Oxford County economy linked very closely to automotive manufacturing
Media reported recently about layoffs set for CAMI this summer
By
Mark Schadenberg
If
strong home sales indicate a strong economy in your area, what about the
national sales report for automobile sales?
Real
estate keeps the economy moving – the gears moving – as home buyers and sellers
purchase paint, carpeting, appliances, automatic garage door openers, window
curtains, shower curtains, furniture and storage sheds.
In
Canada, in the January which just ended, there was also an impressive number of
new cars sold.
In
2017, new car sales topped 1.9 million for the first time ever. There is a
complete story link with a chart below from www.canadianautodealer.ca
The
top 3 is a close race between Ford, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors, but they
ended 2016 in that specific order followed by Toyota, Honda and sixth place is
Hyundai.
The
U.S. market also set a new high at over 17.5 million in sales in 2016.
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It’s
been apparent for several months that 2016 would be another record year for
new-vehicle sales in Canada, barring some catastrophic intervention, and so it
was. In spite of a slight, 2.6% decrease in December compared to the same month
last year, total sales of 1,948,899 new cars, trucks and SUVs in 2016 were the
highest ever, topping 1.9 million for the first time.
That
total was up 2.6% and almost 50,000 units from last year’s tally of 1,898,485
vehicles, making 2016 the fourth record year in a row.
“It
is absolutely stunning for the industry to reach the 1.95 million mark in
vehicle sales,” said David Adams, president of the Global Automakers of Canada
(GAC). “It was not that long ago that 1.6 million units was considered an
exceptional volume and 2016 has tracked 22% higher than those ‘exceptional’ volume
levels.”
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If
you enjoy reading about the car industry, check out the links below for more
content.
With
CAMI in Ingersoll, Toyota in Woodstock, and countless supply-chain operations
scattered around Oxford County and southern Ontario, everyone should be very
much interested in trends in the car industry.
Also,
the Woodstock-Ingersoll board sales for 2016 topped 1,500 for the first time
ever. I’m not sure where all those buyers are arriving from, but many are in
the auto industry and are either at Toyota (TMMC in Woodstock) or work for a
car-industry related company.
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From
the Globe And Mail:
Dennis DesRosiers,
president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., is forecasting a dip back below
1.9 million vehicles in 2017, but acknowledges that if the stars align,
deliveries could hit two million vehicles this year.
He expects higher interest
rates and noted that the decline in the value of the Canadian dollar versus its
U.S. counterpart has to be reflected soon in prices, which could put the brakes
on the market.
However, “we’re not
calling for a free fall because the fundamentals are quite strong,” he said.
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In Ingersoll, CAMI
announced layoffs for this coming summer of about 600 assembly staff due to the
movement of production of the Terrain to Mexico. The part of that story which is
equally important is the parts as the components to build a car are also
manufactured locally (Estimates use 30% as the minimum) and often in a
‘just-in-time’ style to alleviate having a warehouse full of car parts. It
would often appear from an outsider’s eyes (mine) that these warehouses do
exist, but in the form of a field of parked trucks . . . and that’s a good
thing.
If sales of the Equinox
continue to be strong that will obviously lessen the stress of the Terrain
decision.
CAMI and Toyota are the
engines which make the economy strong in the manufacturing sector of southern
Ontario, and that may be the under-statement of the day.
In the London Free Press
story, CAMI union chief Mike VanBoekel did discuss the possibility of retirement
or at least ‘early retirement packages’ as possibility to reduce the number of
layoffs. The same story did note that 60 new employees have begun working there
since the start of 2017.
Mike VanBoekel
LINKS:
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Promoting important Oxford County news.
Call me today if you plan a move to the Woodstock area
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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