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Car builders abroad race past North America

JOHN PARTRIDGE

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 9:29 AM EDT 27/03/08

Auto production capacity in the world's four largest emerging economies is poised to surpass North American output for the first time this year, Scotiabank says ...Read the full article

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  1. Vote NDP in the next federal/provincial election from Canada writes: We shouldn't be focused on producing cars so much since they damage the environment in so many ways. We should be building more trains, buses, ferries and the like.

    If car production exceeds North American then I hope Canada will import ZERO cars from these countries.
  2. On Edge from Canada writes: Another sign of how we here need to get with the times and become part of the world auto scene. Some day trucks and jumbo sedans and 'mini' vans for everyday commuting and grocery shopping will be a thing of the past here, one can hope.
  3. Freddie B from Woodbridge from Canada writes: BRIC population approx 3 billion people. NA population 425 million. They will probably end up buying more cars too. Why shouldn't they make more cars. If NA manufacturers stay competetive, there is nothing to worry about. If we continue to follow the likes of Buzz and his gang of thugs, auto workers should just remember the phrase 'will there be fries with that'.
  4. Don Quixote from the Banana Belt, Ont., Canada writes: No wonder, just look at the population numbers:

    The 'old' car building countries like U.S., all the Europeans, Brazil and Branch Plant Canada the population is about a billion people with South America included.

    The new and coming countries, which population just lately acquired or since various collapses and re-orientation of dictated guidelines are allowed to acquire a taste for 4 wheel mobilization: They measure in at about 5 billion people, including Africa which is not a major automobile producing continent.

    You think the average, working class people, with a living standard less than a quarter than ours will want to buy our overly expensive gadget filled mobile jalopys?
  5. garlick toast from Canada writes: we should be building busses.the one we impoted from scotland came complete with '' riders''.
  6. Blaque Jacque Shallaque from Canada writes: Yes, but Buzz Hargrove's 'take no prisoners, don't give an inch' approach will fix all that, right?

    /sarc
  7. Traciatim No_Lastname from Canada writes: It's amazing what they can do with an endless supply of cheap labour.
  8. Stinch d from toronto, Canada writes: Lyn Alg and Vote NDP - you should come to Toronto next week and watch your worlds collide as the TTC will probably go on strike for a few days. Crippling Toronto's transportation infrastructure, and making all million riders late for work - all so they can earn even more than their current astronomical salaries shleping change in little booths with a sense of entitlement stamped on their faces... good times...
  9. Rusty Waters from Canada writes: When America and Canada are at war, the other countries are developing their economy and advancing their societies. North America is in reverse gear. Sad state of affairs in North America
  10. Jeff S from Canada writes: I agree.

    Unions got us in half the mess we're in.

    The good news is their are screwing every industry equally. From healthcare to automotive. So don't think you auto guys are getting all the credit for a industry ruined by unions.

    Must be nice to be NDP and live in a city so you can take buses. The folks living outside the cities producing the raw materials and food needed for you can walk the 20-30 miles to work everyday because to give everyone in this country mass transportation would require everyone paying about 80% income tax.

