Canada loans VW $525 million to relocate to Mexico....Export Development Canada is making a $525-million loan to Volkswagen AG in a bid to get the German auto maker to boost its Canadian supply base as it expands in Mexico and the Southern U.S.
The euro-denominated financing – EDC’s largest this year – will “open doors” at Volkswagen for Canadian auto part suppliers, especially smaller ones, according to Carl Burlock, the federal export lender’s senior vice-president of financing and investment. “We have the opportunity to add more Canadian suppliers because the expansion is in North America,” Mr. Burlock said. “It’s close to home.”
New auto assembly investment is migrating south, to Mexico and the Southern U.S., and the EDC says its job is to make sure their supply chains still stretch to Canada, he said.
“Growth today is looking different than it did 10 or 15 years ago, and that’s a fact,” Mr. Burlock explained.
“What we can do is help companies with the opportunities where they are now.”
Canada threatens action against Volkswagen if rules violated
Josh Wingrove, Bloomberg
2:13 PM, E.T. | September 22, 2015
Industrials The Canadian government is pledging unspecified “enforcement action” if Volkswagen cars sold in the country used pollution-masking technology.
The company, which is growing in Canada and holds a 3.9 percent market share, is now under investigation by Environment Canada, department spokesman Mark Johnson said. The agency is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the company to investigate claims the automaker used so-called “defeat device” technology to mask vehicle emissions.
“Defeat devices are prohibited under Canadian regulations. If violations to Canadian regulations are found, enforcement action will be taken,” Johnson said in an e-mail Tuesday.
Volkswagen had a record month in Canada in August, the company said, and its sales were up 5.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, data from Desrosiers Automotive show. Volkswagen is the eighth-ranked vehicle retailer by sales volume, with 50,418 units sold so far in 2015, 12.6 percent ahead of its pace in 2014. It does not