Automotive News Canada - March 2022 - 15

* MARCH 2022
15
WOMEN DRIVEN
The Trillium Automobile Dealers Association
(TADA) is hosting an educational event to promote
automotive careers to women.
* When: Online starting at 6:30 p.m. ET April 12
* Who's attending: Dealers, automakers, vendors
and students
* Keynote speaker: Nour Hachem-Fawaz, Build
a Dream
* Panelists: Francine Floreani, Great Lakes
Honda; Jennifer Okoeguale, Toyota Canada;
Christine Mitchell, The Car Lady Canada
* Registration: tada.ca/womendriven
they'll start to find the roadblocks, " Brown said.
" After that first, second or third promotion, it starts
to slow down. "
A few reasons likely account for this phenomenon,
said Brown. Companies, for example, are lean, with
many non-management positions and far fewer managerial
roles.
As well, candidates for managerial jobs are often
chosen from a male-dominated pool.
" By nature, it's harder to advance because that's
just the way the company is structured, " she said.
'INVISIBLE' BIAS
For her doctoral dissertation in 2020, Brown studied
how factors such as informal networks, mentoring
and planning are related to the career advancement
of women in the auto industry.
Using 92 full-time employees of an auto company
as her sample, Brown found that women's perceptions
of their promotion opportunities were affected
by challenges securing developmental assignments
and relocation opportunities.
These moves can be thwarted for women due to
" invisible " barriers such as unconscious bias and a
lack of communication, Brown said.
For example, an employer may unconsciously
select a man for an overseas assignment based on a
societal assumption that a woman is unlikely to want
to move because she has a family.
And a woman may preemptively remove herself
from consideration because she doesn't think she
meets every qualification for the job.
To combat this and ensure retention, Brown suggested
employers develop programs that encourage
women at all seniority levels to participate in interdepartmental
projects.
DON'T WAIT IF YOU WANT
She advised women to seek out promotional
opportunities as early as possible after joining a
company and engage with industry- or role-related
networking and advocacy
groups to learn negotiation
and leadership development
skills.
Floreani: " You need a
little bit of positivity.
And some guts. "
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Women need to put
themselves out there,
Floreani said, because the
opportunities exist - especially
in a market that
faces a skills shortage.
" [The industry] has a
stigma. I think we can get
over that, " she said.
After Floreani purchased
her dealership in
2010, she introduced herself
to a group of male dealers
at an industry event. She admitted she was new
but wanted to learn.
" They thought it was amazing that I just jumped
in, " Floreani said. " You need a little bit of positivity.
And some guts. "
Floreani is among the speakers at the Trillium
Automobile Dealers Association's (TADA) Women
Driven event April 12. TADA Executive Director
Todd Bourgon said the event was created in 2020
by Mississauga Toyota CEO and former TADA
President Susan Gubasta to boost industry awareness
of a group that has been historically underrepresented
in the industry and to promote an inclusive
environment.
" This wasn't built because there's a problem from
an advancement perspective that's been brought to
us, " Bourgon said. " It's about how do we build greater
opportunity within an industry that needs talent
- period. " - ANC
Gardner: " I've got two trucks where
I would normally have 125 before the
pandemic started. " SUPPLIED PHOTO
More vehicle drought
follows B.C. flooding
Dealers in the province
seeking vehicles and
parts are left high
and dry for now
By STEVE MERTL
VANCOUVER CORRESPONDENT
THE FLOODS THAT INUNDATED
the Fraser Valley of British Columbia
last November have receded, but the
region's auto dealers are grappling
with vehicle and parts shortages exacerbated
by the crisis.
" If you need a Transit or a Super
Duty, they're a year and change, " said
Layne Magnuson, dealer principal
at Magnuson Ford in Abbotsford, 90
kilometres east of Vancouver. " If you
want a Bronco, we don't even know. "
Business is not " exceptionally
busy, " he said, adding that residents
remain focused on flood recovery.
