Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker: Volkswagen had higher offers, but it ultimately decided to build its battery plant in Ontario, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week. Plus, Canadian auctioneer Ritchie Bros. facilitates its largest auction of the year and General Motors balances its yearly projections.
Weighing offers
Canada won Volkswagen’s battery plant plans despite a “way, way” larger offer from the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last Friday.
During a trip to New York last week, Trudeau said, “there were places in the U.S. putting up way, way more money than [Canada] put on the table.”
Market analysts and industry insiders assume that Canada’s subsidies for manufacturers of green technologies—worth up to $13 million—played an integral role in attracting the German OEM to St. Thomas, Ont.
“Volkswagen said…we need to invest in a community that is going to be invested in itself and in that future,” Trudeau told the audience at the Council of Foreign Relations.
Ritchie Bros.’ riches
A five-day auction last week saw B.C.-based Ritchie Bros. sell more than 12,000 pieces of equipment and vehicles, generating more than $225 million in gross transaction value.
The company’s largest auction of the year was held in Edmonton from April 24 to April 28, both onsite and online, and attracted more than 21,000 bidders from 50 countries, according to Ritchie Bros.’ press release.
Approximately 93 percent of the equipment sold went to Canadian buyers; 59 percent of buyers were from Alberta.
The remaining seven percent of purchases were from buyers as distant as Chile, Egypt and Romania, said the press release.
Balancing the books
General Motors has raised its 2023 earnings projections by $500 million, citing consistency in demand and pricing as the OEM prepares to launch new vehicles later this year.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes were raised to a range of US$11 billion to US$13 billion.
At the same time, GM lowered its full-year net income forecast to a range US$8.4 billion to US$9.9 billion; its previous estimates were US$8.7 billion to US$10.1 billion. Analysts say this is largely due to employee cuts via voluntary buyout as the automaker prepares to reign costs alongside its transition to EVs.
GM will launch two small crossovers, the Chevy Trax and Buick Envista, as well as a redesigned Colorado midsize pickup later this year. The OEM plans to build approximately 50,000 Ultium-backed batteries in the first six months of 2023, followed by 100,000 between July and December 2023.
GM said it maintains its goal to build 400,000 EVs between 2022 and the first half of 2024.
