David Kennedy

Dilawri buys Volvo West Island in Montreal

Stingray said Sept. 17 that it will bring its in-car Karaoke app to Ford's electric vehicles and other 2025 Ford and Lincoln models across Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. 

The dealership group, which signaled during its earnings call in August that it would explore the sale of “non-profitable and non-core assets,” said on Sept. 10 that the “strategic divestiture” of Airdrie Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Ponoka Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram is the first move in its “realignment.”

Electrification is still coming, but pickup production at Oakville Assembly Plant is a positive, Ford Canada President Bev Goodman says.

Canada will impose new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, aluminum and steel, lining up behind western allies and taking steps to protect domestic manufacturers.

Electra Battery Materials Corp. has secured US $20 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to support construction of the company’s partially built cobalt refinery in Northern Ontario. 

AutoCanada Inc. is exploring the sale of its U.S. dealerships and other “non-profitable and non-core assets,” as the company swung to a loss for the second quarter amid falling sales, a significant used-vehicle inventory writedown and fallout from the CDK Global cyberattack. 

Kross Auto Group has added a third dealership to its portfolio of stores with the purchase of Kia Cold Lake in the small city in east-central Alberta.

<p>Renaud and Patrick Fortier have acquired Magog Ford in the small city in Quebec’s Eastern Townships from dealership group Équipe Précision Auto. </p>

<p>Ionway, a joint venture between Volkswagen battery unit PowerCo and Belgium-based materials company Umicore, confirmed to Automotive News Canada July 8 that the company is considering New Brunswick as part of a global site search for a new plant.</p>

<p>UpAuto has added a sixth dealership to its portfolio of stores in small Ontario cities with the purchase of Searles Motor Products, a General Motors dealership in Ingersoll, Ont. </p>

<p>Scott Langin and Danny Dormer said they had acquired the store on Hillside’s social media channels on June 19. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. </p>

<p>Porsche Cars Canada CEO John Cappella has been appointed to lead operations at the luxury sports-car maker’s North American unit, replacing Joe Lawrence, who is leaving the brand “on his own accord.”</p>

<p>Honda has begun production of the Civic Hybrid in Alliston, Ont., capping the second major upgrade at its Ontario campus covered by a $1.4 billion investment in the site announced in early 2022. </p>

<p>Go Auto has acquired Audi Royal Oak in northwest Calgary, marking the company’s third single-store acquisition this year. </p>

<p>Lithion Technologies has begun dismantling electric-vehicle batteries at its new commercial-scale recycling plant in the Montreal suburbs, taking a key step in establishing itself as a “serious player” in the fast-growing battery-recycling market. </p>

<p>Buyers 35 and under account for a smaller portion of new-vehicle sales in Canada than they did five years ago, but automakers are playing the long game with today’s cash-strapped younger customers.</p>

<p>Higher payments and other economic factors are tipping the equation of convenience vs. cost for young new-vehicle buyers in Canada.</p>

<p>Only a little over a quarter of new-vehicle shoppers in Canada said they would consider an EV for their next purchase, according to a study by J.D. Power.</p>

<p>Maxime Allard added a fourth location to his network while Jocelyn Roy and Maxime Desnoyers acquired a store in Saint-Hyacinthe.</p>