Automotive News Canada - December 2023 - 17

* DECEMBER 2023
17
2023ALL-STARS
LANDING THE
VOLKSWAGEN DEAL
SEAN DYKE
CEO
ST. THOMAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.
THE SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO
city of St. Thomas faced some daunting
competition as it sought to land
Volkswagen Group subsidiary
PowerCo's first North American battery-cell
manufacturing plant.
PowerCo weighed more than 200 factors
in locating its $7 billion plant, company
officials said.
THE NEW
WEIGHTING GAME
LINDA
HASENFRATZ
CEO
LINAMAR CORP.
LINAMAR CORP. CEO
Linda Hasenfratz is positioning
the global parts supplier at the
forefront of groundbreaking electric-vehicle
technology.
In May, Hasenfratz,
announced that the Guelph,
Ont., supplier is building North
America's first plant housing
three giga presses, in Welland,
about 25 kilometres southwest of
Niagara Falls.
Hasenfratz, 57, said the stateof-the-art
plant is " critical " for
the future of electrified vehicles.
" As the first supplier to invest
in this equipment in North
America, Linamar will naturally
take a market leadership position
in this technology, " she said.
Pioneered by Tesla, giga presses
produce large structural vehicle
components; a single aluminum
piece replaces a multipiece
part that requires numerous
welds.
The goal is to offset the weight
of the battery, Hasenfratz told
Automotive News Canada.
Having large castings make up
more and more of the structure
of the vehicle plays an important
role because they're significantly
reducing the weight of
the stamped-steel assemblies
that would otherwise be used.
Depending on the part, the castings
will save 25 to 45 per cent in
terms of weight, she said.
Linamar said the investment
is the next step in the company's
high-pressure die-casting
strategy and follows an " increasing
trend " for cast aluminum in
vehicle architecture.
The 300,000-square-foot
(28,000-square-metre) plant will
employ about 200 workers and is
scheduled to open in 2025, adding
to Linamar's Ontario manufacturing
footprint concentrated
around its Guelph headquarters.
The key to it all was the St. Thomas
Economic Development Corp., under
the guidance of CEO Sean Dyke, which
preemptively assembled a 1,500-acre
(600-hectare) greenfield site, convincing
the provincial government to annex the
portions of the land that were outside
city limits.
Without the foresight to assemble a
LEADING THE CHARGE
DANIES LEE
CEO
NEXTSTAR ENERGY PLANT IN WINDSOR, ONT.
DANIES LEE IS NOT ONLY
overseeing Canada's first battery-cell
plant, he is also at the threshold of the
country's nascent electric-vehicle supply
chain.
Lee is CEO of the NextStar Energy
plant in Windsor, Ont., a joint venture
between Stellantis and South Korea's
LG Energy Solution. The $5 billion facility
is under construction and is expected
to begin production next year. Once
fully operational in 2025, it will directly
employ at least 2,500 workers and will
have the capacity to produce components
for 500,000 electrified vehicles a
year.
Lee is working with local academTHE
COCKPIT
OF THE FUTURE
RON
DiCARLANTONIO
CEO
INAGO INC.
ONE OF THE MOST GROUNDbreaking
achievements of the
Automotive Parts Manufacturers'
Association's Project Arrow Canadian
EV concept is the reinvention of the
cockpit. And Ron DiCarlantonio, 59, the
founder and CEO of technology company
iNAGO Inc., helped it get there with
a digital assistant that empowers drivers
like never before.
The iNAGO system (the Toronto company's
full name is Intelligent Assistant
Solutions) includes telematics that
keep tabs on a vehicle's location and its
onboard diagnostics and offers drivers
recommendations, such as possible locations
where they can recharge the vehicle's
battery before it runs out of juice.
As cities adopt new technology, telematland
package, there would have been no
deal for St. Thomas.
Meanwhile, the federal government
ponied up incentives worth between
$8 billion and
$13.2 billion
(depending
on eventual
production
output), and
Ontario kicked
in $500 million
in upfront support.
Dyke,
46,
said the VW
investment
will return an
automotive presence to St. Thomas that
was lost in recent years when the Ford
Canada and the Daimler AG-owned
Sterling Truck Corp. closed their
respective assembly plants.
The PowerCo plant is expected to
become the largest manufacturing operation
in Canada, producing batteries
for about one million electric vehicles
a year.
ic institutions and economic development
officials to quickly assemble the
talent needed for a successful launch.
However, controversy
has dogged
the heavily subsidized
plant. In
May, a protracted
battle between
Stellantis and
the federal government
over
funding nearly
scuttled the project,
and this fall,
word that hundreds
of temporary
workers
from South Korea would be hired
to install and test machinery ignited a
political firestorm with critics saying
that local jobs were being taken.
Through it all, construction at the
site continues as Lee and his team help
usher Canada's auto industry into the
EV era.
ics will enable the vehicle to interact
directly with on-road sensors.
" I believe the industry needs to create
an open and collaborative environment
to innovate and create the next generation
of vehicles that will be simple,
smart, safe and fun for everyone, " said
DiCarlantonio.
INAGO started
an alliance of
companies - the
Mutualism alliance
- to work
together so that
Canadian companies
can play a
bigger role in the
new generation
of smart cockpits.
The consortium
has caught automakers'
attention. Since Project Arrow's
launch at CES in Las Vegas in January,
iNAGO and fellow Mutualism partner
Geotab have been speaking with automakers
about using all or part of the
platform in their next generation of vehicles,
or adopting the Mutualism package
in their own software platforms.
" It would be good to get us on the map
for auto tech as we are finally on the map
for AI, " said DiCarlantonio.
ON THE
RIGHT TRACK
JENNIFER
COOPER
MANAGER
PORSCHE EXPERIENCE CENTRE TORONTO
AT PORSCHE CARS CANADA LTD.
WHEN PORSCHE WAS
looking for a leader to guide its
Toronto-area Porsche Experience
Centre (PEC), the company wanted
someone who knew the joy of
driving. They turned to Jennifer
Cooper, a 15-year employee of
Porsche Cars Canada Ltd.
When Cooper began overseeing
the PEC, she was manager
of events and motorsport for the
Canadian arm of the company.
The centre is " opening in the
summer of 2024, and my main
focus is overseeing our construction
project, " Cooper told
Automotive News Canada in
June. " I'm the main point of contact
between our design team,
project managers, our general
contractor doing the track and a
construction manager doing the
building. "
When PEC opens, " that's when
the fun begins, because [I'll] be
responsible for all the functions, "
she said.
PEC Toronto will be the first
such facility in Canada, allowing
customers and fans to experience
Porsche vehicles.
Cooper, 48, said she focuses
on " creating a culture of collaboration,
building relationships,
establishing a good foundation
for communication. "
The 20-acre (eight-hectare)
PEC, in Pickering, Ont., about
40 kilometres northeast of
Toronto, will have a driving circuit
more than two kilometres
long, designed by Germany-based
Tilke Engineering, which specializes
in racetrack and test facilities.
It
will be part of the Durham
Live complex, which has a casino
and plans to add a concert venue,
retail space and a 300-room luxury
hotel.
There are nine other PECs
worldwide.
Automotive News Canada - December 2023

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