R 2020

Dealers want Ford to
One way to bring talent to retail?
step up product rollouts
By JOHN IRWIN

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

fall posing a risk to the
company's manufacturing
and retail operations.

WANTED: NEW PRODUCT
CANADIAN FORD
dealers have a message
When asked about
for incoming Ford Motor
what they would like
Co. CEO Jim Farley: The
to see from Ford under
company's upcoming
Farley's leadership,
string of vehicle launchdealers who spoke with
es must be executed flawAutomotive News Canada
lessly.
were unanimous about
"They really have to
their desire for new prodget their launches betuct. A flawless launch
ter," said Steve Chipman,
for the Bronco, in parCEO of Birchwood
ticular, was seen
Automotive Group
as important for
in Winnipeg. "Their
Ford, which has
last launch with
banked its product
the Explorer [crossstrategy around
over], I think, didn't
its ability to sell
go very well. When
light trucks.
they launch a vehiThe launch of
cle, they need to
Jim Farley's the Bronco midlaunch it well."
task as CEO: size SUV was genFarley will
erating exciteExecute the
take over for Jim
vision of his ment in some
Hackett on Oct. 1 at predecessor, markets, dealers
a critical moment
Jim Hackett. said. Kevin Zimic,
in the recent histo- P H O T O : F O R D dealer principal
ry of the automakat Ridgehill Ford
er. Ford will soon launch
in Cambridge, Ont., said
its Mustang Mach-E elecin late August that his
tric crossover, a rededealership had already
signed F-150 pickup and
secured 28 reservations
the new Bronco subbrand, for the Bronco, higher
all important to the comthan he had anticipated.
pany's bottom line in the
"I was not expecting
coming years.
the overwhelming supFarley, 58, will oversee
port, questions and even
those launches as Ford
the demand for merchantries to regain favour
dise that we've had for the
with Wall Street, where
Bronco brand," he said.
its stock price has been
The launch of the
weighed down in recent
Mach-E and other elecyears as Hackett launched tric and hybrid offerings
a turnaround plan.
from Ford in the coming
In addition, the COVID- years will be important
19 pandemic remains a
for Farley and the Ford
threat to the industry,
with a potential resurSEE SOME PAGE 25
gence of the virus in the

CORRECTION

A Page 1 story in the August print and digital editions
used an incorrect number for DesRosiers Automotive
Consultants Inc.'s forecast for light-vehicle sales in
Canada this year. The correct number is 1.5 million. The
1.8-million figure in the story reflects DesRosiers' seasonally adjusted annual rate for July. Automotive News
Canada regrets the error.

TRANS-CANADA NEWS

WORK
FROM
HOME
By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

SOME NEW-CAR DEALERS ARE OFFERING
employees the option of working from home permanently, a situation that began as
a necessity during the early weeks
of the pandemic but has become a
key to attracting talent, industry
experts say.
John Hairabedian, CEO of the
Quebec-based HGregoire auto
group, said employees in marketing, engineering, information tech- Hairabedian:
nology and data science are now
"We believe
permanently working remotely.
we can, in
While only 40 of HGregoire's 1,000
the future,
employees remain at home, their
attract better
roles are suited to being performed candidates
by offering
off-site, Hairabedian said.
work-from"We believe we can, in the
future, attract better candidates by home."
FILE PHOTO
offering work-from-home [in these
roles]. We'll stay work-from-home,
even when a vaccine comes out."
Dealers who resist full- or parttime remote work could be at a hiring disadvantage just as the labour
pool is rife with talent and open
to new possibilities, said Mike
McSherry, director of strategic
partnerships at the recruiting soft- McSherry:
ware provider Hireology.
There is real
"This is a really opportune
opportunity
moment for automotive, which has to have
recovered way more quickly than
someone
some other heavily affected indusfrom an
tries," he told Automotive News
Apple store
Canada. "Wouldn't it be great to
work at a
have somebody working at [your]
dealership.
dealership that worked in an Apple F I L E P H O T O
Store?
"Now, that opportunity is real, but you have to
be intentional about it."

