Automotive News Canada - March 2024 - 1

BEST PRACTICES: FOR SMALL-TOWN DEALERSHIP, PERSONAL TOUCH TRUMPS TECH/P9
MARCH 2024 | VOL. 8, NO. 3 | AUTOMOTIVENEWS.CA FOR BREAKING NEWS AND DIGITAL EDITION
Feb. fuels forecast of 2M sales in 2024
By GREG LAYSON
DIGITAL AND MOBILE EDITOR
IT'S EARLY IN THE YEAR, BUT 2024
continues to prove that auto retailing in
Canada is well beyond
the worst days of the
microchip shortage
and inventory crunch.
FEBRUARY STATS/P25
SALES ANALYSIS
For the second consecutive month,
signs point to an outside chance that
Predictions have typically been around 1.75 million
but the first two months overperformed as a 'deep well
of pent-up demand' was met with greater vehicle supply
automakers this year will sell two million
vehicles, a total that would slingshot past
any previous predictions made by analysts.
Automakers
sold an estimated 129,000
new vehicles in February, a record for
the month, according to DesRosiers
Automotive Consultants (DAC). Monthly
sales figures are estimates because the
majority of automakers report quarterly
SEE HOW LONG PAGE 25
TORONTO, FEB. 15
CANADA
CONGRESS
Taking on key industry issues
such as artificial intelligence
and the appetite for
electric vehicles
CANADIAN
Dodge ushers in the next generation
of its muscle cars - electric and
internal-combustion coupes and
sedans - that will be built in
Windsor, Ont.
China's
grip on
EV metals
Conference points the finger at
China for crashing prices of lithium
and nickel, which stifles local mining
and supply-chain development
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
PHOTOS: STELLANTIS
By VINCE BOND JR.
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
DODGE IS BRINGING ITS SIGNATURE
attitude to the electric-vehicle world with the
next-generation Charger, while also continuing
the nameplate's legacy of gasoline-powered performance.
The
brand, known for pushing the envelope and
brashly embracing speed with its Hellcats and
Demons, isn't leaving that mentality behind with
its first EV, which includes modes for drifting and
doing donuts.
The 2024 Charger Daytona Scat Pack will deliver
670 horsepower with a 260-mile (418-kilometre)
range and a zero-to-60 mph (96 km/h) time of
3.3 seconds. Another option is the 496-horsepower
Daytona R/T trim level, with a range of 317 miles
(510 kilometres).
Production of the two-door electric models
begins in mid-2024 while the four-door sedan EV
are scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. The
Charger lineup will be built at Stellantis' Windsor,
Ont., assembly plant on the flexible STLA Large
Platform.
SEE CHARGER PAGE 24
CANADA IS IN
talks with the
United States and
other allies to prevent
China from
flooding the market
with low-cost
nickel, lithium and
other key battery
metals as Western
miners struggle to
gain traction after
prices slumped.
The North
American automotive
industry needs
diversified sources
of critical minerals
to avoid relying on
" unfriendly actors "
with lax environmental,
social and
corporate governance
(ESG) credentials,
said Jonathan
Wilkinson, federal Minister
of Energy and natural
resources.
" None of us are going
Wilkinson:
China's
actions to
depress
the prices
of battery
metals make
it difficult for
companies to
raise money
to build
mines in the
West.
PHOTO:
GOVERNMENT
OF CANADA
to be engaged in a race to
the bottom where we are
eliminating environmental
and labour standards, "
Wilkinson
told reporters on
a March 6 conference
call that
followed the sixday
Prospectors
& Developers
Association of
Canada (PDAC)
convention in
Toronto.
" We have to
have mechanisms
through which we
ensure that the
markets are not
being distorted ...
to prevent us from
developing our own
supplies of these
minerals. "
Wilkinson pointed
to nickel, a key
component in most
electric vehicle batteries.
" You have, essentially,
Chinese-produced nickel
SEE INDUSTRY PAGE 23
P12-14
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Automotive News Canada - March 2024

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