Automotive News Canada - April 2023 - 26

26
* APRIL 2023
TOP 10 MOST STOLEN VEHICLES IN CANADA
Vehicle
1 Honda CR-V
2 Lexus RX
3 Ford F-150
4 Honda Civic
7 Chevrolet Silverado
GMC Sierra
8 Honda Accord
9 Jeep Grand
Cherokee
10 Toyota RAV4
2013-2018 217,006 334
0.2%
Source: Équité Association, an insurance industry-backed not-for-profit established in 2021
Industry, border services
deadlocked on auto theft
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
transponders still on the cars " -
referring to Ontario's toll-collecting
Highway 407.
" It literally is a complete failure
of CBSA to do their job, and
their excuse today is they're
focused on things coming into
this country, " Williams said. " If
you allow cars to go unfettered
out of Montreal, you're funneling
and financing all the other organized-crime
activities.
" Today's stolen Range Rover is
bags of fentanyl a few days later. "
IN-CAR SYSTEMS NO SOLUTION
Tougher anti-theft measures
would only be a temporary solution
and could encourage thieves
to take more violent
measures
to steal cars,
Adams said.
" The thieves
are well-financed
organized
criminals, "
he said.
" And no matter
what systems
are on vehicles,
the thieves will
find a way, usually
relatively
quickly, to circumvent
them. "
Adams said
when mandated,
immobilizers
were effective
for only a short
Adams:
Stolen
vehicles are
not a priority
for the
government
" in the same
way that
guns and
drugs are. "
FILE PHOTO
period before thieves learned how
to get around them.
" In the interim, the likelihood
of more violent crimes such as
carjackings and home invasions
increases, " he said.
The CBSA, for its part, rejects
suggestions that it is to blame.
In 2022, the agency said, it intercepted
1,310 stolen vehicles before
they could be shipped abroad.
Nationwide in 2021, 83,207
vehicles were stolen, according
to Statistics Canada. In Ontario
and Quebec alone, 41,207 vehicles
were stolen. Figures for 2022
won't be available until July.
" The CBSA uses targeted
and random examination selection
as part of [its] risk-management
process, " agency spokeswoman
Maria Ladouceur wrote
in an email to Automotive News
Canada. All containers and the
goods inside must be declared,
she said, and all containers are
subject to " nonintrusive inspections
using detection technologies
such as X-ray and gamma-ray
machines. "
" Border services officers
in local export units have the
authority to conduct daily audits
of export declarations and select
containers of interest for secondary
examination at docks or
warehouses. "
The CBSA regularly assesses
risk in exports to identify and
intercept shipments and works
with local and national law
enforcement agencies to ensure
border security, Ladouceur said.
Adams of the GAC acknowledged
that " the CBSA is probably
doing the best job they can with
the resources they have and the
priority this issue has been given
by its political masters, which is
not really a priority in the same
way that guns and drugs are. "
A likely connection between
the export of stolen vehicles
and the importation of guns and
drugs means federal leadership
is required to bring all parties
together for a solution, he said.
DEALERS TAKE THREE HITS
The costs go beyond the economic
loss of each stolen automobile,
CADA's Williams said.
" It impacts dealers in three
ways. The most obvious are cars
stolen on lots [and] stolen on test
drives. Dealers are working every
day to harden their environment,
but it's getting more difficult to
do.
" The second challenge is we
service and sell to millions of customers.
We feel that victimization
every day.
" The third, less intuitive
impact is that customers are
starting to think, 'I want to drive
a jalopy so it's not a target,' so
they're driving less-efficient,
older vehicles. "
That effect is felt especially by
luxury dealers, whom the federal
government hit last year with
the luxury tax but the levy " is not
doing anything " to combat theft,
Williams said.
Auto theft is " feeding organized
crime, " he said. " Being the
cash cow of organized crime is
bad for society. " - ANC
FORD MOTOR CO. OF CANADA HAS WON
a second round in a suit accusing it of misleading
purchasers and lessees and falsely advertising
estimated fuel-consumption rates of some vehicles.
An Ontario Court of Appeal panel unanimously
rejected a bid to reinstate a $1.5-billion
class-action suit alleging that the information the
automaker put on EnerGuide labels violated federal
competition and provincial consumer protection
laws.
A lower court judge had dismissed the case
filed by Ontario resident Barry Rebuck, who
claimed his leased 2014 Ford Edge got about
25 per cent fewer miles per gallon than the
Model
years
Number of Number Per cent
vehicles stolen
insured
2016-2021 236,555
4,117
1.7%
2016-2021 34,560 2,202 6.4%
2015-2020 292,127 1,182 0.4%
2016-2021 263,958 768
5 Toyota Highlander 2013-2019 64,893 748
6 Ram 1500 series
2011-2018 295,341 509
1999-2006 1,078
2011-2020 85,528
410
2018-2021 28,692 372
346
0.3%
1.2%
0.2%
0.6%
1.3%
0.4%
Court rejects bid to reinstate
