Since electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are almost totally silent when driving at low speeds, they are required to emit a distinctive noise any time they are moving at less than 20 mph (32 km/h) to warn nearby pedestrians. A proposal that had been made to the NHTSA back in 2019 wanted to let drivers choose the noise their vehicle makes in these situations from a variety of different sounds, many of them related to animals. But making the warning noise sound like an animal or an object that is not expected to be on the road could startle and confuse pedestrians, who could fail to notice a vehicle that is coming at them. This doesn’t mean that automakers will all be forced to use the same noise, however. Indeed, the NHTSA only rules that the chosen noise needs to be consistent among vehicles of the year, model, body style, and trim level. Read original article here.

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Vietnamese automaker VinFast is reporting two new major developments in the United States. The company has secured a $1.2 billion incentive package from the State of North Carolina for its EV manufacturing project and has announced the simultaneous opening of its first six US stores in California. It’s the largest economic incentive package in the history of North Carolina, making VinFast the first passenger car manufacturer to locate there. VinFast‘s second major announcement is the simultaneous opening of its first six stores in California, in Santa Monica, San Mateo, San Diego, Commerce, Berkeley and Corte Madera. VinFast stores will showcase and sell the company’s premium EVs and allow customers to directly experience the company’s high-end customer service. Read original article here.

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When environmentalist David Suzuki and his wife, Tara Cullis, needed to travel from their home in Vancouver to Toronto – the couple needed to make a big decision. Suzuki said they thought about taking a bus across the country but discovered there were no companies offering direct trips from Vancouver to Toronto. When Volvo Car Canada Ltd., a sponsor of the festival, heard about the couple’s challenge, they offered them the use of the C40 Recharge fully electric compact sport utility vehicle, which has a range of up to 335 kilometres. Read original article here.

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Panasonic said Wednesday it’s aiming to improve lithium-ion battery energy density by 20 per cent in the next eight years, which is great news for the car companies it supplies, like Tesla and Toyota. The patents it’s filed give an insight into how it thinks it can do that, which is some complicated chemistry. According to a Reuters report, Panasonic Chief Technology Officer Shoichiro Watanabe said the 20 per cent gain would be found in building batteries that can run at a higher voltage. The company said that changing the additive mix in battery electrolytes and using single-crystal materials in the cathodes of batteries will make pushing the voltage higher possible. Read original article here.

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A new battlefield has emerged in the century-long tussle between General Motors and Ford: hands-free driving technology. In recent testing of GM’s Super Cruise in the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado and Ford’s Bluecruise in the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, one thing became clear. GM is far ahead of Ford when it comes to limited hands-free driving, which is an evolution of adaptive cruise control. Super Cruise, Autopilot, and Bluecruise, among others, are considered Level 2, nudging towards Level 3. Level 3 essentially means that once the driver initiates the system and sits behind the wheel, the system takes over for the rest of the way without any intervention from the driver, until the system demands. We’re not there yet. Read original article here.

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Most provinces in Canada recorded sales decreased in February 2022, according to a recent update from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC). 

The company’s estimate shows that new light vehicle sales were down 12.4% in February 2022 compared to a year earlier, with a total of 98,722 units sold. As a result, the majority of provinces found their sales slipping into the minuses with the sole exception of Newfoundland, which saw sales rise by an estimated 2.1%. 

“Compared to the huge range in provincial results from previous months, February 2022 results were more normally distributed,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner at DAC. “Unfortunately, this more uniform performance was on the downside as the market continued to struggle with vehicle availability as a result of semiconductor shortages.”

Quebec was down 11.0% during this period year-over-year, although up nearly 50% in January. Manitoba saw sales decline, for the second consecutive month when compared to other provinces, this time at 19.6%. And New Brunswick experienced the mildest decrease, down 8.5%.

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Overall prices for used vehicles in the Canadian wholesale market declined for the week ending on March 22 by 10% compared to only 0.04% the prior week, based on Canadian Black Book’s latest auto market update.

