The company said it continues to expect lower sales in 2020, amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, which makes up about five per cent of the company’s annual sales.

Auto executives who spoke with Automotive News Canada anticipate another year of falling sales, with most predicting that the market would settle to around 1.9 million units sold, about a one-per-cent decline from 2019.

A slowdown in dealership transactions has put the brakes on in a seller’s market. But, Quebec figures to be a hotbed of dealership transactions this year, says Maxime Theoret, CFO of Ontario-based Dealer Solutions Mergers and Acquisitions. 

Summary graf: Subaru and Mazda were deemed the brands to have the highest overall dealer satisfaction in Canada, according to the Canadian Automobile Dealer Association’s annual Dealer Satisfaction Index (DSI) survey.

FCA is in the midst of investing US$4.5 billion ($5.96 billion) in five Detroit-area plants. Jim Morrison, head of the Jeep brand in North America, says "the key is getting the right product at the right time and supporting the dealers.”

Physical dealerships and the customer relationship will remain important to auto retail even as the industry experiments with new ways of generating sales, say Canadian auto executives. But, disrupters such as Tesla threaten the traditional business model.

Auto shows aren’t going away, but the digital era demands more than cars to look at on the floor.

Adam Chamberlain, the head of sales for Mercedes-Benz in the United States, will take over as CEO of the luxury brand’s Canadian operations. Brian Fulton, at the helm since 2016, is leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities,” according to a news release.

While Don Walker is optimistic about what the USMCA free-trade pact could mean for Canada, he also has some warnings. If the content rules are too complicated or if wages rise too quickly in Mexico as a result of the new trade pact, supply work could go overseas where it might still be cheaper.

Companies must be deliberate in hiring more women and elevating them to executive positions if the auto industry is ever to become more diverse. 

The layoffs, which took effect Monday, were announced late last year, and come ahead of negotiations between Unifor and the Detroit 3 automakers later this year. Job security and product commitments figure to be major priorities for the union.

Unifor President Jerry Dias said his union will be unaffected by the ongoing U.S. investigation into the United Auto Workers union and General Motors’ lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler accusing FCA of labour corruption. 

Women in Canada's auto industry say attracting more women to sales, service, engineering and other areas means battling auto industry stigmas as well as gender biases. They also say they feel encouraged despite those challenges.

Statistics show women are making little progress in getting ahead and earning a bigger piece of the pie, with few exceptions.

Some of the industry’s leading women have identified barriers that keep women from entering the auto industry, and how to break through them.