Automotive News Canada - February 2023 - 10

10
02.23
OPINION
EVs will breathe new
life into auto shows,
without the fumes
AN OLD PROVERB STATES THAT
necessity is the mother of invention.
For the Canadian International
AutoShow (CIAS) in Toronto, it means a
whole new track.
Ever since government restrictions
on gatherings during COVID-19 led to
the cancellation of the 2021 CIAS -
and then the 2022 event - we wondered
if it was the beginning of the end
for auto shows in Canada.
In the nearly
three years since
the last CIAS in
February 2020,
automakers have
been challenged to
find other ways to
get their products
in front of buyers.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JEFF
MELNYCHUK
With EV test tracks
connecting buyers
and automakers,
auto shows are
more relevant.
Some were already backing out of auto
shows - the 2023 CIAS is at less
than half strength for brand count -
instead leaning on social media campaigns
and so-called experiential events
that put potential buyers behind the
wheel in a controlled environment.
This is logical if you subscribe to the
belief that vehicles
need to be
driven to be
appreciated and
understood.
Better to ride a
horse than
merely pet one,
right?
Am I saying
that auto shows are essentially just
petting zoos? Well, mostly.
And then in November, the big shoe
dropped when Ford, to save money,
announced it would not participate in
Canadian shows.
In the Feb. 10 Automotive News
Canada Podcast, CIAS boss Jason
Campbell said he was " very disappointed "
with the decision, but the resulting
pivot just might be the stroke of genius
that gives auto shows in this country
renewed purpose.
Why? How? The funny thing about
electric vehicles is that, since there are
no tailpipe emissions, they can be
driven indoors. When Ford dropped
CIAS, that space magically became -
ta-da - a 70,000-square-foot
(6,500-square-metre) EV test track
with 19 vehicles to drive.
" It was almost a blessing in disguise
in a way because it has generated so
much interest. "
Such a test track was unimaginable
in past years because there wasn't
enough spare floor space (not a problem
this year), EVs were more of a novelty,
and driving internal-combustion
vehicles for hours on end indoors is,
well, undesirable. What better way to
show off how clean
running EVs are
than by driving
them indoors.
Ironically then,
CIAS 2023 will be
doing precisely
what some automakers
left the
show to do on their own: delivering an
experiential event.
" I think we're going to see more and
more of this, " Campbell said.
It might premature to think those
brands will be back in the future -
which he suggested in the podcast -
but the new direction can't be overlooked.
It's a perfect opportunity to
close the information chasm that exists
between auto brands trying to sell new
technology and a general population
that has not been brought along for the
EV ride. At all.
As the federal government pushes
its zero-emissions vehicle sales mandate,
CIAS becomes more valuable as
do other auto shows in Canada, whether
in Ottawa, Edmonton or Vancouver.
All three were canceled this year.
We would expect larger EV test
tracks in the future, with more vehicles
and more innovative ways to put them
into action. How about an off-road circuit
with big mounds of dirt, or autonomous
vehicles shuttling showgoers from
place to place, even to their parked
cars? How about the Ford F-150
Lightning powering a makeshift job site
or a pop-up coffee shop to draw the
crowds?
Regardless of the genesis, driving
EVs indoors can breathe new life into
auto shows by making them a much
more relevant tool for connecting technology
with customers. It's a new way
to do what has always been the goal:
to put butts in seats. - ANC
CEO Carlos Tavares said the automaker
is grappling with higher inflation
on top of the cost of electrifying
its lineup.
" Anywhere you introduce technology
that is 40 per cent more
expensive than the previous one,
you need to work hard in improving
your business model through fixed
and variable costs, " he said.
Union and
management
are navigating
a landscape
in the throes
of revolutionary
change.
" If the average transaction price increases
because of the EV sales-mix
increase, then you have risk
that the total market shrinks. "
If sales sink, " We don't
need so many plants. Some
unpopular decisions will have
to be made, " Tavares said.
A few weeks later in
Windsor, Ont., Mark Stewart,
COO of Stellantis' North
American operations, said vehicle
affordability is a big issue.
" We're all very concerned
about affordability of vehicles for our customers, "
Stewart said in an interview Jan. 17 at the automaker's
minivan assembly plant.
As it develops EV technologies, Stellantis is working
with its unions and supply base to lower production
costs, he said.
" Because the last thing that we need are to have
this great lineup of products that no one can afford. "
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Cost cutting will be a key issue