    The NDP'ers always leave out that little 'who pays for it' part. Must be a side effect of when their brain lobotomized to become NDP.
  11. Westcoastser from Delta from Canada writes: Another meaningless article from the G&M. Of course, car production (and everything other goods production for that matter) will continually increase in the BRIC countries. They have large populations which are rising from poverty to middle class. We should be happy for them, instead of bedrudging them. This is a success story for the world not a negative. To believe otherwise is being purely selfish.
  12. bill k from Canada writes: It's not a union problem you ignorant puppets. What do you people want? I do not understand WORKING CLASS people complaining about other WORKING CLASS people? The corporate EILTE who make on average 400 TIMES MORE then the average WORKING CLASS people and you puppets say nothing. These corporate ELITE are now asking the governments to BAIL them out for BILLIONS and BILLION of dollars. We WORKING CLASS people need to stick together before the elite slaughter us. Most here sound more like bitter people who have it bad wishing other to suffer with them. I wouldn't work for the TTC or Auto factories for such garbage pay. Those people are paid slaves but I doubt you ignorant puppets will ever understand. Enjoy your economic prison.
  13. Hugo Hall from Calgary, Canada writes: One more indication that Ontario's struggling auto industry is in for some rough times, and misguided corporate welfare schemes will not help any. Auto manufacturing in North American high-wage areas is a dying industry; better to invest more in emerging industries than to throw good money after bad into auto manufacturing, most of which in Southern Ontario is geared towards the struggling 'big 3' US automakers.
  14. gilly maxima from Canada writes: thank you Bill k. Best comment of the day!!
  15. CallofDuty . from Toronto, Canada writes: We'll all probably be moving to these other countries to find jobs if things keep on going the way they are here in NA. Hmm..i wouldn't mind moving to a place with no snow.
  16. Robert Blakey from Calgary, Canada writes: I always find it wonderfully entertaining to go to the Globe's 'comment' section whenever I see a story that contains the three magic words: North, American and auto. Like a caged baboon being prodded by a pointed stick, the regulars lash out in anger. They rush to their keyboards to hunt-and-peck their misspelled diatribes against Buzz Hargrove and his union predecessors for all the times they singlehandedly grasped the wrists of CEOs with the Big Three and physically forced them to sign contracts clearly guaranteed to destroy the entire domestic car and truck industry. I'm envious of such newspaper readers. They see the world in such simple terms, with no inconvenient grey areas, nothing to make things complicated. They seem completely unaware that most manufacturers that dominated retail in Canada in the 1950s or '60s, from textiles to electronics to small appliances, are long gone or just shell companies that imports their wares from Asia or Mexico. The way the commentators see their uncomplicated world, if Buzz and earlier union leaders had been a little less aggressive and only negotiated weak contracts for their members or had given up collective agreements completely, we'd all be driving fault-free Chevies, Fords and Dodges, and maybe Studebakers, Packards and Desotos, with no sign whatsoever of Toyotas or Hondas. In the real world, however, there are many complications. They include -- yes -- union stubbornness and a failure to accept the reality that Detroit and Windsor can't afford those old contracts anymore. But tens of millions of Americans and Canadians still choose to buy domestic vehicles because they are pretty much worth what you pay for them, no more or less. That much is simple.
  17. Vincent Clement from Windsor, Ontario, Canada writes: Hugo Hall: A dying industry? Really? Shrinking? Maybe, but not dying. In Woodstock, Toyota is spending over a $1 billion to build their second assembly plant.

    If high-wages is the main issue, then everyone would be building their cars in Mexico, China or India or other emerging countries. Yet there are plenty of automotive plants in the high-wage areas.
  18. Simon Spivey from Lakefield, Canada writes: I heard Buzz on radio a while back saying that his unions shouldn't be trying to turn out the kind of cars the importers are making--that N.Americans want a certain type of car. Unions are in danger of becoming irrelevant if they ignore trends, and we're heading towards higher energy costs as the developing countries start consuming.

    There are people choosing smaller vehicles now from choice, but eventually it will be out of necessity, and probably before we run out of Alberta.

    Don't tell us what to want: watch what we're buying--and adapt.
  19. Comments are Closed from Canada writes: garlick toast from Canada writes: we should be building busses.the one we impoted from scotland came complete with '' riders''.

    Exactly. I figure each bus would handle 2 planeloads at Pearson that arrive every few minutes. McGuinty's great victory. Send in the clowns. And don't forget Buzz either.

