INDEPTH: AUTO INDUSTRY
Timeline
CBC News Online | February 10, 2006
Sept. 15, 2006:
Ford accelerates restructuring plan first outlined in January, announcing an additional 10,000 job cuts among salaried staff. The Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ont., will close in 2008. Ford also chops its stock dividend.
Aug. 18, 2006:
Ford Motor Co. announces plans to slash North American vehicle production by 21 per cent in the fourth quarter.
Feb. 10, 2006:
Volkswagen AG announces a restructuring plan that could cut up to 20,000 jobs in its passenger car division in the next three years. The announcement comes after VW reported a profit for 2005 of $1.5 billion Cdn, up 61 per cent from the previous year and beating the predicted profit of $1.1 billion Cdn.
Jan. 23, 2006:
Ford announces that it will close 14 factories in North America and cut between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs by 2012. Among the plants to be closed is the casting plant in Windsor, Ont. That closing had been announced during contract talks between Ford and the Canadian Auto Workers a few months earlier. The assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont. will remain open - but will be reduced to one shift.
Ford also announced that it would trim its executive ranks by about 12 per cent. Ford's North American workforce stood at 122,000 at the end of 2005.
Nov. 21, 2005
General Motors announces closures at 12 North American facilities including Oshawa and St. Catharines, Ont. The cuts mean 30,000 jobs will be lost, 3,660 in Canada.
October 2005:
General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reach a tentative deal to lower the company’s health care costs. GM posts a loss of $1.6 billion in the third quarter and considers selling a stake in its financial services arm in a bid to restore its investment grade credit rating. It also plans to close more plants and reduce its manufacturing workforce by 25,000 or more jobs by 2008.
June 30, 2005:
Toyota announces plans for an auto assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont., creating thousands of direct and spin-off jobs. It's Toyota's second plant in Canada, set for completion in 2008. The first is in nearby Cambridge, Ont., where it makes its Corolla and Matrix models. It also produces the Lexus RX 300 SUV, the first Lexus made outside Japan. The new facility will manufacture the RAV4 sport utility vehicles and possibly the Scion, a youth-oriented subcompact that is not yet available in Canada. Toyota also plans to pump $39 million into its wheel-assembly facility in Delta, B.C.
June 2005:
In an effort to trim its bottom line, GM looks to reduce its health care coverage. By 2005, the U.S.-based auto manufacturer is one of the last industries to offer free health care, including retiree medical coverage and pensions. Some sources say GM spent at least $5.6 billion on health care in 2005, more than its advertising budget. When GM announces its intention to scale back on health care, its union threatens to strike.
April 2005:
General Motors posts $1.1-billion US loss in its first quarter. Its debt is downgraded to junk bond status.
March 2, 2005:
The Ontario and federal governments commit $435 million to GM's Beacon Project. They agree to provide General Motors with up to $435 million to support a $2.5-billion project to upgrade plants and boost research and development in the province. The investment will upgrade plants in Oshawa and St. Catharines, and improve automotive research and development nationwide. It will also foster relationships among auto suppliers, universities, researchers and students in auto engineering, design and innovation. The project will create 500 jobs and is Canada's largest-ever investment in the auto industry.
2004:
Ontario's Oshawa and St. Catharines plants’ production exceeds their Michigan counterparts.
Sept. 25, 2001:
General Motors announces plans to close its auto plant in Ste-Therese, Que. Eleven hundred jobs are lost. In its 36-year run, the plant produced the Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Monza, the Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird.
Feb. 19, 2001:
The Auto Pact is officially dead after the World Trade Organization rules that it is unfair to foreign carmakers. Some say changes caused by the introduction of NAFTA make most of the pact irrelevant.
1993:
GM closes its van plant in Scarborough, Ont. Two thousand jobs are lost.
Jan. 1, 1989:
Free Trade Agreement comes into effect. Under it, penalties imposed by the Auto Pact are cancelled.
