Just Add Pizza

On January 21st, Dougie stood alongside Lana Payne, the President of Unifor, and Flavio Volpe, the President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, and Brian Kingston, the President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association.

Together, they held a press conference to express their concerns about the federal government’s electric vehicles deal with China and its potential impact on domestic automakers.

Dougie and Brian also took the opportunity to complain about the remaining electric vehicle targets the federal government has in place.

Those are the targets that are five and ten years away, respectively.

It was a kind of strange fellowship of the automotive rings. (You have my sword, my bow, and my axe.)

Lana had a tough job that day. Although she astutely expressed her concerns regarding autoworkers’ jobs, she also represents the fishing and seafood industry, which benefited from Canada’s new trade deal with China. Whomp, whomp.

Flavio, who is an awesome and relentless supporter of the Canadian automotive industry, probably had to bite his tongue on the electric vehicle targets brouhaha because of his interest in Project Arrow. Gulp.

Brian is brilliant and a great speaker. However, he’s making a lot of noise about those electric vehicle targets. At the end of the day, he’s a lobbyist who is increasingly finding himself in a bit of a jam. Although the name suggests he represents all automakers in Canada, his organization actually only represents Stellantis, Ford, and GM. Cue the sad tuba.

Stellantis shifted Jeep Compass production from Brampton to the US. Lana and Unifor weren’t pleased about that, calling it “an egregious violation of the company’s collective agreement commitments.”

Ford hasn’t actually built a vehicle in Canada since May 2024. Hopefully, retooling of their plant will continue, and production of F-Series Super Duty trucks will begin later this year. Time will tell.

GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, thinks that letting Chinese EVs into Canada is a “slippery slope”.

It turns out that starting to shut down shifts in your Canadian plants due to US tariff pressure is an even slipperier slope.

After putting a bullet in the head of their CAMI plant, ending production of the BrightDrop van, GM is killing off another shift in Oshawa, laying off hundreds of workers, with nary a Chinese vehicle in eyeshot to blame.

Frodo, we weren’t the only people watching that CPAC press conference.

The Donald posted a copy of the video on Truth Social under the heading “Trump Was Right. Canada Doesn’t Hold The Cards”.

I’m willing to bet that Dougie, Flavio, Lana, and Brian didn’t expect that.

Like I said a couple of weeks ago, the deal Mark Carney made with China simply flipped Canada back to our 2024 tariff levels, and set a quota that wasn’t in place before, to mirror the number of Chinese vehicles that were imported into Canada the year prior to putting 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs in place.

Pizza Nova enters the chat.

After criticizing Ottawa’s deal to bring in those pesky Chinese EVs into Canada, calling it a “big problem”, Dougie met with Prime Minister Mark Carney for a “very productive meeting”.

Dougie and Mark got together at an Etobicoke Pizza Nova.

They laughed.

They bought a few slices.

They debated the merits of pineapple on pizza.

Maybe he told him that Hyundai wants to bring South Korean auto manufacturing to Canada.

Maybe Mark told Dougie that he’s working on a new plan for the automotive industry.

Maybe Dougie just really likes pizza.

Once he had eaten his slice and heard a bit about the plan, Dougie said it was “great”.

I don’t know what they discussed.

I can’t explain why they met at a Pizza Nova.

But after their pizza date, Dougie said, “listen guys, we’re a big family.”

And all that hate he had for Mark and his Chinese EV plan appeared to melt away like cheese on a… pizza.

Chery launches its first EV pickup, the Rely Himla, starting at $18,300 USD. carnewschina.com

Xiaomi SU7 outsells Tesla Model 3 in China for the first time. electrek.co

Kim Long Motor is partnering with BYD to produce batteries for commercial electric vehicles in central Vietnam. reuters.com

China plans to have 28 million charging facilities by the end of 2027, providing over 300 million kilowatts of public charging capacity for more than 80 million electric vehicles. carnewschina.com

Elon said he “refused” invitations to visit Epstein's island after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, but newly released DOJ documents prove that was a lie. electrek.co

Elon invests $2 billion in Elon. theverge.com

Elon says that he’s an alien. youtube.com

SpaceX is in ‌discussions to merge with xAI, ahead of its IPO planned for this year. reuters.com

Elon says Tesla will stop producing its S and X models as it shifts to making robots. nbcnews.com

Tesla reported its second consecutive year of declining revenue and profits. theverge.com

Tesla’s energy storage business is growing faster than any other part of the company. techcrunch.com

Tesla persuades Delaware court to cut legal fees in Elon’s pay package lawsuit. reuters.com

Tesla says the production-ready version of its Optimus robot is “coming soon.” theverge.com

DEWALT autonomous drilling robot set to speed up data center construction. electrek.co

Robots are only half as efficient as humans, says a leading Chinese producer. ft.com

Hyundai’s Korean labour union strongly opposed the company’s plans to deploy humanoid robots in factories. interestingengineering.com

A home designed by a humanoid robot goes on display in Denmark. dezeen.com

LimX Dynamics released this week a video showing 18 of its full-size Oli humanoid robots autonomously emerging from shipping crates, standing up, walking in formation, and performing a coordinated routine without human intervention. youtube.com

Oil hovers near six-month high as investors track US-Iran tensions. reuters.com

Canada to boost oil and gas exports to India. nationalpost.com

A federal judge is allowing a nearly completed Massachusetts offshore wind project to continue, as the industry successfully challenges the Donald’s administration in court. apnews.com

Ford launched a new business segment, Ford Energy, to produce battery energy storage systems. Lisa Drake has been appointed president of the new division. freep.com

A hillside “battery” in the UK has begun generating electricity using a first-of-a-kind underground hydropower system. theguardian.com

Redwood Materials secured a $425 million Series E funding package to expand its battery recycling and energy storage business. redwoodmaterials.com

WIRED reports: Chinese firms are building battery plants across Europe and North America, promising jobs while sparking local concerns about the environment, politics, and who really benefits. wired.com

BMW’s iconic logo is changing. But you likely won’t notice. caranddriver.com

Meanwhile, in Europe, electric vehicles accounted for 22.6% of cars registered in December, edging out gas cars for the first time ever at 22.5%. reuters.com

Minivans make a big comeback. autonews.com

Toyota ramps up production of the redesigned RAV4 in Canada. ctvnews.ca

Toyota has a rear-view camera problem. reuters.com

Hyundai has a side airbag problem. caranddriver.com

VW has a battery fire problem. mashable.com

VW considers pulling out of US factory plans over tariffs. semafor.com

Waabi, the Toronto-based autonomous trucking startup, raised $1B and is expanding its portfolio to include robotaxis. And it’s bringing Uber along for the ride. techcrunch.com, techcrunch.com

A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near a school in Santa Monica. theverge.com

The San Francisco Police Department is investigating a Zoox collision with a parked car. techcrunch.com

After years of negotiations, Waymo is finally offering passenger trips at San Francisco International Airport. theverge.com

Robotaxis are in a literal land grab moment. businessinsider.com

Life Electric is buying Rad Power Bikes for $13.2 million. theverge.com

The Donald’s Transportation Department plans to roll back fuel economy standards for heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans. reuters.com

The Donald’s Transportation Department plans to use artificial intelligence (mostly Google’s Gemini) to write federal transportation regulations. propublica.org

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