Volkswagen wants to “get moving” on building its first North American battery plant, preferably in Canada, federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Monday.
“I’d say the stars are aligning nicely for Canada and certainly this is a big game changer,” Champagne said during a media conference call after spending that past week meeting with political and industry leaders in Belgium and Germany.
In a joint statement with Champagne, Volkswagen announced Dec. 1 it has launched a site search for a battery plant, and views Canada as “one logical option.”
The announcement came as an addendum to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) VW and Canada signed in August, in which the two parties agreed to co-operate on building a “sustainable” battery electric vehicle supply chain. The MOU did not include investment commitments.
Champagne downplayed suggestions that VW’s statement implies it may also be exploring other potential sites in North America, such as the United States.
“Germans being Germans, I don’t think they would invite the minister of industry of Canada with 400 of their top managers and say, ‘let’s get moving, we need scale, we need speed, and let’s get going,’ he said.
“Obviously you have to get to the final round [but] … I’ve never seen a CEO of company that size say that [Canada is the logical choice] in public … It looks very good for Canada.”
Champagne said also he met with Mercedes-Benz as part of a follow-up to a similar MOU the federal government signed in August with the automaker.
The luxury car company, he noted, recently opened an office in Toronto as it looks to develop an EV supply chain in Canada.