    And let's not forget that GM and VW are on the Olympic boycott list.
  20. Lowen Wrainger from Canada writes: I want a car and I want it cheap! Do you think the North American auto industry listens to that? Well, if they don't, then somebody else in the world will. And by the way, they'll even throw cheap labor into the bargain. So again, what are we going to be re-trained to do once Oshawa and Oakville disappear. We can't all be Black Jack Card Dealers!
  21. Christopher Kiely from Canada writes: Don Quixote from the Banana Belt, Ont., Canada writes: 'You think the average, working class people, with a living standard less than a quarter than ours will want to buy our overly expensive gadget filled mobile jalopys?'

    Exactly Don, people in these devloping economies (China, India, SE Asia) don't want to drive Chevy Impalas, Dodge Magnums and Ford Explorers. Most average workers can't afford these cars and will buy Korean, Chinese or Indian made cars and those that can afford them simply don't want them, they want high-end European and Japanese cars. The management of the 'big 3' have totally missed the boat when it comes to capturing the world market. But I guess that is all the fault of unions???
  22. Christopher Kiely from Canada writes: Lowen Wrainger from Canada writes: 'So again, what are we going to be re-trained to do once Oshawa and Oakville disappear. We can't all be Black Jack Card Dealers!'

    We need to retrain people and take steps to become a service-based economy not a manufacturing one. The Conference Board of Canada has been telling our politicians that for 2 decades now, none of them have listened and now it is becoming urgent... There are plenty of opportunites for 'unskilled' manufacturing labour to become skilled tradesmen if they want.
  23. Freddie B from Woodbridge from Canada writes: gilly maxima from Canada writes: thank you Bill k. Best comment of the day!!

    Only to someone that uses a very small portion of their brain.
  24. allenparkpete **** from windsor, Canada writes: http://communities.canada.com/windsorstar/blogs/vanderblogger/default.aspx
  25. Free Spirit from Halifax, Canada writes: The problem here is Wall Street. The shareholders demand high profits over a short term. If management doesn't deliver, they are replaced. Or management is paid with stock options so unless management delivers high profits they don't make any money. Now... high profits in the auto industry come from selling big gas guzzling trucks and cars with big price stickers. Small cars with small price tags generate small profits. So... there is a vision problem here. it isn't unions, and it not really management, it is short sighted investors and Wall Street who want to make as much money as possible in the shortest possible time.
  26. Free Spirit from Halifax, Canada writes: Investor and Wall Street greed is killing the North American automobile industry.
  27. Brian W from Burlington, Canada writes: bill k from Canada writes: It's not a union problem you ignorant puppets.

    --------------

    The average Canadian makes $32,000 per year. Buzz Hargrove makes over $130K according to ROB magazine. The average Canadian makes around $32K per year, the average TTC worker makes ~$25 an hour. Which is at least 50K a year, not including benefits etc. Ignorant puppets you say? Who is pulling your strings?
  28. Brian W from Burlington, Canada writes: Simon Spivey from Lakefield, Canada writes: I heard Buzz on radio a while back saying that his unions shouldn't be trying to turn out the kind of cars the importers are making--that N.Americans want a certain type of car.

    -------------

    Yeah. Apparently they don't 'want a certain type of car', otherwise the imports wouldn't be outselling the domestics. What a bunch of fools. People want reliable cars and ones that are cheap to operate and maintain. Fuel economy is becoming more important, and that's not something you get in an F-150 pickup or Chrysler 300.
  29. scamp the from Canada writes:
    " Free Spirit from Halifax, Canada writes: The problem here is Wall Street. The shareholders demand high profits over a short term. "

    This is very true, but North America has responded. For every bad NA company (Nortel, Motorolla...) that has been driven to the ground by bad management, there is a RIM or Google that has come up.

    BTW it is very ironic. Who is behind much of the shareholders? pension plans :) In effect, unionized workers have pension plans that invest in the stock market, which demand crazy returns, which in turn force other members out of business. It's irony based on our addiction to growth.

    You know for sure ontario teachers isnt investing in NA manufacturing, but in China :) Let it sink it to see we're screwing each other.
  30. The Truth from Canada writes: Brian W from Burlington, Canada writes: bill k from Canada writes: It's not a union problem you ignorant puppets.

