Automotive News Canada - April 2022 - 1

GM ADDS THIRD SHIFT TO CRANK UP SILVERADO PRODUCTION IN OSHAWA/P4
APRIL 2022 | VOL. 6, NO. 4 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION
FIRST-QUARTER ANALYSIS
Microchips
hammer
'the heart'
of sales
Buyers in the market for
an entry-level vehicle are
'going to take it on the chin'
By GREG LAYSON
DIGITAL AND MOBILE EDITOR
LUXURY VEHICLES NOW
constitute the last bastion
of sales gains in the
Canadian new-vehicle marQ1
STATS/P28-29
ket, as mainstream brands - even those that
sell pickups - were pummeled during the first
quarter. The Ford F-Series was
down a staggering 40 per cent
compared with the same period
in 2021.
Fiorani:
Automakers
are putting
what
microchips
they have
into their
higher-end
vehicles.
FILE PHOTO
Most premium nameplates -
Lincoln, Genesis, Audi and Alfa
Romeo, for example - reported
sales increases during the
first three months of the year,
but Ram pickups, the Chevrolet
Silverado and the GMC Sierra
suffered double-digit percentage
declines, a result of the global
microchip shortage.
The vast majority of automakers
report sales quarterly
instead of monthly, meaning the
last comprehensive big-picture
SEE SALES PAGE 27
From left, Stellantis North
America COO Mark Stewart,
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens
and David Kim, a senior
vice-president at LG
Energy Solution.
PHOTO:
CITY OF WINDSOR
A $5B first
The LG-Stellantis EV-battery factory is the beginning of an auto
revolution that's likely to set off a chain reaction of further investments
By GRACE MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
THE $5-BILLION BATTERY
plant destined for Windsor,
Ont., is the largest single automotive
investment in Canadian
THE SITE IS NEAR KEY
TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
The 220-acre
(90-hectare) land
package has immediate
rail, highway
and airport
access, and Windsor
Assembly is just a
few kilometres away.
DETROIT
Windsor
Assembly
history and is expected to spark the country's
electric-vehicle revolution with a new supply
chain and thousands of jobs.
Area of detail
WINDSOR
Airport
" I describe this as being as big as the
transformation from the horseless carriage
to the internal-combustion engine, " said
Drew Dilkens, mayor of the city that will host
Canada's first large-scale battery factory.
" And, perhaps even larger
when we consider the environmental
factors. "
The plant is the result
of a joint venture between
Stellantis (49 per cent)
and South Korea-based
LG Energy Solution (51
per cent). It's expected to
employ about 3,200 people.
At 4.5 million square feet -
0.4 square kilometres - it
will be one of largest battery plants in North
America.
The project and its details were announced
at a March 23 press conference by senior
company officials and government. Windsor
assembled the land package for the site in the
city's east end, and offered tax breaks, while
the federal and provincial governments
SOURCE: THE CITY OF WINDSOR
AND THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT
SEE $5B PAGE 16
RELATED STORIES
Does this impact Brampton?/P16
How Windsor did the deal/P17
More investments coming/P18
Dilkens: Building
batteries will be
a revolutionary
shift for
Windsor since
its auto industry
has relied on
making internalcombustion
vehicles.
FILE
PHOTO
Volpe: The
supply-chain
impact of the
new battery
plant " should
be felt as far
out as Val-d'or
[Que.] up
to Timmins,
[Ont.] "
FILE PHOTO
Finally, online vehicle registration for Ontario dealers
By STEVE MERTL
VANCOUVER CORRESPONDENT
Alizadeh: Eliminating
ServiceOntario visits will
cut up to two hours of
travel time per transaction
and eliminate time spent
waiting in lines with
people who are there for
other services.
FILE PHOTO
TO SAY SHAHIN ALIZADEH
welcomes Ontario's Digital
Dealership Registration (DDR)
system is an understatement.
" When I heard the announcement,
it was music to my ears, "
said Alizadeh, dealer principal of
the 10-store Downtown Auto Group
in Toronto.
Up to now, the system of regisThe
new system will put an end to the daily
grind of standing in line at government offices
to get licence plates for the cars they sell
tering sold vehicles had been fundamentally
unchanged from when
he began in the car business 40
years ago, Alizadeh said.
The new system, expected to roll
out gradually to full implementation
by the end of the year, allows
customers' newly purchased vehicles
to be registered online from
the dealership, which can then
issue licence plates.
Dealers such as Alizadeh, who
PROCESS &
PROFIT
SYSTEMS
lobbied the provincial government
for years to introduce such a system,
could realize significant cost
savings and reduce employees'
time-wasting trips to the nearest
ServiceOntario office.
For Alizadeh, whose stores conduct
about 10,000 new- and used-vehicle
transactions a year, eliminating
ServiceOntario visits will
cut up to two hours of travel time
SEE TADA PAGE 27
REQUEST YOUR DEMO TODAY
1-877-DISKLOZ (347-5569)
WWW.DISKLOZ.CA
DMS-CRM-INVENTORY-DIGITAL RETAILING-SALES & FINANCE MENU PROCESS
Essex County
http://www.AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA http://WWW.DISKLOZ.CA
Automotive News Canada - April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - April 2022
