A new update from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) reveals that Canadian light vehicle production hit record lows in 2021, but they remain “cautiously optimistic” due to some hopeful examples from OEMs.
“The Canadian light vehicle assembly sector has been through some immense changes and challenges in it’s over 100-year history,” said DAC, adding that “It appeared as though 2020—inundated with pandemic-related concerns as it was—was to join this list of watershed years. However, in 2021, things became even more challenging.”
Limited by supply issues stemming from a global semiconductor shortage, DAC said the Canadian and global automotive manufacturing industry took a serious hit last year, with Canadian light vehicle production falling to just over 1.1 million units—a level they have not seen since 1967. In 2019, production levels were close to the 2 million unit mark, and in 2020 they declined to approximately 1.4 million units.
Canada’s share of continental production fell to under 9 per cent in 2021. Of the five key players in the Canadian industry, Toyota led the way with 427,056 units, while General Motors assembled only 36,465 units in the country last year. However, DAC said GM offers an example of hope, which may provide cautious optimism.
“The GM Oshawa plant, assumed to be as dead as Monty Python’s Norwegian parrot, is again beginning to ship out vehicles,” said DAC. “Moreover, GM’s Ingersoll facility, which has suffered brutally from the semiconductor shortage, will be transitioning to a new product in 2022.”
The plant will undergo a $1 billion investment so the OEM can produce fully-electric commercial delivery vans starting in November 2022.
DAC’s Managing Partner Andrew King said the Canadian industry is going through both short-term transitory difficulties and long-term structural change, thanks to revised mandates from OEMs and more openness to electrification.
“While it seems unlikely that Canada will, in the near term at least, fully recover lost production ground, there does exist a clear opportunity to revitalize and adapt this critically important sector,” said King.
