Automotive News Canada - April 2023 - 29

* APRIL 2023
29
DSMA to build out commercial-EV dealership network
Based on its
knowledge of the
market, the buy-sell
firm was enlisted by
Vicinity Motor Corp.
to play matchmaker
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT
DEALER SOLUTIONS
Mergers and Acquisitions
(DSMA) has signed an agreement
with Canada's
Vicinity Motor
Corp. (VMC) to
create a national
dealer network for
a new line of Class
3 to Class 5 electric
commercial
vehicles.
For Torontobased
DSMA,
which specializes
in finding qualified
buyers in
Canada and the
United States for
dealerships, the
deal represents
new territory. For
VMC, it's a chance
to expand beyond
LaGourgue:
DSMA will
" go out
and identify
multiple
dealers and
decide who
is the best
fit. "
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
its compact EV transit buses to
sell vehicles in a growing market.
VMC is based in Aldergrove,
B.C., 60 kilometres east of
Vancouver, near Abbotsford,
and its manufacturing plant is in
northern Washington.
" The bus business is quite
lumpy, " said John LaGourgue,
VMC vice-president of marketing
and sales. " After we started developing
our EV bus, we started to
think about how we could work
with the current platform, with
EV technology, to provide a vehicle
in that midsized range, Class
3 to 5. "
A VEHICLE FOR MANY USES
The first such vehicle is the
VMC 1200, a medium-duty Class
3 cab-over-chassis design that
can be outfitted for several roles:
delivery, trades or as a service
vehicle for utilities and municipalities.
When
DSMA became aware of
VMC's desire, " We put forward a
very compelling case, " said CEO
Farid Ahmad. " We have the experience
and are very competent on
the dealer-network-development
side to make DSMA VMC's external
dealer-development department. "
The
deal was signed in late
February, Ahmad said.
" What surprised us was the
broad spectrum of people who
showed interest in engaging
with us on a VMC dealership:
private-equity firms, new-car
dealers, trucking dealers, large
leasing firms, as well as one or
two private individuals with
no retail experience, "
he said.
When VMC
began sourcing
dealers for
its new truck,
LaGourgue
said, it met
with British
Columbia-based
Pioneer Auto
Group, which
has 19 new-vehicle
dealerships
and the exclusive
rights in
the province to
sell VMC vehicles.
Pioneer,
which has no
standalone VMC
fleet and sales of Class 3 to Class
5 vehicles.
" People with a big footprint
in the market, where we can see
them as a good-quality dealer, "
said Chris Julian, DSMA's manager
of network development.
PLANNING FOR THE U.S. MARKET
DSMA and VMC hope to
Ahmad:
DSMA's
experience
helped make
" a very
compelling
case " to
work with
Vicinity
Motor Corp.
FILE PHOTO
dealerships, brought the truck
maker and DSMA together, he
said.
" The nice thing about DSMA
is they know the whole market, "
LaGourgue said. " They'll go out
and identify multiple dealers
and decide who is the best fit.
" It's like getting married. You
want to have the right group,
because unwinding is not that
comfortable, not fun. "
The initial focus will be on
dealers with a track record in
Canada light-vehicle sales by nameplate, March & 3 months
Table refl ects Canada sales for those manufacturers that report monthly
March March % 3 mos. 3 mos. %
2023 2022
chng. 2023 2022
NSX .......................................
5
- 139
-
5
chng.
HONDA CANADA
ILX ......................................... 10 126 -92% 24 246 -90%
Integra ................................... 68
TLX ........................................ 133 306 -57% 331 445 -26%
380 428 -11% 881 915
-4%
RDX ....................................... 558 645 -13% 1,482 1,771 -16%
Total Acura truck ............... 938 1,073 -13% 2,363 2,686 -12%
Total Acura ...................... 1,149 1,510 -24% 2,857 3,382 -16%
Accord ...................................
Civic (D/I) .............................. 1,313 2,803 -53% 4,000 6,968 -43%
Clarity (I) ...............................
Insight ...................................
264 668 -60% 274
-
-
1
1,138 -76%
5 -80%
2
-
Total Honda car (D/I) .......... 1,577 3,471 -55% 4,275 8,113 -47%
CR-V ...................................... 3,243 3,259
-0% 5,900 7,828 -25%
HR-V ...................................... 1,080 1,007 7% 2,418 2,423 -0%
Odyssey ................................. 486 413 18% 1,087 707 54%
Passport ................................ 269 253 6% 624 508 23%
Pilot ....................................... 724 457 58% 1,141 1,541 -26%
Ridgeline ................................ 279 218 28% 754 697 8%
Total Honda truck .............. 6,081 5,607 8% 11,924 13,704 -13%
Total Honda(D/I) ................ 7,658 9,078 -16% 16,199 21,817 -26%
Honda Canada car ............. 1,788 3,908 -54% 4,769 8,809 -46%
Honda Canada truck ........... 7,019 6,680 5% 14,287 16,390 -13%
HONDA CANADA ................ 8,807 10,588 -17% 19,056 25,199 -24%
HYUNDAI-KIA
G70 (I) ................................... 63 101 -38% 193 286 -33%
G80 (I) ................................... 33
G90 (I) ...................................