    --------------

    The average Canadian makes $32,000 per year. Buzz Hargrove makes over $130K according to ROB magazine. The average Canadian makes around $32K per year, the average TTC worker makes ~$25 an hour. Which is at least 50K a year, not including benefits etc. Ignorant puppets you say? Who is pulling your strings?

    -----------------------
    Hi Brian......just thought I should let you know that bill k is actually an
    a$$ clown so he doesn't come with strings. Only a complete fool, such as bill k, can't see how detrimental unions are. Unions were originally formed to protect the workers. Now their primary raison d'etre is to get underskilled workers paid exhorbitant wages. Sounds like a highly efficient market, doesn't it bill k????
  31. azif uno from Canada writes: What to do about ever rising fuel prices? How to free ourselves from the pipeline tit? What can our (new) government do to help the average Canadian in these conditions, and help reduce emissions at the same time? Consider the following: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/10/26/electriccar-zenn.html Then ask your MP why this car is not for sale all over the country for those who would use it. I have given up my car. Even though I live in the suburbs, most of what I require is available within walking distance. The furthest I need to walk for shopping, doctor, dentist, physio, hardware, even decent restaurants etc is 3 km. Much of the rest (specialists or specialty stores) is available by a short bus ride. Still, if this vehicle was available in Canada, I would certainly consider buying one for those occasions when a walk or a bus ride is not practical. It would certainly be a better option (in terms of fuel use and the consequent emissions) than relying on friends who still own cars, or paying exorbitant taxi fares, for those trips where a vehicle is still necessary (vetrinary visits, large purchases, the occasional grocery trip where purchases don't fit in a backpack or cart). Allowing Canadians to purchase this type of vehicle would go at least part of the distance to reducing fuel consumption, and would also show that the powers that be have a real commitment to reducing both fuel consumption and emissions. Of course, that's just my opinion
  32. Imperial K from Canada writes: I have little sadness left for our auto industry, it's years of making huge vehicles or outlandish prices has helped bring them down a notch.

    While I live in downtown T.O. and the need for a car is really nill (for me) if i was elsewhere I would likely still not have a car as the cost is just a huge money pit.

    I don't completely blame the car people only, the never ending stream of costs from payments, parking, mandatory insurance , maintenance yada yada yada it just eats into discretionary spending way too deep even at middle class wage levels.

    For the cost of a car, I could forgo any groceries and eat out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and likely have a stocked bar at home!

    And to top it off, it looses money.

    I understand of course some people are trapped in the suburbs and have no choice, but what a horrible prison!
  33. Sweeney Todd from Oilberta, Canada writes: Christopher Kiely from Canada writes: "We need to retrain people and take steps to become a service-based economy not a manufacturing one. The Conference Board of Canada has been telling our politicians that for 2 decades now, none of them have listened and now it is becoming urgent... There are plenty of opportunites for "unskilled" manufacturing labour to become skilled tradesmen if they want."

    The problem - at least in ON, unless it's changed dramatically in the last couple of years - is that employers want tradesmen - NOT apprentices. Who is going to hire all of these new apprentices? Unless there are employers waiting to hire these people, it'll be just another gov't funded "training/retraining" boondoggle mess.

    At the present time, it's FAR easier to become an apprentice in AB, simply because of the demand for trades here.
  34. Uncle Fester from Crack City, Ont, Canada writes: Vincent Clement from Windsor, Ontario, Canada writes: "If high-wages is the main issue, then everyone would be building their cars in Mexico, China or India or other emerging countries. Yet there are plenty of automotive plants in the high-wage areas.".....................The article is actually about how the emerging economies of Russia, Brazil, India and China, are out producing North America. The big 3 have less than half the market share here. Globally North American overall production has fallen to less than 50% of global production........North American Union apologists stand in a sinking ship, with the water up to their wastes, yet they continue to deny what is happening all around them. You sir are a good example of the problem.
  35. Kim Philby from Canada writes: God forbid blue-collar workers should earn a decent living, huh? After all, why should they be able to feed their kids and send them to college?