The overall car segment was down 0.10% compared to -0.19% the prior week (the 2017-2019 average being -0.12%), while the overall truck/SUV segment saw prices decline 0.09% compared to +0.11% the prior week (the 2017-2019 average being -0.13%). In the United States, the overall car and truck/SUV segments experienced a decline of 0.51%, compared to the prior week’s decrease of 0.64%.

“The Canadian wholesale market has continued to remain stable overall but is dipping into the negative territory,” said CBB. “Newer vehicles tend to be outperforming vehicles aged three years and older. Supply remains low while demand continues to weaken on both sides of the border.”

For the car segments, sports cars experienced the largest price increase for the week (+0.35%), followed by prestige luxury cars (+0.11%). On the down side, the full-size car segment saw the largest price decline for the third consecutive week—down 1.84%, followed by mid-size cars (-0.89%) and sub-compact cars (-0.17%).

As for trucks/SUVs, full-size vans saw the largest price increase for the fifth consecutive week, this time at +0.88%, followed by compact vans (+0.31%) and full-size pickups (+0.13%). At the same time, sub-compact luxury crossovers experienced the largest price declines for the week (-1.26%), followed by mid-size luxury crossovers/SUVs (-0.61%) and full-size luxury crossovers/SUVs (-0.35%).

The average listing price for used vehicles, as per the 14-day moving average,  now sits slightly below $35,900. The analysis is based on approximately 120,000 vehicles listed for sale on Canadian dealer lots.

In other news, retail sales jumped 3.2% to $58.9 billion in January, thanks to higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers (+5.3%) and sales at new car dealers (+5.5%) in January, compared to December 2021.

Gas prices continue to rise to historic highs, with the national volume weighted average for Canada hovering around $1.834/L, as of March 15. And the Canadian dollar is up slightly against the USD and finished the week off at $0.79.

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Hyundai Canada donated $50,000 to Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries, Scholarships and Awards program.

The donation is meant to help create opportunities for Indigenous students in post-secondary education positions, and to raise awareness about career opportunities in the automotive sector. 

“Through this donation, we hope to create new and exciting opportunities for Indigenous post-secondary students in the automotive and business administration sectors and to improve their access to the many career paths on offer in these fields,” said Kirk Merrett, Director of Human Resources at Hyundai Canada.

The award will be offered to students attending post-secondary institutions across Canada, which includes colleges, universities, technical colleges, and apprenticeship programs, and who are enrolled in a business administration and/or automotive program. 

The OEM said financial need will be the main consideration for the award, but that other factors such as community involvement and academic merit and performance are also determining factors.

“The Hyundai Canada Bursary represents a bright new opportunity for Indigenous learners to pursue their dreams of a career in the automotive or business administration fields,” said Mike DeGagné, President and CEO of Indspire. “We are very pleased to be working with Hyundai Canada on this important initiative—and, with the creation of this bursary, to be laying good groundwork for further collaborations which will empower Indigenous learners.”

More information about the bursary is available here.

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Canadian automotive retail sales experienced “significant” increases throughout 2021, according to a year-end review from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC).

“In almost all cases this was driven primarily by higher prices per unit—rather than booming unit volumes,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner of DAC, adding that “widespread shortages have driven prices up, and contributed to troubling inflationary dynamics moving into 2022.”

Last year, gasoline stations saw retail sales jump 24.4%—and those sales are set to have more momentum further into 2022, particularly when considering the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Used car dealers saw retail sales increase by 21.8% thanks to an under-supplied new vehicle market, while new car dealers saw retail sales climb 18.4%. DAC said both unit prices and sales volumes increased after the pre-pandemic period in 2020.

“The automotive aftermarket was somewhat of an outlier where both moderate price increases and strong unit volume led to a comparatively mild sales increase of 10.8% for the year,” said DAC.