3
13 154% 85
5 -40% 17
-
84
52 63%
11 55%
Total Genesis car (I) ........... 99 119 -17% 295 349 -15%
GV60 (I) ................................. 32
-
GV70 (I) ................................. 367 225 63% 696 394 77%
GV80 (I) ................................. 106
83 28% 247 124 99%
Total Genesis truck (I) ......... 505 308 64% 1,027 518 98%
Total Genesis (I) ............... 604 427 41% 1,322 867 52%
Elantra (I) ............................... 1,974 2,841 -31% 5,300 5,869 -10%
Ioniq (I) .................................
Veloster (I) .............................
36
82
-
Sonata (D) ............................ 0 289 -
Hyundai car (D) ................ 0 289
-
-
0 191
0 144
0 699
-
0 699 -
Sonata (I) ............................. 236 89 165% 643 181 255%
Total Sonata ...........................
236 378 -38% 643 880 -27%
-
-
Hyundai car (I) ................. 2,210 3,048 -27% 5,943 6,385 -7%
Total Hyundai car .............. 2,210 3,337 -34% 5,943 7,084 -16%
Ioniq 5 (I) .............................. 480 528 -9% 1,122 2,079 -46%
Kona (I) ................................. 1,751 2,469 -29% 5,142 5,363 -4%
Nexo (I) .................................
4
-
4
-
Palisade (I) ............................ 609 827 -26% 1,653 1,962 -16%
Santa Fe (D).......................... 643 801 -20% 1,818 1,950 -7%
Santa Fe (I) ........................... 212 295 -28% 545 782 -30%
Total Santa Fe ........................ 855 1,096 -22% 2,363 2,732 -14%
Santa Cruz ............................. 261 257 2% 877 490 79%
Tucson (I) .............................. 2,700 1,657 63% 5,897 4,449 33%
Venue (I) ................................ 1,090 1,029 6% 2,688 2,533 6%
Hyundai truck (D) .............. 904 1,058 -15% 2,695 2,440 10%
Hyundai truck (I) ............... 6,846 6,805 1% 17,051 17,168 -1%
Total Hyundai truck ............ 7,750 7,863 -1% 19,746 19,608 1%
Hyundai (D) ..................... 904 1,347 -33% 2,695 3,139 -14%
Hyundai (I) ...................... 9,056 9,853 -8% 22,994 23,553 -2%
Total Hyundai ................... 9,960 11,200 -11% 25,689 26,692 -4%
Hyundai Auto Canada car ..... 2,309 3,456 -33% 6,238 7,433 -16%
Hyundai Auto Canada truck... 8,255 8,171 1% 20,773 20,126 3%
Hyundai Auto Canada (D) ..... 904 1,347 -33% 2,695 3,139 -14%
Hyundai Auto Canada (I) ...... 9,660 10,280 -6% 24,316 24,420 -0%
Hyundai Auto Canada ......... 10,564 11,627 -9% 27,011 27,559 -2%
-
-
Total Acura car ................. 211 437 -52% 494 696 -29%
MDX .......................................
March March % 3 mos. 3 mos. %
2023 2022
Forte (D/I) .............................. 1,332 1,104
K5 .......................................... 122
chng. 2023 2022
21% 3,414 2,997
chng.
14%
59 107% 320 165 94%
Rio ......................................... 421 514 -18% 1,168 980 19%
Soul (I) .................................. 256 458 -44% 1,032 1,891 -45%
Stinger (I) .............................. 148
98 51% 272 214 27%
Total Kia car (D/I) .............. 2,279 2,233 2% 6,206 6,247 -1%
Carnival (I) ............................. 829 124 569% 1,762 424 316%
EV6 (I) ................................... 180 121 49% 367 155 137%
Niro (I) ................................... 166 167 -1% 168 618 -73%
Sedona (I) ..............................