$1.5B class action against Ford
A lower court had dismissed
the suit brought by an Ontario
resident who claimed his leased
Ford Edge was using far more
fuel than suggested on the
government EnerGuide label
By ERIC FREEDMAN
LEGAL CORRESPONDENT
EnerGuide label estimate.
At issue was Ford's use of a two-cycle laboratory-controlled
city and highway test required
by the Department of Natural
Resources for some 2013 and 2014
models of Canadian vehicles,
rather than the five-cycle test
Ford used for U.S. vehicles during
the same model years. NRCan
later switched to the five-cycle
test because it more accurately
represented " real-word driving conditions and
behaviours, " the court said.
" The information Ford provided on its
EnerGuide labels in its marketing materials complied
with NRCan's mandatory direction and
guidelines, " the court held in its Feb. 24 decision.
" In our view, there was no deceptive nondisclosure "
that violated consumer protection laws in
Ontario and six other provinces.
The suit sought compensation for about 600,000
buyers and lessees.
Ford Canada did not respond to Automotive
News Canada's requests for comment.
Rebuck's lawyer, Irving Marks, of Toronto,
said he is considering asking the Supreme Court
of Canada for permission to appeal. - ANC
Workers might be just as valuable
to Audi as a nearby battery plant
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
confirm whether Canada is also
in contention for the investment.
Asked
in an email whether
the United States is the
only country in the running in
North America, Audi Canada
spokesman Cort Nielsen said,
" There is no decision. "
Nielsen would not elaborate
on Audi's plans for an
EV plant, aside from saying
the company has not decided
whether to build a new assembly
site.
With the new cell plant in
St. Thomas locked in, Ontario's
prospects for the added Audi
investment are better than
they were before, but there is
no guarantee, said Michael
Robinet, executive director of
S&P Global Mobility.
LABOUR FAVOURS ONTARIO
An Audi plant in Ontario
would benefit from its proximity
to battery production in
St. Thomas, Robinet said, but
it would also be isolated from
Volkswagen and Audi suppliers
clustered around assembly
plants in the southern United
States and Mexico.
Access to workers is one
mark in Canada's favour,
said Robinet, who is based in
Michigan. As shown by VW's
cell-plant decision, " pockets
of labour " remain in Canada,
while the right mix of talent
and available land is becoming
scarcer in the southern U.S.,
he said.
" We're finding now that
vehicle manufacturers are
locating dependent upon where
they can find people, " Robinet
said. " You could get all the
in North America, " Fiorani
said, " and Canada seems to be
at the right place at the right
time for that movement. "
But if Canada is being considered,
explorations remain at
an early stage.
Even with a new battery
cell plant in St. Thomas,
Ont., locked in, there is no
guarantee there will be auto
assembly. Audi Canada said,
" There is no decision " to
build an EV assembly plant
in Canada. PHOTO: AUDI
incentive money you want
from a government, but if you
can't find the people to build
the products, what good is it? "
This blend of factors has
helped Canada and the
U.S. Midwest reassert
themselves as automakers
transition to EVs,
Robinet said.
For Audi's prospective
plant, the two
resurgent regions could
be in competition.
VW MOVING QUICKLY
Building an assembly
plant within a reasonable
distance of St.
Thomas makes " a lot
of sense, " said Sam
Fiorani, vice-president
of global vehicle
forecasting at AFS. He
pointed to southern
Ontario and neighbouring
Michigan as likely
prospects if Audi moves ahead
with a plant.
" Volkswagen seems to be
moving very quickly to establish
itself for electric vehicles
In the lead-up to VW's St.
Thomas announcement in
March, the automaker registered
more than two dozen staff
as lobbyists in Ontario and
Ottawa. No comparable listings
for Audi staff or consultants
exist in the provincial or federal
registries.
Neither the Ontario nor federal
governments would comment
on whether they have met
with Audi, though both welcomed
the prospect of adding to
their recent automotive investments.
Robinet:
Canada's
hopes
for
landing an
Audi plant
are helped
by having the
workers who
can assemble
the vehicles.
FILE PHOTO
" We openly welcome discussions
with future investors
in all sectors, including
automotive, as we
work to build a strong
Ontario, " said an email
written by Vanessa
De Matteis, a spokeswoman
for Vic Fedeli,
Ontario's minister of
economic development,
job creation and trade.
Laurie Bouchard,
a spokeswoman for
François-Philippe
Champagne, federal
minister of innovation,
science and economic
development, said it
was encouraging to see
Canada attracting the
attention of global automakers.
" We
will continue to
do everything to ensure that
Canadians can benefit from
the global transition to electric
vehicles, " she wrote in an
email. - ANC

Automotive News Canada - April 2023

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