    Yep, let's drive everyone's wages down (except for you white-collar paper pushers who aren't actually making anything - and I say this as a paper-pusher myself) to the point where they can't afford to but anything. Then we can watch the domino effect as the economy collapses because noone's buying any goods or services. Yep, let's import that third-world standard of living to North America.
  36. Stop! Think! from Canada writes: Maybe if the Big 3 stopped giving bonuses in the hundereds of millions to their upper management, then maybe they could turn a profit.....

    Ford fires 10000 people, then the next week gives its CEO 25 million!!! A bonus for running a company into bankruptcy...Onoly a right-wing fool would attack the working class and completely ignore the REAL PROBLEM....

    I'll bet that the money paid to upper management is about the same as the losses they take every year.....Of course it's the guy who installs seats, it his fault Ford is the red....Please.....Use yours everyone....The workers are going to take a sever financial hit so that the upper management can maintain their current VERY HIGH salaries and bonuses, while still running the companies into the ground....
  37. Stop! Think! from Canada writes: Would any of you right-wingers take a severe salary reduction to ensure that your boss still egt his outragous salary and a HUGE bonus???? Oh, and the boss is still running the companyinto the ground....Well, lets hear it........

    I will be the first to call for mass wage reduction when the upper management does the same thing....No more bonuses, and pay equivilant to their asian counterparts...Now that would fix the financial problems....
  38. Uncle Fester from Crack City, Ont, Canada writes: People are mistaken if they think that the reason our Auto industry can not compete is exclusively because of the cost of assembly line labor. Sure it is an issue but so is the rest of their labor force. From the clerks in the engineering department, to the union workers sweeping the floor in the plant, to the inflated supply chain, to their old school 1950's management mentality, the problems are pervasive and systemic. Unionism creates an us and them mentality in any organization, which when times are tough, is their down fall..............
  39. scamp the from Canada writes:
    1. I'm the first to hate bad management practices, but give it a rest with CEO pay. It's not whats killing the company.

    Even if a CEO makes 50 million dollars.
    Suppose the company has 50 thousand workers.

    Even if the CEO makes nothing, that's only 1000 dollars more to each employee per year. Hardly a big difference.
  40. J Sparrow from Canada writes: Some interesting comments - somehow I'm not sure how Wall Street & investors are killing the auto industry??? Buzz certainly isn't doing the industry any favours, however the union doesn't design the cars they are responsible for building - and Buzz, don't tell the general populace what we want, try analyzing what is being purchased, and use that as a starting point! I put myself squarely in the bulls-eye of the automotive marketing machine - the demographics of the buying public, and I would say that the designers working for the big 3 surely need to get out a little more. Do these designers truly drive the cars they are responsible for? Do they themselves make service appointments at their local dealership to have these vehicles maintained? Do they keep these cars for any great length of time, to see for themselves the deterioration of the materials used, poor design defects, etc. as the miles go on?? The domestics cars I see at the dealerships use lower quality materials, poor interior layouts, antiquated design, paint and finish are terrible, and service, don't even start! When you add to that the price one pays due to particular union demands that must be built into the purchase price to offset the contracts, it all becomes self fulfilling. This isn't one piece or another, this is the whole enchilada - but it doesn't help to start with poor design!
  41. Brian W from Burlington, Canada writes: Stop! Think! from Canada writes: Would any of you right-wingers take a severe salary reduction to ensure that your boss still egt his outragous salary and a HUGE bonus???? Oh, and the boss is still running the companyinto the ground....Well, lets hear it........

