TORONTO — Canadian auto industry leaders say the country has to use the Trump-induced industrial crisis as an incentive to build bigger at home.
Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, used a Canadian Club event in Toronto to call for an exploration into the potential of a new Canadian-born automaker.
"Beyond shelter, the biggest expense for anybody around the world is transportation, and it is actually the biggest, the most expensive, most advanced portable good anybody can buy. Why wouldn't we be in that business?"
While Canada has a well-established industry and has seen some $50 billion in investment commitments in recent years from six big automakers, the country also has all the components needed to create a domestic champion, he said.
"We just never took the ambition to take that up step to say, why can't we? Why don't we?"
He's pushing to have a proper study done as to how possible it might actually be, noting that other countries like Vietnam, Turkey and Mexico are already pushing national brands as electric vehicles upend some of the barriers to entry.
Volpe, who has led a push to develop a Canadian-built concept EV, said there are certainly challenges to launching a new automaker. But given the shakeup going on from Trump's tariffs, he said it's important to be ambitious in exploring alternatives.
"The shame would be in not trying and we all we do is end up playing defence."
Martinrea International executive chairman Robert Wildeboer said at the event that the rupture in the trade relationship with the U.S. is a wake-up call, and a tremendous opportunity.
He expressed faith that Trump will see the importance of a strong North American trade block to counter China, even if he summarizes the current U.S. trade approach as "incoherent."
"That doesn't mean that we can't work over something that's really good in the context," said Wildeboer.
"The U.S. is going to have to realize who are its allies and friends."
To build a stronger Canadian, and North American industry, he said there needs to be a renewed trade deal, along with higher North American content requirements (and penalties high enough to make them stick).
Altogether, there needs to be a push to make international automakers build more of their vehicles in the region to close the gap between the 20 million vehicles bought by North Americans compared with the 15 million that are built in the region.
“If you have that increased production, everybody’s happy.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025.
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