The adversities just keep piling up for Canada’s parts makers. COVID-19, border closures, increased costs, the ongoing semiconductor shortage, protectionist U.S. trade policy, stuttering automobile production and, as you’re no doubt aware by reading this issue, a recent blockade of the Ambassador Bridge joining Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.
And then there’s the bad stuff.
A story we posted online Feb. 25 details what is likely to be the ultimate challenge for many suppliers in this country: electric vehicles. New, exciting and financially daring for automakers, and also lethal for some parts builders. Not just for those whose component expertise will not be needed to build EVs, but for those short on capital to invest in building different components, presuming they wanted to and could get the contracts.