Building the Canadian Car

We were making them up to 1965 – 60 years ago

Aug 30, 2025

Most of the people reading this weren’t even born when Canadian auto workers were producing from scratch tens of thousands of cars in Canadian assembly plants with Canadian-made parts. Even fewer will remember when their parents, or perhaps their grandparents, actually owned one.

If you came of age after the Auto Pact was signed in 1965, this is ancient history. 1965 was when our auto sector began to integrate with the American industry. Before that Canada produced thousands of cars (and trucks) – albeit in branch plants of the American big 3 – GM, Ford and Chrysler. Most the the production was identical to the American models (some of the names were changed, such as the Ford Frontenac and the Pontiac Acadian and they might have had different grilles) but the designs were were the same as American models.

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Not that we were neophytes in the car making business – while those branch plants were owned by American companies, General Motors of Canada, for example, was formed by the merger of the McLaughlin Car Company of Oshawa with Chevrolet. (McLaughlin Buick shown here)

But that’s just the most prominent example.

Until the Auto Pact, we had a high tariff wall with the US. We made most of the parts and built the cars in Canadian assembly plants. They were then sold through Canadian dealerships to Canadians.

But the American auto makers who owned all the plants wanted greater efficiency and the Auto Pact was born. Sixty years later it has morphed into Cusma.

Since then, Canadians have been producing cars for Japanese, Korean and Swedish car companies as well. So we know how to build cars. The arrangement has worked well but the imposition of tariffs by the US puts us back to pre Auto Pact days.

So with all the expertise we’ve acquired and all the parts plants we have, it makes sense that our response to Trump’s tariffs should be to start building a Canadian car.

We know what kind of car Canadians want – we’ve been building them and buying them for a hundred years. We can easily copy the best elements of these and add our own Canada-based improvements.

We don’t want to build a Bricklin which was designed and built in New Brunswick in 1974 -76. It was intended to be a revolutionary design with gull-wing doors and acrylic body panels – but it was a flop. The car was a fantasy project of American entrepreneur, Malcolm Bricklin. The company was never Canadian – it was always headquarterd in Arizona.

We need to build a car that Canadians will want to buy. (We bought 1.8 million new cars in 2024.)

We would need an assembly line, but I expect that some of the existing ones in Canada will be under-utilized for the next few years so we should be able to lease the necessary space. We need investment but I expect that Canadians are pulling money out of American companies and will be looking for good opportunities in Canada. We need management but there are numerous Canadians currently working at the top level in the Canadian auto industry who likely see little future with the American auto companies here.

POLL

Would you consider investing in a Canadian car company

In a heartbeat

Would want to kick the tires first

Maybe later

No

8 VOTES · · SHOW RESULTS

As for design the Canadian car should be plug-in electric. Firstly because we want to be on the right side of climate change history and secondly because electric cars are so much simpler. There are dozens of Canadian manufacturers who can produce electric motors in any configuration you desire. In contrast internal combustion engines are much more complicated – hundreds of parts. Also no transmission gears to worry about. And no exhaust system / no emission controls. And batteries – we’ve got several companies to cover that.

Skilled auto workers are not a problem – there are thousands of them who are either laid off or at least feeling very insecure in their current jobs.

The final need is a sales network (Lots of paperwork to set that up but no serious issues) and, of course, buyers.

POLL

Would you consider buying a Canadian car assuming the quality was equivalent to current American models

Probably

Unlikely

7 VOTES · · SHOW RESULTS

Canada, and especially Ontario, is actually well advanced in electric vehicle design and development. Ontario has invested $85 million in six Regional Technology Development Sites (RTDS) which support startups and SMEs in the development, testing, prototyping, validation and commercialization of electric and connected vehicle technology and smart mobility solutions. Durham Region (where I am) has one of those six RTDS

Durham RTDS connects the key players in Durham Region’s innovation ecosystem to launch and advance electric vehicle technology and smart mobility solutions.

Canada is already a world leader in the manufacture of battery electric buses. New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg has 8600 battery-electric buses in service world wide and along with Nova Bus of Quebec is currently filling an order for 340 electric buses for Toronto.

Why not cars? That’s a nation-building project we should all support.