    ----------------

    These 'workers' are lucky to even have a job. The guy who screws roof racks onto mini-vans for $70K a year should be spit-shining the CEO's shoes. Making that kind of money for such a menial task is not only unjustifiable, it is also criminal. Buzz Hargrove should be put on trial for bankrupting the industry and the morals of his minions. It's so laughable that they actually think that they are entitled to more, since they live such sheltered lives on the CAW gravy train which seems to be coming to an end, I might add.
  42. juice orange from Canada writes: People like me are killing the N.A Cars. Purchased a Toyota 10 years ago with only 2 sets of break pads to replace. My GM had to have the entire engine replaced before 5 years old. Also....Embraer is going to out sell Bobardier in Aircraft sales, Honda makes a nice 4 stroke PWC (Personal Water Craft) that I'd love to buy but is not sold in Canada. It's a free global market and Canadians need to get out there. Ford's cross over vehicle is a life line for them, a product that consumers are willing to buy.
  43. T G from Canada writes: Uncle Fester, you're wrong. Our Auto Industry can and does compete very well. And contrary to your opinion it is precisely because of the people we have working in it. There is a reason that more cars are built in Ontario than any other regional jurisdiction in North America. It is because cars and car parts are built here with better quality and greater efficiency than anywhere else in NAFTA. (See recent Harbour or JD Power studies). Yes, the industry is struggling right now. That is because fewer cars will be sold in the US in 2008 than in any year since 1992. We're in a recession and a car is the ultimate discretionary purchase. Steady population growth and pent-up demand will drive the cycle upwards again in a couple of years. In the meantime there will be struggles that will not be limited to the folks in Detroit. The Japanese and the Europeans are now dealing with the low dollar and cannot import vehicles here profitably. They'll announce new expansions beginning with Volkswagen and BMW. In the meantime, expanding production in BRIC countries is great for the Detroiters. GM leads all players in BRIC market share and Ford is well positioned - especially in Brazil. Chrysler has some catching up to do since the Daimler strategy limited what they were doing with that brand outside the US. I am afraid that your schadenfreude will be short-lived. This ship isn't sinking.
  44. The Wight from Canada writes: the scamp:

    "1. I'm the first to hate bad management practices, but give it a rest with CEO pay. It's not whats killing the company."

    I disagree.

    It's not that the money they make is so high that they are bankrupting the company by paying them. What makes CEO pay troubling is that it is so high that any and all sense of responsibility is lost for their decisions and so the type and quality of those decisions changes.

    The first million they make in a year, properly invested, will earn them between 80K-100K a year in perpetuity, more than virtually all their employees. The second million ensures that they will have a lifetime of leisure with a very healthy 160-200K interest income/yr.

    So ... past 2 million a year, what CEO is ever going to REALLY care about the long term effects of their decision making? One year's work, which could easily be spent running the company into the ground, and they retire among the top 0.1% of all earners in the world? Bust your hump for a year to earn your 7 million bonus like Eisner did in 2004 and you retire to the lap of luxury and not simply extreme comfort.

    And so we see lots of short-term fixes for long-term problems, very little in the way of long term strategic thinking and companies completely out of touch with the public.
  45. chris columbus from Hogtown, Canada writes: Let's inject some reality into this "debate". All three of the big three are in the same type of mess. They are building cars that no ones and cars ,whether true or not, have an image of unreliability. Its not only the unions and its not only the greedy CEOs. The entire company is at fault and there is no real simple solution. But they could take a step back and look at why Toyota and the imports are winning. Everything from their cars, employee relations, management practices etc.

    Thing's aren't that simple or that black and white.
  46. Don Quixote from the Banana Belt, Ont., Canada writes: Maybe, as Jeff Rubin muses: Car tarrifs could bring some jobs back to North America.