Many job seekers come from industries harder
hit by the pandemic, McSherry said, such as travel and hospitality, entertainment and the gig economy. These workers tend to be young
and tech-savvy, making them ideal
for the changing demands of customer service and digital sales roles.
However, they might have preconceptions about working in automotive and need to be approached
in new ways, McSherry said. This
could include using social media as a
Stollery:
hiring tool, being open to fixed comDealerships
pensation models or setting clear
will need
expectations and measurable perforon-site staff
mance benchmarks.
for a "long,
Mike Stollery, founder of
long time."
the AutoIQ dealership network
FILE PHOTO
and chairman of the Canadian
Automobile Dealers Association, said some of his
group's F&I managers continued to work from
home after dealerships reopened. Zoom rooms were
created where customers would walk into empty
offices and use videoconferencing to interact with
F&I managers located off-site.
"It did [make] some customers [more comfortable]
as we were going through
COVID," Stollery said.
This strategy is also
being employed by groups
seeking flexibility and
safety for F&I managers
who, because they often
work in small offices,
might be more susceptible
to COVID-19, said Fleming
Ford, vice-president of ESI
Trends, a U.S.-based autoFord: Work-from-home motive workforce consulcould be used to lure
tancy.
new F&I staff, who are
"F&I people are probdifficult to find.
ably
more valuable to a
FILE PHOTO
dealership because they're
harder to find, so that would be maybe where they
would make accommodations," Ford said.

ROOM FOR SHOWROOMS
Stollery said the AutoIQ group, headquartered
in Barrie, Ont., was able to make most roles workable during the government-mandated lockdown.
However, the degree to which customers have
returned to showrooms in recent months proves
that there will continue to be a need for staff in
brick-and-mortar locations.
"If our customers want to be in the dealership,
we have to be in the dealership," Stollery said. "It's
like buying a watch or anything that has emotional
attachment. It's nice to go and have the experience
of seeing things live.
"I think there will be people in facilities for a
long, long time. But when it's needed for safety and

5,000 KILOMETRES OF STORIES

Bouchard Ford gets new
owners and a new name
RIMOUSKI, Que. - GROUPE O.D.
Inc., which already owned three
car dealerships (Hyundai, Nissan
and Mitsubishi) here, has acquired
Bouchard Ford. The dealership will
now be call Rimouski Ford.
"We couldn't hope for a better
succession for the company," said
Jacquelin Langlois, former owner of
Bouchard Ford.
"These new shareholders will bring
a new vision [and] the energy of young
wolves. I am happy to hand over the
reins to them," he said.

FINDING NEW SKILLS IN NEW WAYS

ly, which holds other properties, notably in Quebec City and the Eastern
Townships. The O.D. group now has 11
dealerships across Quebec.
- Benoit Charette

CleanBC adds more vehicles
to eligible list for rebates
With the acquisition of Bouchard
Ford, the O.D. group of Quebec now
owns 11 dealerships throughout the
province. P H O T O : B O U C H A R D F O R D

This transaction is the 12th acquisition by the Raymond Ouellet fami-

VANCOUVER - THE BRITISH
Columbia government has expanded
its CleanBC rebate program to cover
more electrified commercial vehicles
used by businesses and organizations.
The province has put an additional $2 million into the Specialty-Use
Vehicle Incentive program to provide

SEE STAFF PAGE 25

between $1,700 and $50,000 to buy electric buses, service vehicles or utility
trucks used as airport shuttles and in
port cargo areas.
Harbour Air, which operates a
float-plane service out of Vancouver
Harbour was one of the first recipients, receiving the maximum $50,000
rebate toward the purchase of a
$384,500 battery-electric U.S.-built EV
Star shuttle bus from Vancouver-based
GreenPower Motor Co.
The specialty vehicle program
includes $2,000 rebates for battery-electric motorcycles, $5,000 for low-speed
utility trucks and $50,000 for commercial delivery EV trucks. - Steve Mertl

SEE TRANS-CANADA PAGE 25

Automotive News Canada - September 2020 - v2

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