(Toronto) Just over 1.1 million light-duty motor vehicles were built in Canada last year, the lowest level of production in the country since 1967, the firm DesRosiers Automotive Consultants said on Wednesday.
Posted at 2:40 p.m.
This production data, down from 1.4 million vehicles built in 2020 and some 2 million in 2019, comes as the global automotive sector is hit by a shortage of semiconductor chips due to production issues related to the pandemic and an increase in demand for electronics.
Canadian production was particularly hard hit, as automakers prioritized chips for their most profitable models, such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, dropping Canada’s production share to less than 9%.
Canada’s share of North American production has been declining for years. It fell from 17% in 2009 to 14.1% in 2014, and to about 10% before the pandemic.
DesRosiers pointed out that Toyota led production among the big five automakers in Canada, with about 427,000 vehicles, while at the other end of the spectrum, GM built about 36,500.
However, GM in November restarted production at its Oshawa assembly plant, which it closed in 2019, and announced this week that it had added a second shift at the plant that now builds the Chevy Silverado. . The company also plans to retool its plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, this year to produce electric delivery vehicles.
Andrew King, managing partner at DesRosiers, said the Canadian auto industry is going through both short-term challenges and long-term structural changes as factories announce new mandates and companies begin to embrace the wave. vehicle electrification.
“While it seems unlikely that Canada can, at least in the short term, fully recover lost production ground, there is a clear opportunity to revitalize and adapt this critically important sector. »