    This may well be, as it will end many of our 'cheap' imports from offshore industries.
    That's why wise worldwide companies like Honda and Toyota start building assembly plants everywhere, including in Canada and use more locally manufactured parts.
    Once shipping, and the pollution, material sourcing and production in offshore countries is factored in, locally built vehicles will be more competetive again.
    However the big three car makers might have to learn how to build small, efficient yet powerful engines here, rather than buying them from offshore and putting local labels on.
  47. Don Quixote from the Banana Belt, Ont., Canada writes: Sorry above: This should have red Carbon Tariffs, not Car Tariffs - however in the end effect it will have the same consequences....
  48. Globe Insider subscriber content
    Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: Heh. The union mentality is everywhere here.

    You see, personally, I think it's a good thing when blue collar workers are getting paid well to do their work, AND the company is profitable. Unfortunately, now they are not, and with unionism, comes the rampant US vs THEM BS that infects all union shops. It's not our fault, it's "management's fault", make them pay. And on and on they go complaining that the CEO got paid 1 million, which could perhaps be a legitimate complaint, unfortunately 1 million is peanuts compared to the 10 billion in labour costs for the tens of thousands of front line workers out there.

    I've always said the problem with unions is not the amount of money they earn for their workers, it's the attitude and mentality that their workers inevitably develop. Not my job description, not willing to even go the extra INCH, not working 1 second past what it says in the contract even if it means the roof is going to collapse, basically not giving a flying f about the company they work for, for their loyalties lie 0% with their employer and 100% with the union, and always with the US vs Them. The day unions develop flexible labour rules that facilitate business instead of hinder it, and the day unions stop with the US vs THEM and realize everyone is on the same team, I'll say they are a positive development in society that helps businesses succeed AND helps employees get paid well. Until then, they are just a bunch of creeps and leeches destroying the economy.
  49. Uncle Fester from Babyon, ont, Canada writes: T G from Canada writes: Uncle Fester, you're wrong. Our Auto Industry can and does compete very well. And contrary to your opinion it is precisely because of the people we have working in it. There is a reason that more cars are built in Ontario than any other regional jurisdiction in North America. It is because cars and car parts are built here with better quality and greater efficiency than anywhere else in NAFTA. (See recent Harbour or JD Power studies)..........................what you are saying is that as far as north american auto manufactures go, Canadians are the best. I can not argue with that. However if the big three start circling the wagons, it will be around their Amican infrastructure. Unless of course Toyota doesn't buy them out first.
  50. J M from Calgaristan, Canada writes:
    North American vehicles are the absolute BEST in the world, after all we invented the automobile. But I digress, what the world truly lusts after is the Buick Allure. Smart, sexy, powerful. The kind of car you would be PROUD to drive to bingo or to the Legion.
  51. larry hallatt from Canada writes: Sorry JM North America never invented the automobile nor the internel combustion engine. I agree with very early comments Canada should be investing more in trains, streetcars, and intercity bus transportation, marine and fresh water feries and water taxis. Bombardier is the world's dominant train maker, yet we are one of the poorest serviced continents in fast efficient train and street car services. Europe and Asia are 30 years ahead of North America in developing good mass transit systems. The other thing we need to do is make a high quality auto can be sold profitably in the Auto sector. Volume production is foolish , what we need is profitable companies and value for money. Ford may have been wiser to produce the Jaguar and Volvos in Canada instead of their current line up. St Thomas plant should continue producing one line of large rear wheel Marquis or Ford LTs for the police and taxis and maybe an expnsive high quality Volvo or Jag on a second or third line. But what is Ford and GM doing producing muscle cars...............for who...........over Easter the OPPin Ontario seized over 100 vehicles from fools street racing. We certainly have a significant population of fools, but not enough to keep the production lines profitable.
  52. Tony . from Waterloo, Canada writes:
    This isn't overly surprising, if you want a dirt-cheap car you need to make it with dirt-cheap labour and dirt-cheap components. Canada can not and should not try to compete with China, India and Brazil for the market for low cost vehicles anymore then we should try to compete in the market for manufacturing cheap VCRs.

