Though local officials aren’t courting Honda to consider Windsor as a potential site for an $18.4-billion electric vehicle assembly and battery plant campus, automotive analysts expect the local area to be one of the big beneficiaries should it land in Ontario.
News of Honda considering Ontario as the potential home for the project was revealed Sunday by the Japanese business publication Nikkei, the world’s largest financial newspaper.
“Windsor would be well-positioned to service it, being close to both Honda’s Marysville, Ohio, and Alliston plants. Honda has already made a substantial investment in Ohio,” he said.
Honda is building a battery plant with LG Energy Solution in Ohio and converting its production facility there to electric vehicles. And Honda is already a significant client for several local companies, who are supplying the Japanese automaker’s operations in both Canada and the U.S.
NextStar Energy battery plant director of planning Sung Park has previously told the Star that its supply chain companies locating in Windsor would also be servicing other firms in Canada and the U.S.
One of those suppliers, Dongshin Motech, is currently building a plant by Windsor Airport. The company will also supply the same aluminum trays to Honda’s Marysville operations.
The South Korean supplier Bobaek America is building two plants by the Windsor Airport to supply insulation panels and cell sheets for Dongshin Motech to use in its products.
Multiple sources have confirmed to the Star Honda officials have been in discussion with various levels of government in Canada for several months. Honda’s global team met with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and other federal government officials Thursday regarding the investment.
Local officials confirmed they were not pursuing the Honda file and are focusing on recruiting supply chain companies to service the NextStar Energy battery plant and other non-automotive related firms.
“This wasn’t just a leak that came out now for no reason and from that particular source,” Sweeney said. “There’s a message here (from Honda).
“This is a lot further along than just general interest by Honda. I expect we’ll know something by summertime.”
Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association president Flavio Volpe said there will be opportunities for local tool and die, mould-making, automation firms and parts manufacturers should the investment come to fruition.
“They’d get a chance to get more business or new business,” Volpe said.
“It’s a domino effect. A lot of power companies’ suppliers in St. Thomas (for Volkswagen’s new battery plant) and the same for NextStar’s suppliers in Windsor, would likely be involved with Honda too.”
Volpe added Windsor area companies working with NextStar and Stellantis’s Windsor Assembly Plant, which has been retooled to build electric vehicles, will have the advantage of being first out of the gate in a new industry segment.
The NextStar plant will be fully operational two years before Canada’s next battery plant comes online in St. Thomas.
“One of the biggest checkmarks for suppliers in winning new business is, ‘What current business are you doing now?’” Volpe said.
“If you’re a successful NextStar supplier, you’ve demonstrated being able to deliver and shown your financial capabilities. If you’re looking at safe, reliable options for 2028 (for the Honda plants), you look at those suppliers first.”
“They’ll be relied on to not only do the work elsewhere, but to tool up new plants,” Sweeney said. “The first-mover advantage could be a pretty significant competitive advantage.
“It flies in the face of the argument over the 900 temporary foreign workers coming to Canada. They are the ones that are going to impart this knowledge we don’t have.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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