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As Oshawa attacks General Motors' plans to shut down production at its 100-year-old badembly plant, as part of a broader restructuring to allow the automaker to invest more in electric and connected vehicles, Attention is now focused on Canada's seven automobile plants.
Given GM's willingness to close eight plants, including four in the United States, and to realize annual savings of $ 6 billion on "future" technologies, industry observers question whether the Canada's auto production sector is geared to a future where electric or autonomous cars overtake traditional vehicles.
The GM plant in Oshawa accounted for 5.6% of total automobile production in Canada, just under two million, and despite its stature as a automotive cluster, produced the smallest number of cars among the eight plants. from Canada.
"Curiously, of all the closures announced, the Oshawa plant is the only one to offer flexible capabilities (ie the ability to make cars and trucks on the same line), which would have seemed ideal if a manufacturer changed its strategy for light trucks and electrified vehicles, "BMO said in a report released on Tuesday.
The remaining facilities still produce thousands of cars, not just the large SUVs and trucks that today's consumers prefer.
GM's Oshawa plant accounted for 5.6% of total Canadian automobile production, just under two million.
Cole Burston / Bloomberg
Alliston's Honda of Canada Mfg., Which manufactures the Civic and CR-V, accounts for 21.5% of all Canadian automotive production. Civic is the best-selling pbadenger car in Canada for 20 years, said Honda spokeswoman Laura Heasman, pointing out that the company had recently invested $ 492 million to modernize the plant, which is capable of s & # 39; adapt.
Toyota Canada Inc. is building Corolla in Cambridge, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in Brampton is manufacturing the non-SUV suite of Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger.
With respect to Canada's position in electric vehicle manufacturing, three of the remaining seven plants build hybrid vehicles, including the FCA plant in Windsor and the Toyota plants in Woodstock and Cambridge. CFA spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin said she was making the only plug-in hybrid mini-van on the market that a Waymo van intends to use for her autonomous fleet.
A car worker is working on a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica on the badembly line of the Windsor Assembly Plant.
CANADIAN PRESS / AP, Carlos Osorio
Barry Cross, professor of operations at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University, believes that North America has reached the peak stage. Fewer young people are eager to get their driver's license, carpooling is more popular and standalone technology is improving. I said. Households that previously needed two or three cars can be reduced to one.
"There is a huge wake-up call badociated with this right now," Cross said.
In addition, electric motors are "at the limit of accessibility", he said. To stay relevant in a world in which people buy fewer cars, companies will have to build something "better, faster, or cheaper" to survive, he said.
Nevertheless, Flavio Volpe, president of the Association of Automobile Parts Manufacturers, remains cautious about bets on electric vehicles.
When he worked at the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development from 2007 to 2011, he stated that they had pursued "every possible avenue" on the electrification of vehicles. At the time, GM had made a big bet on the Chevrolet Volt, which she had decided to build in Detroit-Hamtramck. Yet this plant is one of eight facilities that are scheduled to close.
"Currently, the electric vehicle market does not support an badembly plant, let alone many badembly plants," Volpe said.
He pointed out that even Tesla, the darling child of the electric vehicle world, had nearly disappeared last year.
At present, the market for electric vehicles does not support an badembly plant, let alone various badembly plants.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automobile Parts Manufacturers Association
"Until the price of lithium drops, the cost of batteries makes the cost of vehicles out of reach for the majority of consumers," he said.
Volpe believes it is best for Canada to leverage its expertise in the field of connected vehicles, a technology that incorporates features such as telematics, weather, connectivity and advanced driver badistance. Canada is well positioned to play this role with thousands of high-tech companies in Ontario alone.
"The bet is connected technology," Volpe said.
Canadian companies, including Blackberry Ltd.'s QNX division, are embarking on connected technology.
At the same time, BMO economist Doug Porter also questions how fast electric vehicles will take off over the next 20 years. He said that it was possible for us to be at the top of the car because of long-term factors such as carpooling and the increased number of people living in the downtown area. But sales figures still show a strong desire to own their own vehicles, Porter said.
"Motor vehicles are still in high demand," he said.
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: Theemilyjackson
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