    If Canada (and Japan and Germany) wants to compete in the auto industry we need to do so at the top-end where good design and quality matter. Let India build all the Tata Nano's they want for $2500 a pop, make sure that we stick to building Acura MDX's at $60,000.

    We've been here before with MANY other industries. Go back far enough and we manufactured a lot of things that are now made overseas and we're better off for it. As the vehicle assembly market matures it will naturally flow to lower cost markets. The goal for Canada is to create the business environment to attract totally new industry, not to try and prop up an old industry. no matter how many corporate welfare dollars we through at the auto assembly plants, they're going to move. Better to cut corporate taxes and red tape to make it easier to start a new business and generate BETTER jobs then to try and cling to old ones.
  53. Mr X from Canada writes: "Vincent Clement from Windsor, Ontario, Canada writes: Hugo Hall: A dying industry? Really? Shrinking? Maybe, but not dying. In Woodstock, Toyota is spending over a $1 billion to build their second assembly plant.

    If high-wages is the main issue, then everyone would be building their cars in Mexico, China or India or other emerging countries. Yet there are plenty of automotive plants in the high-wage areas. "
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The key word here is "assembly". They ship the parts and we put he cars together. They are not manufacturing cars here. More jobs go into making the parts then assembling them together.
  54. harry schmidt from Shanghai, Canada writes: Planning & working for quarterly results does little or nothing for a long-term Strategy. One comment from the Maritimes was right – it’s Wall Street’s greed. These greedy b******d came to China 30 years ago, built factories and from that time On flooded the N/A market with cheap but profitable goods. Today, they have the US Gvt. Bail out banking houses for the over the top money lending practice. The Ont. gvt. Consistently supplies the auto industry with taxpayers dollars. All that money is to Satisfy the bankers as lenders of money. CEO renumeration today reflects little of their overall performance, other than have them leave their employ with a couple of hundred million, if results are not deemed adequate. Executives should not be paid hundreds of times of that of the ordinary worker; unless they invested their own funds. In addition, the Big Three yielded to the demands of the Unions in the past to easily, and now bleed big time. Where is the responsibility of Unions to demand, often for untrained guys & dolls, to Ask pay incl. benefits of $50 thou and up? Companies and institutions expect too much too soon, too quick and now must face the results.
  55. andrei de souza from Canada writes: This was just a matter of time. Canadian plants are too focused on only 2 of the world's 200 markets, and we are still without a domestic manufacturer or significant auto research institutions with global mandates.

    As long as we're so short sighted, Canada will continue to fall down the world rankings. Who's going to pass us next? Malaysia? Vietnam?
  56. Carl Men from Canada writes: Well i guess the car parts manufactory industry should start looking ahead and start planning to diversify who they are going to supply parts too. Since now... one GM strike could cost thousands of jobs...

    Instead of looking at this negatively, before we bash all four of those countries for any possible reason, we should recognize this as a great change of making profit and diversifying our international trade and away from 60% U.S. export.
  57. S H from Windsor, Canada writes: Tony.....if we all thought like you we would never have jobs. What new industry would you like to start? When does the leaving end? Start a new industry, then it leaves for cheap labour AGAIN! WE CANNOT compete with China and India and keep our standard of living. We're not losing jobs because of competition Tony, we're losing jobs because of corporate greed!!! Globalization is making this even easier.
  58. Broken Record from Victoria, B.C., Canada writes: Somebody at Holden (I think) once said they can design and begin production on a new car in Australia in the same amount of time it takes a North American manufacturer to design a hubcap. A slight exaggeration perhaps but North American manufacturers are faced with vastly more regulation and red tape than others because of North America's "unique" vehicle regulations. Outside N.A. vehicles are built generally to UNECE standards whose type-approval system can be less time-consuming than CMVSS/FMVSS and which are increasingly becoming the world standard. Meanwhile, nobody outside North American is adopting CMVSS/FMVSS. If our auto manufacturers wish to compete with the global players they must stop building for one market rather than relying on oddball standards to keep the competition out.

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