1986:
Honda opens a plant in Alliston, Ont., making it the first Japanese automaker to produce cars in Canada. There it makes its Civic sedan and Acura 1.7 EL. A second phase of the facility is opened in 1998 where the Odyssey, Pilot SUV and Acura MDX are made.
September 1985:
The Canadian UAW holds its founding convention. Nine months later, the union changes its name to the Canadian Auto Workers.
Dec. 11, 1984:
The Canadian wing of the United Auto Workers votes to split from the parent.
April 9, 1982:
GM Canada loses a bid to help Iraq set up its own auto industry after Baghdad cancels a $500-million deal to buy 45,000 cars for the government. The Canadian-built cars were found to be defective, suffering from faulty transmissions, poor finishing and other problems.
1968:
The Auto Pact is three years old and has transformed Canada's auto industry from a trade deficit into a surplus. Sixty per cent of vehicles made in Canada are sent south of the border up from seven per cent. Also, forty per cent of cars purchased in Canada are made in the U.S.
Jan. 15, 1965:
Canada and U.S. sign the Auto Pact. Under the deal, U.S. carmakers are required to build a car in Canada for every one they sell in the country.
1964:
Canada's exports of automotive parts hits $70 million. Imports total $694 million.
1961:
The Royal Commission on the Automotive Industry holds its hearings. The commission's report recommends protection of the auto industry by continuing Canadian content rules.
1953:
20 automotive plants – mainly in Ontario and Quebec – employ 33,000 people and produce 360,000 cars and 120,000 trucks.
1940:
Auto industry shifts focus to military needs during Second World War. Canadian auto plants turn out 600 armoured personnel carriers a day.
1938:
GM Canada produces its one-millionth vehicle.
1933:
Ford falls to third place behind GM and Chrysler
1926:
Tariffs on imported cars are reduced and – for the first time – the government of Canada requires some Canadian content in cars sold in Canada.
1923:
Oland J. Brooks sets up Brooks Steam Motors, acquires a plant in Stratford, Ont., and builds among the last steam-powered automobiles in Canada.
1918 to 1923:
Canada is the world's second-largest producer of automobiles – and a major exporter.
1918:
General Motors buys the McLaughlin Motor Car Company and establishes General Motors Canada.
1914:
Henry Ford decides to pass along profits to his workers, introduces the $5 workday in the United States. It is almost double the previous wage of about $2.65 and exceeds Dodge's pay of $3. The move boosts employee morale and production.
1913:
Ford introduces the world's first moving assembly line. By the end of the year, Ford is producing 50 per cent of automobiles in the United States.
1910:
Massey-Harris, a company that makes farm equipment, becomes one of Canada's first multinational corporations.
1910:
Cadillac is the first American manufacturer to offer closed bodies as standard equipment, revolutionizing motoring convenience by providing cleanliness and all-weather comfort.
1908:
General Motors Company is organized in September, incorporating the Buick Motor Company. Oldsmobile becomes the second company to join General Motors when Olds Motor Works is sold to GM in November 1908. Fisher Body Company is incorporated on July 1908, by Albert, Fred and Charles Fisher, and located in Detroit.
Ford introduces its Model T car.
Sam McLaughlin of Oshawa, Ont., uses Buick engines in cars he designs and produces at the McLaughlin Motor Car Company.
1906:
Ford exceeds Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac combined to become the top U.S. automaker.
1904:
Ford starts manufacturing in Canada in partnership with carriage-maker Gordon McGregor. They build a plant in Windsor, Ont. The expansion allows Ford access to the Canadian market, skipping a 35 per cent duty imposed on cars imported into the country.
1892:
The first car is produced in North America thanks to the internal combustion engine.
1867:
The internal combustion engine makes its debut at the Paris Exposition. Henry Seth Taylor builds first horseless carriage in Stanstead, Que. It is run by steam engine.
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