Automotive News Canada - February 2024 - 3

* FEBRUARY 2024
3
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Tesla gets lion's share
of 2023 iZEV rebates
For 2022, the automaker delivered 10,913
qualifying EVs and finished second to
Hyundai. Last year, Tesla was first with
43,654 vehicles, led by the Model Y
By DAVID KENNEDY
TORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
TESLA RAKED IN NEARLY A
quarter billion dollars in taxpayer
money doled out for the federal
Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles
(iZEV) rebate program in 2023.
It was the brand with the highest
vehicle volume and the highest dollar
figure, at $217.8 million of the $712.6 million
given to automakers last year.
iZEV REBATES
BY BRAND
* Tesla
* Hyundai
* Toyota
The iZEV program
supported the
purchase of 26,775
Tesla Model Y BEVs.
PHOTO: LINKEDIN
Tesla shipped 43,654 eligible vehicles in 2023, pushing Hyundai
to second place with 16,735 qualifying
battery-electrics and plugin
hybrids, according to the latest
data from Transport Canada. The
numbers are subject to revision.
This stands in sharp contrast to
2022, when Tesla received $54.5 million
for 10,913 vehicles, which was
second place to Hyundai's $60 million
for 12,737 vehicles.
Toyota, Chevrolet and Kia
rounded out the top five, shipping
14,651, 13,365 and 9,263 eligible
ZEVs, respectively.
* Chevrolet
* Kia
* Mitsubishi
* Ford
* Volkswagen
* Nissan
* Audi
* Jeep
* Volvo
* Polestar
* Mazda
* Subaru
43,654
16,735
14,651
13,365
9,263
9,182
7,601
6,449
3,590
3,504
3,191
2,232
2,169
1,868
1,855
Source: Transport Canada
SEE TESLA PAGE 20
TRANS-CANADA NEWS 5,000 KILOMETRES
O'Regan's BMW service
OF STORIES
department unionizes
HALIFAX - TWENTY-TWO
mechanics and service techs at
a BMW dealership ratified their
first collective agreement in
January.
The three-year deal includes
overnight pay increases of up
to 23 per cent, plus 2.5-per-cent
raises for all staff in years two
and three. Paid sick days, RRSP
matching and a formal health
and safety committee with
weekly meetings are also included.
The
service staff at O'Regan's
BMW are the first to be
unionized at a Halifax-area
dealership. PHOTO: UNIFOR
The collective agreement
makes the service department
at O'Regan's BMW the first in
the Halifax area to be unionized,
Federal rebates for BEV and
PHEVs nearly tripled in 2023 from
the $260 million in 2022. The incentives
supported the purchase of
about 146,000 ZEVs, up 150 per cent
from the roughly 58,000 vehicles
that got rebates the year before.
TESLA GOT A LATE START IN 2023
The Tesla Model Y topped the
list of BEVs receiving rebates in
2023, despite being eligible for the
program for only eight months.
The crossover gained entry into
the program in late April when
Tesla began shipping a low-cost
variant to Canada from China. The
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The presses at Linamar's new casting plant in Welland, Ont., can turn out
large aluminum structural parts for EVs that are up to 45 per cent
lighter than the stamped-steel assemblies. This photo, taken
Feb. 4, shows the progress.
PHOTO: GREG LAYSON
03
02.24
The top 15 brands and
the number of eligible
vehicles/rebates
in 2023
Linamar's new gigacasting
plant is under pressure
The stamping facility in Welland
needs to start on time so that
the customer's vehicle launches
on time, the company said
By DAVID KENNEDY
TORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
LINAMAR CORP. IS UP AGAINST THE CLOCK
as it prepares to fire up the first supplier-owned
gigacasting plant in North America.
The Canadian Tier 1 company is making headway
on construction at the plant site in Welland,
Ont., 20 kilometres west of Niagara Falls, as well
as training the plant's future workforce in France
and collaborating with its undisclosed launch cusaccording
to Unifor, which
represents the workers.
- David Kennedy
Alberta dealer 'all for'
fed's ZEV mandate
CALGARY - THE OWNER
of Northstar Ford supports
the federal government's goal
to have all new-vehicle sales
by 2035 be zero emission.
Marty Giles told CTV
News Calgary he's " all for "
the timetable, firmed up in
December, as it includes plugin
hybrids that connect to the
electrical grid and does not
spell the immediate, sudden
demise of internal combustion
engines in new Canadian
vehicles.
tomer to ensure that the mammoth
die-casting machines are ready to
churn out parts for an upcoming
electric vehicle on schedule.
" There is no Plan B, " Rick
Borns, director of engineering for
Linamar's newly formed structures
group, said Feb. 7 at the
EV Innovation & Technology
Conference in Toronto.
" If this [plant] doesn't successfully
launch on time, " Borns said,
" the vehicle will not make the market
on time. "
Linamar has remained tightlipped
about which automaker the
Borns: The
launch
customer for
Linamar's
new
gigacasting
plant could
be the first
of many
because
other
automakers
are paying
attention
to the
technology.
PHOTO:
LINKEDIN
SEE TIGHT TIMELINE PAGE 20
Alberta lags leading provinces
for zero-emission-vehicle
adoption but did see registrations
of battery-electric
and plug-in hybrids tick up
throughout 2023.
By not limiting buyers to
fully electric vehicles, the legislation
will allow vehicles to
travel farther and provides
customers a choice, Giles
added. The federal ZEV mandate
has included plug-in
hybrids from the beginning.
" I think we can double the
fuel mileage of the vehicles. If
we have true plug-in hybrid
technology, a customer gets
to decide, 'Hey I'm in the city
today, I'm going to drive electric.' "
- Joe Knycha
The goal is to help kick-start
Canadian soccer at all levels
TORONTO - CHEVROLET
Canada has signed on as the official
partner of Major League Soccer's
(MLS) Canadian arm and its three
Canadian teams; the Vancouver
Whitecaps FC, Toronto FC and CF
Montreal.
The automaker and the league,
SEE TRANS-CANADA PAGE 20
Automotive News Canada - February 2024

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