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Online Fintech platform LendingArch now has more than 600 dealerships in its network, as it continues to expand and offer nationwide auto loans to Canadian consumers in need of quick and easy financing.

LendingArch was established in 2015 and has an auto loan leads division that provides real-time leads to dealerships across the country. It signed its 500th car dealership to provide real time auto loan leads last summer, and has since surpassed 600.

“We are pleased to announce our continued growth and innovation within the Canadian auto loan marketplace,” said Farhad Nabian, Director of Partnerships at LendingArch. He adds that they are “experts at helping consumers find the vehicle they need regardless of their credit score or personal situations.”

The company’s platform is set up to allow consumers to visit and apply for a pre-approval auto loan, and can provide a notification on the status of approval. The consumer is then matched with the dealership that best meets the consumer’s needs.

“What we do for consumers is provide freedom of choice, and a low stress process to obtaining a car loan,” said Farhad. “Consumers and dealerships alike, love utilizing our services as we place the customer first in every aspect.”

LendingArch was named the Fastest Growing Company in Alberta for 2021 by The Globe and Mail and Report on Business TV. It was also ranked the 15th fastest growing company in Canada last year.

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The federal government will invest $500,000 in the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development to help install up to 63 electric vehicle (EV) chargers across Ontario.

The company will select recipients based on demand, and all EV chargers will be installed in public places, streets, multi-unit residential buildings, and workplaces or facilities that service light-duty vehicle fleets, by March 2023.

“Plug in Thunder Bay will support business owners, property owners, our academic institutions, indigenous groups and institutions, and many others cover up to 50 per cent of costs to purchase and install EV charging stations,” said Eric Zakrewski, CEO of Thunder Bay CEDC.

He said the funding will provide the company with the ability to support $1 million in EV infrastructure, locally.

The news was announced by Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, on behalf of Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources.

“Investing in more EV chargers, like the ones announced today in Ontario, will put more Canadians in the driver’s seat on the road to a net-zero future, and help achieve our climate goals,” said Wilkinson.

The investment will be funded through Natural Resources Canada’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP).

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Automotive industry associations in Canada teamed-up to launch a new initiative meant to help consumers better understand what it will take for the country to achieve the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales targets of the federal government.

The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (CVMA) and Global Automakers of Canada (GAC) announced the initiative, known as the Road to 2035, on March 9. They anticipate that there will be more than 130 ZEV models in the Canadian market by 2023.

“The transition to 100 per cent ZEVs sales will be a massive societal transition that will require government leadership and programs as well as a shift in societal barriers,” said Tim Reuss, President and CEO of CADA. “It will require federal/provincial cooperation to avoid competing and potentially counterproductive approaches.”

The Road to 2035 outlines both the investments and policies needed for Canada to achieve 50 per cent ZEV sales by 2030, on the path to 100 per cent ZEV sales in 2035—which is what the federal government is targeting. It brings together stakeholders to help develop a “bold, comprehensive plan” for all levels of government.

This includes the need for more government action around enhancing consumer incentives, investing in charging infrastructure, building consumer education, and creating an electric vehicle battery supply chain.

“Auto manufacturers are investing billions to produce electric vehicles, including right here in Canada,” said CVMA President and CEO Brian Kingston. “Ambitious government action is required now to boost consumer incentives, build charging infrastructure, and help more Canadians make the switch to electric.”

However, the plan also hinges on the fact that consumers must also embrace the transition to electrification.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a generational energy transformation from fossil fuels to electrified transportation,” said David Adams, President and CEO of the GAC. “This transformation will rely not only on industry, but also on governments and especially Canadians making the choice to purchase zero emission vehicles.”

The national campaign will kick off this Spring and include several educational events—including a media forum called “The Road to 100% Zero-emission Vehicles by 2035,” which will be broadcasted live on March 10th at 9:30 am Eastern time.

More information is available at https://www.roadto2035.ca/.

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