for 2023 labour negotiations
CONTRACT TALKS BETWEEN THE DETROIT THREE
and Unifor don't gear up until late summer, but opening
salvos have already seemingly been fired.
At CES in Las Vegas in early January, Stellantis
MACALUSO
MANAGING EDITOR
GRACE
Unifor National President Lana Payne said she's
not spoiling for a fight. But cost-of-living adjustments
and income-security protections, such as pensions,
are likely to be among the top issues for the more
than 22,000 hourly workers at
Detroit Three assembly and powertrain
plants in Canada.
" [Workers] want to make sure
they're not falling behind, so I suspect
you're going to see those kinds
of very basic economic issues being
some of the priorities that we're
going to see at bargaining in
August, " Payne said.
Unifor will be coordinating its
efforts with its UAW counterparts
- the first time since the Canadian
union launched in 2013 that the
two labour organizations will be
negotiating contracts in the same
year.
The talks will be held against
the backdrop of Detroit Three
promises to spend billions on
retooling Canadian plants to
assemble EVs. While those investments
signal a promising future for
Canada's auto manufacturing footprint,
both union and management
are navigating an industrial landscape
in the throes of revolutionary
change.
And 2023 bargaining could
Tavares: If
EV transition
brings higher
sticker
prices,
that could
mean lower
sales, fewer
plants - and
" unpopular
decisions. "
FILE PHOTO
help determine how well automakers and their
employees manage this once-in-a-century transformation.
- ANC
When there are ZEV waiting lists,
a sales mandate is just pointless
BEFORE JOINING AUTOMOTIVE
News Canada, I covered general
news, a lot of it political - at
every level.
So, I've heard and read a lot
of silly comments.
But Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau's latest on why we need
a federal mandate to force people
to buy zero-emissions vehicles
might just take the cake.
" We know
If Prime
Minister
Trudeau is
suggesting a
mandate can
fix a global
supply
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KC CRAIN, GROUP PUBLISHER & CEO
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GRACE MACALUSO, MANAGING EDITOR, 226.787.0441, Grace.Macaluso@autonews.com
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KEITH E. CRAIN, EDITOR EMERITUS
bottleneck
and the lack
of lithium
mines, he's
dead wrong.
Canadians want
to be able to buy
electric vehicles;
that's why mandates
are so
important. "
At first blush,
that comment
makes almost
zero sense. I
found myself
asking: If
Canadians want
something so
badly, as the
prime minister
suggests, why is
he mandating
the very thing we
supposedly want?
That's like saying: " Canadians
want blue jeans, so we have to
mandate blue jeans. "
If Canadians want electric vehicles,
trust me when I say that
automakers will sell them electric
vehicles. They're in the business
of making vehicles people want to
buy. And, in this millennium,
they're also in the business of
being good corporate citizens.
Building green vehicles goes a
long way toward building a younger
customer base. In fact, a
KPMG study last year found that
77 per cent of Canadians aged
25 to 34 (and 76 per cent aged
35 to 44) say they would consider
an EV for their next purchase. No
mandate necessary, by the way.
Automakers have been inching
toward an all-electric future for a
while now. Volkswagen pledged in
2021 that it would be an all-electric
company by 2035. Again, no
mandate necessary. General
Motors also said it is working
toward a similar deadline.
By the end of 2023, there will
be 120 EV models available for
purchase in Canada, according to
Brian Kingston, head of the
Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers'
Association.
And if you think automakers
have the ability to design, develop,
assemble, market and deliver
those 120 models in the short
time since Trudeau began trial-ballooning
the idea of a ZEV
sales mandate, you don't really
know how slowly the auto indusDIGITAL
AND
MOBILE EDITOR
GREG
LAYSON
try actually works.
No, we don't need a mandate
to force automakers to make
ZEVs. And we don't need one to
force consumers to buy ZEVs.
The one thing we need is
inventory, which has been hampered
by one crisis after another
since the beginning of the COVID19
pandemic in 2020.
And if our prime minister is
suggesting a mandate can fix a
global microchip shortage, supply
bottlenecks and the lack of lithium
mineshe's wrong. Dead
wrong.
Canadians will buy their fair
share of ZEVs when they're available.
No mandate necessary.
- ANC
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said ZEV sales mandates will
ease long waits for vehicles,
but how can that be when
they won't suddenly fix
supply-chain problems and
microchip shortages?
PHOTO: DAVID KENNEDY

Automotive News Canada - February 2023

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