-
1
-
Seltos (I) ................................ 2,295 1,374 67% 5,256 2,615 101%
Sorento .................................. 983 778 26% 2,236 2,346 -5%
Sportage (I) ........................... 1,482 830 79% 3,262 1,700 92%
Telluride ................................. 496 319 55% 1,242 741 68%
Kia truck (D) .................... 1,479 1,097 35% 3,478 3,087 13%
Kia truck (I) ..................... 4,952 2,616 89% 10,815 5,513 96%
Total Kia truck .................. 6,431 3,713 73% 14,293 8,600 66%
Kia Canada (D/I) ............... 8,710 5,946 46% 20,499 14,847 38%
Hyundai-Kia Automotive car .. 4,588 5,689 -19% 12,444 13,680 -9%
Hyundai-Kia Automotive truck 14,686 11,884 24% 35,066 28,726 22%
HYUNDAI-KIA AUTOMOTIVE... 19,274 17,573 10% 47,510 42,406 12%
MAZDA CANADA
Mazda3 (D/I) .......................... 1,346 1,195 13% 2,521 3,072 -18%
MX-5 Miata (I) ....................... 220 115 91% 343 292 17%
Total Mazda car (D/I) .......... 1,566 1,310 20% 2,864 3,364 -15%
CX-3 (I) ..................................
0 842
-
0 1,815
- 738
-
CX-30 ..................................... 1,517 714 112% 3,294 1,207 173%
CX-5 (I) .................................. 1,623 2,329 -30% 3,305 5,442 -39%
CX-50 ..................................... 274
-
CX-9 (I) .................................. 392 468 -16% 980 847 16%
MX-30 (I) ............................... 98 147 -33% 145 244 -41%
Mazda truck (D) ................ 1,791 714 151% 4,032 1,207 234%
Mazda truck (I) ................. 2,113 3,786 -44% 4,430 8,348 -47%
Total Mazda truck .............. 3,904 4,500 -13% 8,462 9,555 -11%
MAZDA CANADA ................ 5,470 5,810 -6% 11,326 12,919 -12%
SUBARU
BRZ (I) ................................... 48
81 -41% 87 240 -64%
75 -56% 90 168 -46%
51 82% 431
67 543%
10%
Impreza .................................. 250 339 -26% 636 839 -24%
Legacy ................................... 33
WRX (I) ................................. 93
Subaru car (D) .................. 283 414 -32% 726 1,007 -28%
Subaru car (I) ................... 141 132 7% 518 307 69%
Total Subaru car ................ 424 546 -22% 1,244 1,314 -5%
Ascent ....................................
309 238 30% 816 742
Crosstrek (I) .......................... 640 1,460 -56% 2,871 4,029 -29%
Forester (I) ............................. 547 519 5% 1,708 1,950 -12%
Outback ................................. 1,097 1,284 -15% 2,550 2,669 -4%
Solterra (I) ............................. 150
- 351
-
Subaru truck (D) ................ 1,406 1,522 -8% 3,366 3,411 -1%
Subaru truck (I) ................. 1,337 1,979 -32% 4,930 5,979 -18%
Total Subaru truck ............. 2,743 3,501 -22% 8,296 9,390 -12%
Subaru (D) ...................... 1,689 1,936 -13% 4,092 4,418 -7%
Subaru (I) ....................... 1,478 2,111 -30% 5,448 6,286 -13%
SUBARU .......................... 3,167 4,047 -22% 9,540
10,704 -11%
TOYOTA CANADA
ES .......................................... 100 118 -15% 249 318 -22%
IS (I) ...................................... 188 125 50% 422 327 29%
LC (I) .....................................
LS (I) .....................................
2
3
RC (I) ..................................... 15
25 -92%
3
-
8
9
16 -6% 17
40 -80%
6 50%
31 -45%
Lexus car (D) ................... 100 118 -15% 249 318 -22%
Lexus car (I) .................... 208 169 23% 456 404 13%
Total Lexus car ................. 308 287 7% 705 722 -2%
announce the first dealership
outside of British Columbia in
the third quarter, Julian said,
with nine more by the end of the
year. The initial target area will
be the Hamilton-Montreal corridor,
but the company plans to
expand nationwide as well as
into the United States.
The VMC 1200 has a range of
about 250 kilometres on a full
charge, said the company, a load
capacity of 2,700 kilograms (6,000
pounds) and a top speed of 105
km/h. A full charge takes five to
seven hours with a 240-volt Level
2 station, and about three hours
using a 480-volt DC Level 3 fast
charger. The base price is just
less than $150,000, not including
options that range from a dry box
for deliveries to a dump box or
flat deck.
VMC, which was founded in
2008, plans to build 2,000 VMC
1200s this year, 8,000 in 2024 and
20,000 in 2025, LaGourgue said.
