Automotive News Canada - November 2022 - 1

A NIGHT TO CELEBRATE THE BEST DEALERSHIPS TO WORK FOR/P20-22
NOVEMBER 2022 | VOL. 6, NO. 11 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION
By Dec. 16, Ford dealers have to choose whether they sell EVs
By DOUG FIRBY
CALGARY CORRESPONDENT
Lafreniere:
The investment
to sell
EVs " is really
the issue. "
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
FORD CANADA IS NEGOTIATING
with dealers to determine how much
they must invest before being allowed
to sell and service electric vehicles.
Mirroring a retail plan in the United
States, Ford told its 440 dealers in
Canada they must decide by Dec. 16
But to enroll, they have
to invest up to about
$1.3 million per store,
which is a big hit for
small-market retailers
whether they will enroll in the Model
e Certified Elite program, at a cost of
about $1.3 million per rooftop, or the
Model e Certified program, at about
$560,000. Both programs begin in 2024.
Certified Elite dealers will have first
dibs on available EVs, while Certified
dealers will " focus on ownership and
charging with limited built-to-order
sales, " a Ford Canada spokesman said.
Certified Elite dealers will focus
on ownership, charging and full sales
capability through a digital shopping
experience on ford.ca. Certified dealers
will have limited built-to-order
sales.
As of Jan. 1, dealers who choose not
to enroll will only sell internal-combustion-engine
(ICE) and hybrid vehicles.
They will have another opportunity to
join the programs in 2027.
Ford Canada said about 90 per cent
SEE COST PAGE 34
THE SEARCH FOR
WARM
WARM
By GRACE MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
FOR TIM GALBRAITH, THE
skilled labour shortage can be measured
in the sum of lost contracts this
year.
" I can say that we have turned
down several million dollars of work
in 2022 that we could have taken if
we had more people, " said the general
manager of Cavalier Tool and
Manufacturing in Windsor, Ont.
Cavalier isn't the only auto supplier
grappling with a chronic shortage
The auto industry is in
expansion mode, but the talent
pool is so dry that Canadian
parts suppliers are looking
abroad to fill positions at home
BODIES
of workers that threatens to stifle the
industry's growth as it begins to shift
toward electrification.
At the annual conference of the
Automotive Parts Manufacturers'
Association (APMA), Oct. 19 in
Windsor, worker scarcity was the
dominant theme of a closed-door
roundtable with Deputy Prime
Minister Chrystia Freeland.
" She was asking what some of the
key challenges we're facing and the
SEE APMA PAGE 32
Galbraith:
To help ease
the labour
shortage,
Cavalier Tool
is expanding
its engineering
design centre
in India.
FILE PHOTO
ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCK, AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA
Strong job market could buoy car sales amid choppy economic waters
OCTOBER STATS/P33
By GREG LAYSON
DIGITAL AND MOBILE EDITOR
RECESSION BE DAMNED.
Analysts and auto industry
insiders don't appear to be quaking
in their boots about new-vehicle
sales, despite red-hot inflation,
rising interest rates and economists
raising the spectre of an economic
downturn.
Sales might survive a short
It might have been the worst October since
2009, but not because buyers don't want
vehicles or don't have money to buy them
recession unscathed because
demand has continued to build
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
and global microchip shortage.
In early November, Scotiabank
Economics said past sales downturns
in the auto industry were
mostly the result of demand eroded
by deteriorating labour markets
and softer income. However,
the financial institution thinks
that Canada's current labour market
" should support continued
recovery in auto sales. "
On Nov. 4, Statistics Canada
said that the Canadian economy
added 108,000 jobs in October and
that the unemployment
rate held steady
at 5.2 per cent.
The Canadian
labour market is even tighter
than the one in the United States,
Scotiabank said.
" Despite recent softness in
sales, current labour market conditions
should support continued
PROCESS &
PROFIT
SYSTEMS
recovery in both Canada and the
U.S., " the institution said.
Automakers sold an estimated
121,653 new vehicles
in October, according
to the forecasting
firm DesRosiers
Automotive Consultants (DAC).
That's a 5.3-per-cent drop from the
same month a year ago and marks
the lowest October total since
SEE INVENTORY PAGE 33
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Automotive News Canada - November 2022

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