Stellantis is discussing options for building electric vehicles in Canada in partnership with China’s Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s a signal of how quickly the auto industry is being reshaped by US protectionism. Tariffs were the trigger that caused Canada to open the door to companies from China, the world’s largest car market.
The talks with the Canadian government are at an early stage. If the companies proceed, it would be the first major Chinese auto investment in Canada since Prime Minister Mark Carney reached an agreement with President Xi Jinping in January to reduce tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.
For Carney and Industry Minister Melanie Joly, it’s tricky. They want to see the factory humming again. But just as important, they want a supply chain and business for auto suppliers in Ontario — not large-scale parts imports from China.
Flavio Volpe, the auto parts manufacturers’ representative, had a warning for the government soon after we published our story. “A ‘complete knock-down’ operation with all parts and systems brought in from China is an import quota cheat. Allowing this will kill Canadian industry,” he said on social media.
Canada needs to start importing uyghurs to build our cars. I’d heard they accept very very low pay but definitely arent slaves.
Stellantis fucked Canada. Why in the hell would we want anything to do with Stellantis now???
Because the Canadian government gives constant concessions to American car companies in exchange for their business. It’s… Not a good way of doing things. But the politicians who greenlight this sort of thing get rewarded by cushy private sector jobs once they retire from politics, so problem solved.
Because JOBS.
It doesn’t matter if the business is giving literal cancer to everyone in the municipality (à la Noranda in Rouyn Noranda) as a politician, you don’t want to let job statistics go down and let communities rooted in a single business to lose their jobs and the whole town to become abandoned.
Which car brand is Canadian?
The US using us for low pay labour and stealing our resources doesn’t make something an industry.