- ANC
The entry point in Vicinity Motor Corp.'s line of electric
commercial trucks is the Class 3 VMC 1200. On a full charge, the
range is about 250 kilometres and it has a load capacity of 2,700
kilograms (6,000 pounds). SUPPLIED PHOTO
Vehicles are domestic unless noted.
March March % 3 mos. 3 mos. %
2023 2022
chng. 2023 2022
GX (I) ..................................... 79
LX (I) ..................................... 116
NX (D) .................................. 989
32 147% 218
62 87% 158
0 - 2,588
1
chng.
70 211%
82 93%
0 -
NX (I) .................................... 143 921 -84% 287 1,456 -80%
Total NX ................................. 1,132 921 23% 2,875 1,456 97%
RX (D) .................................. 1,030 932 11% 2,777 2,185 27%
RX (I) .................................... 0 34 -
Total RX ................................. 1,030 966 7% 2,778 2,262 23%
RZ (I) ..................................... 84
-
84
-
77 -99%
UX (I) ..................................... 166 233 -29% 432 503 -14%
Lexus truck (D) ................. 2,019 932 117% 5,365 2,185 146%
Lexus truck (I) .................. 588 1,282 -54% 1,096 2,188 -50%
Total Lexus truck ............... 2,607 2,214 18% 6,461 4,373 48%
Lexus (D) ........................ 2,119 1,050 102% 5,614 2,503 124%
Lexus (I) ......................... 796 1,451 -45% 1,552 2,592 -40%
Total Lexus ...................... 2,915 2,501 17% 7,166 5,095 41%
86 (I) .....................................
Avalon ....................................
42 93 -55% 76
-
261 -71%
1
-
Camry .................................... 1,065 589 81% 2,207 1,487 48%
Corolla (D) ............................
610 1,123 -46% 1,596 2,783 -43%
-7% 4,636 4,707
-2%
-
-
5
5
8 188% 46
Corolla (I) ............................. 1,304 935 39% 3,040 1,924 58%
Total Corolla ........................... 1,914 2,058
8
Crown (I) ............................... 184
Mirai (I) .................................
Prius (I) ................................. 136 572 -76% 235 1,067 -78%
Supra (I) ................................ 23
16 188%
Toyota car (D) .................. 1,675 1,712 -2% 3,803 4,271 -11%
Toyota car (I) ................... 1,689 1,616 5% 3,402 3,288 3%
Total Toyota car ................ 3,364 3,328 1% 7,205 7,559 -5%
4Runner (I) ............................
BZ4x (I) ................................. 405
C-HR (I) .................................
409 720 -43% 958
0 332
- 701
-
1,879 -49%
-
2 1,173 -100%
Corolla Cross ......................... 394 679 -42% 1,851 1,531 21%
Highlander ............................. 2,281 1,895 20% 4,888 4,448 10%
Land Cruiser (I) ..................... 39
38 3% 101 109 -7%
1,493 108
-
-
2
-
80
RAV4 (D) .............................. 7,187 4,442 62% 15,026 9,791 53%
RAV4 (I) ................................ 1,151
77
Total RAV4 ............................. 8,338 4,519 85% 16,519 9,899 67%
Sequoia .................................. 34
46 74%
Sienna .................................... 224 808 -72% 531 2,048 -74%
Tacoma .................................. 497 1,252 -60% 1,927 3,180 -39%
Tundra.................................... 672 979 -31% 2,112 2,501 -16%
Venza (I) ................................ 90 540 -83% 241 1,150 -79%
Toyota truck (D) ................ 11,289 10,057 12% 26,415 23,545 12%
Toyota truck (I) ................. 2,094 1,707 23% 3,496 4,419 -21%
Total Toyota truck .............. 13,383 11,764 14% 29,911 27,964 7%
Toyota (D) ....................... 12,964 11,769 10% 30,218 27,816 9%
Toyota (I) ........................ 3,783 3,323 14% 6,898 7,707 -10%
Total Toyota ..................... 16,747 15,092 11% 37,116 35,523 4%
Toyota Canada car ............. 3,672 3,615 2% 7,910 8,281 -4%
Toyota Canada truck ........... 15,990 13,978 14% 36,372 32,337 12%
Toyota Canada (D) ............. 15,083 12,819 18% 35,832 30,319 18%
Toyota Canada (I) .............. 4,579 4,774 -4% 8,450 10,299 -18%
TOYOTA CANADA................ 19,662 17,593 12% 44,282 40,618 9%
VOLVO CAR CANADA
VOLVO CAR CANADA ........... 969 877 10% 2,508 2,153 16%
Note: (D) = produced in North America; (I) = imported to Canada
Source: Automotive News Research & Data Center
20 -75%
20 -75%
Automotive News Canada - April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - April 2023