" On the other hand, we don't have
the inventory to support being busy
right now anyway. We're down to just
a handful of new vehicles. "
Flooding triggered by a series of
torrential storms destroyed highways,
submerged low-lying farmland,
drowned more than 600,000 livestock
and triggered landslides that killed at
least five people, according to news
reports.
The final cost has not been tallied,
but a recent Globe and Mail report
estimated the toll at about $9 billion.
STAYED DRY BUT FELT THE FLOOD
Dealers in the Fraser Valley, which
stretches from Vancouver's eastern
suburbs to the town of Hope,
about 150 kilometres east of the
city, suffered no damage but felt the
impact indirectly, said Blair Qualey,
president of the New Car Dealers
Association of British Columbia. His
members banded together to raise $1.2
million for flood relief.
Floodwaters crippled the TransCanada
Highway and other main
arteries into and out of B.C., severing
the West Coast from the rest of
Canada hampering transportation
and delivery of parts and vehicles.
Bud Gardner, dealer principal at
Gardner Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in
Hope, said the town " was cut off from
all the roads for about a week, so
there wasn't much going on. "
" Everybody was dealing with the
Rainfall across southern B.C. in November led to flooding and landslides
that cut through major highways leading to the Vancouver area.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
AREA
OF DETAIL
5
Vancouver
Magnuson: Business is not
" exceptionally busy, " but " we
don't have the inventory to
support being busy right now
anyway. " FILE PHOTO
flood. Sales were down just for that
week, really, and service was down
because people weren't getting out
and around. "
It took about two weeks to reopen
severed road links and restore deliveries
of vehicles and parts, Gardner
told Automotive News Canada.
VEHICLES MISSING SOME FEATURES
But getting back to normal is relative.
Gardner and other dealers said
the COVID-19 pandemic, global semiconductor
shortage and other supply-chain
disruptions still hobble
business. Parts that were once delivered
overnight or in a couple of days
now take weeks or months, he said.
New vehicles can take eight to 10
months.
" All the dealers don't have any
stock, either, " said Gardner. " I've got
two trucks where I would normally
have 125 before the pandemic started. "
The
microchip shortage has meant
vehicles arrive without such features
as heated seats, with hope the features
will be retrofitted later, he said.
Waits are " substantial, " said
Abbotsford Hyundai General
Manager Graeme Spink. " We're
unable to order the majority of our
top sellers, so realistically we're probably
going to be a year and a half
before anything's back to slightly normal, "
he said.
Parts are often on back order for
months, sometimes leaving customers
without vehicles, Spink said.
Delivery times have soared, especially
for popular models.
Gardner, in business since 1981,
has been able to cope without laying
off employees but said there have
Abbotsford
Victoria
Hope
100 kilometres
3
WASHINGTON
JEFF MELNYCHUK
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
been " a few skinny days. " Magnuson
laid off 20 people - almost half his
staff - at the beginning of the pandemic
in early 2020 but has brought
some back and has cut showroom
evening hours and closed the service
department on weekends.
BUYERS LOWER EXPECTATIONS
Customer attitudes have also shifted,
the dealers said.
" People are not grinding you down
pricewise, " said Gardner, adding that
his markup per vehicle has risen by
about $1,000. " They're just happy to
get a new vehicle. "
Customers are also accepting vehicles
they previously wouldn't have
chosen, Magnuson said, and fleet buyers
are willing to pay more.
Ford has told dealers that supply
shortfalls could be alleviated by the
end of this year, he said, although the
past two years have shown those commitments
are at the mercy of events.
- ANC
Kamloops
5
Merritt
97C
Kelowna
Ford dealer Layne Magnuson in
Abbotsford, B.C., estimates the
wait time for a Transit van or
Super Duty pickup is a year or
more. As for the Ford Bronco,
pictured? " We don't even know. "
SUPPLIED PHOTO
http://www.tada.ca/womendriven
Automotive News Canada - March 2022

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