March 13, 2026 | The week’s top stories and Unifor’s Lana Payne on auto investment

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Hi everyone and welcome to the March 13th, 2026 episode of the Automotive News Canada podcast.

I'm your host, Greg Lason, the digital and mobile editor at Automotive News Canada.

Coming to you from just outside Windsor, Ontario, the automotive capital of Canada.

Today on the show, I speak with Unifor President Lana Payne. I caught up with her last week at the

grand opening of the Next Star Energy Battery Plant in Windsor, Ontario. I asked her about the

federal and Ontario government's pursuit of new auto investment, particularly the federal approach

of tying such investment to submarine procurement contracts and Premier Doug Ford's willingness

to continue subsidizing auto investment. But first, a look at some of the top Canadian

automotive stories of the week. Volkswagen says it will not tie its Canadian investments to a

proposed defense deal. CEO Oliver Bloom says the automaker does not link its business decisions to

unrelated negotiations. He made the comments March 10th in Wolfsburg during the company's

annual media conference. His remarks come as Ottawa pushes for more auto sector investment.

Industry Minister Melanie Jolie has tied the prospect of new auto assembly in Canada to a

submarine procurement worth up to $12 billion. Volkswagen is already building a $7 billion

battery cell plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, expected to begin production in 2027.

In EV Retail News, three Chinese automakers are preparing to enter the Canadian market.

Advisory firm DSMA says BYD, Cherry, and Jolie are working on vehicle certification,

dealer networks, and financing partnerships ahead of a planned launch. Jason Zhao, DSMA's director

of Asian market development, says the company's hope vehicles could begin landing in Canada by the

end of 2026. The move follows a January trade reset between Ottawa and Beijing. Canada will

allow up to 49,000 China-made electric vehicles into the country under a new quota system.

But industry experts say vehicle certification could slow things down. Former Toyota Canada

executive Steven Beatty says automakers starting from scratch might be a year or more away from

potential approval. And finally, on the product front, Chrysler says a refreshed Pacifica Minivan

will arrive this summer. The 2027 model gets a redesigned front end, new lighting, and an updated

Chrysler logo first shown on the Halcyon concept vehicle. In Canada, the entry-level Chrysler Grand

Caravan will remain in the lineup and keep its current exterior design. Canadian pricing for the

2027 models will be announced later this year. Minivans remain the brand's core business. Chrysler

now sells only minivans after dropping the 300 sedan in 2023. All Chrysler minivans were assembled

at Stellantis' Windsor assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario. And that's a look at some of the top

Canadian automotive stories of the week. Coming up, my conversation with Uniform President Lana Payne.

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started. The all-new Fusion, automotive retail platform from Keyloop. Welcome back to the Automotive

News Canada podcast. I'm your host, Greg Lason. We're about to hear a conversation I had with

Uniform President Lana Payne. But first, let's set the table. At the grand opening of the

Next Star Energy Battery Plant, I had a chance to ask industry minister Melanie Jolie what evidence

she had that tying a $12 billion submarine contract to auto investment was going to work,

especially since neither Bitter from Germany or South Korea have auto making experience.

Here's what she had to say. Since this week, the Bitter's had to present their entire proposal.

And so obviously because the procurement process is now in its final mode, I can't

comment what's going on. But I'll be clear. We want a car plan. I then asked Ontario Premier

Doug Ford if he had any words of encouragement for Hyundai, which sold nearly 147,000 vehicles in

Canada last year and was coming off a record February sales month. He lumped all Korean brands

into one number and made his pitch. Well, there's 200 and roughly last count, I had 230,000 cars

and anyone who sells 230,000 cars needs to open up a plant here. It's as simple as that.

They're a quality company, quality people, great cars, but you can't sell 230,000 cars without

having a strong presence here. So I highly encourage them to come to Ontario. We'll work

with them. We will support them. We will roll out the red carpet for them, but you can't expect

you know, those sales without having a strong presence right here in Ontario.

So what does Uniform President Lana Payne think of all of this? Let's find out.

I mean, I think it's really important that the auto strategy has one key principle,

and that is if you sell here, you build here. And what we heard from Premier Ford this morning is

that he agrees with that. And I think that that's important. We need him to continue to be a champion

for the sector. I also think it's really important that as the rest of the elements of the auto

strategy come together, that we're making sure that we are supporting production in Canada. And

so that those who built here are rewarded in that regard by having market access, obviously,

but also support to be able to continue to stay in Canada given the tariffs, which are you know,

causing a massive rupture in everyone's business right now,

and hurting workers on both sides of the border. So it's important that the final part of that

strategy, which to me is the one and most important part, which is not quite done yet,

that we get to the right place. And that means we have to have a system where we are not favouring

importers over people who are manufacturing here. And if we can't achieve that, then we're going to

have a major, major problem. We made this deal where they can import all these cars, but they

don't want the cars we make. So what was the trade off? Was Uniform against that trade deal with

South Korea? We were very much opposed to the issue of how auto was being used as kind of a

horse trade in those trade talks. So we got access probably for other things. But what we gave up was,

you know, basically premier access to the auto industry in Canada and without fences around it.

And I think that that's a very big problem for us. And we've seen this grow. So once you get a

foothold in the market, you know, we've gone in a decade or so, 15 years or so from basically

few cars being sold here to now cars for that would basically fill an assembly plant or two,

depending on how many shifts you've got there and the automation that would take place there.

But definitely we need to see companies that are selling that number of cars having a footprint

here. Last question. Do you believe that this defense strategy, if you want our subcontract,

you will have a auto factory here. Do you believe that will work? Because

Manwa has a loose connection to Hyundai. TKSS has no connection really to an automaker.

How does the government or those two countries force one of their domestic automakers to open

up shop here? So I think it's going to be a challenge. And I will say this because we have

an over capacity in the auto sector around the world. And, you know, they will put up a strong

case about why they shouldn't build here. The other thing is that, you know, 90% of what we

built here goes to the U.S. market. The reality is just building for Canada is not going to be

enough. We have to be able to access North America. We have to be able to access the U.S.

market. And as long as the tariffs are in place, the business case is very tough to be made.

Unless, you know, obviously there's a ton of government support, which we expect. And there

is a fund, obviously a strategic fund to help. But the reality is first priority is to keep what

we've got and make sure that we are not losing one more auto job in this country and then build,

you know, and improve on the infrastructure that we already have in that case in the footprint

that we have. Do I think that government should be strategic about what they do with their defense

dollars and what we get in return? Absolutely. And if we can get an auto plan here, that would be

fabulous. I'd like to thank Lana for her time. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, have a

suggestion or simply want to comment, email me at glason at AutoNews.com. And remember,

you can listen to all our previous podcasts on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, or on our website,

automotivenews.ca. Just scroll to the podcast hub in the middle of our homepage. And don't forget,

you can follow Automotive News Canada on X, where we're at Auto News Canada. You can find me there,

too, under at glason, A-N-C. And finally, look for us on LinkedIn. Just search Automotive

News Canada. That does it for this episode of the Automotive News Canada podcast. We hope you'll

join us next time. So long, everybody.

March 13, 2026 | The week’s top stories and Unifor’s Lana Payne on auto investment

Chrysler Pacifica

Chrysler Grand

Chrysler 300

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