The largest ever Automotive Conference and Expo (ACE) took place last week at the Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ont., and dealers left with insights that delivered on the event’s theme: “Discover the Future.”
ACE is organized by the Motor Vehicle Retailers of Ontario (MVRO), and blends high-profile keynote speakers with hands-on workshops, social and networking events, and a full trade show exhibit hall filled with 70 exhibitors showcasing the latest products and services for dealers.
Amber Mac, President of AmberMac Media, kicked off the event with a keynote presentation on demystifying artificial intelligence. She started with the sobering statement: “Change has never happened this fast before — and it will never be this slow again.”
Mac provided a quick update about the latest developments in AI. She said in 2024, Chat GPT has now developed a new model that can “think like a human.” She also noted that AI agents are the next wave, underlining that AI agents act autonomously on behalf of individuals and conduct business for them.
She said a lot of people fear technology, but they need to embrace and understand it better. “Think of technology as a magical co-pilot.”
Mac said only 15 per cent of Canadians “strongly agree” they have the training necessary to use AI effectively, which signals that there is an opportunity for business leaders to help their people get the skills they need.
For the auto industry, she highlighted three main areas where AI can provide value: customer service, marketing and sales automation, and data analysis and business intelligence. Mac said Google Gemini is a powerful tool, and is more useful than ChatGPT for many business applications. She then presented seven AI tools that she uses in her business day-to-day.
She also presented some real-world examples of how AI tools are already widely-used in areas like mental health support, monitoring patients in hospitals to ensure they are getting adequate care and support.
She said she understands why people are uneasy about AI, because they see things like deep fake technology and other content manipulation that is eroding public trust. Businesses, she said, have to expect this and should work to develop trust with their customers.
Michael Dunne, CEO of Dunne Insights, gave dealers his perspective on the Chinese electric vehicle market and their plans for Canada, the United States, and global domination in the auto market.
Making his seventh visit to Canada this year, he started his presentation by showing dealers the “glorious chaos” that is the Shanghai auto show. He said the size of the show makes the Los Angeles and Detroit auto shows look like chicken coops. “There are oceans of people like you’ve never seen before,” said Dunne.
The moment the penny dropped for Dunne to realize just how far and how fast Chinese car makers had come was when they had completely taken over the Shanghai auto show in 2023. The Chinese brands were now the “new cool” with the hot products.
“What does it mean for us as dealers in terms of risks and opportunity?” he asked. “China builds more than twice as many vehicles as we do in North America. They build more EVs than the rest of the world combined.”
He presented a few stats to back up his key points:
- EVs now make up 50 per cent of the sales in China;
- The market share for Chinese automakers in China is 62 per cent; and
- China is the world’s number one new car exporter — they are on track for 6 million vehicles exported to 100 countries.
Dunne took dealers through a history of how China shifted into the economic powerhouse we now see today.
He said China set out to reach supremacy in next generation technologies by 2025. To do this, they put in place massive subsidies for Chinese manufacturers: zero interest loans, taxes, and incentives.
After the brief history lesson, Dunne focused on what he thinks dealers most want to know, which is: “When are the Chinese OEMs coming, who is the next Hyundai or Toyota, and can I make money with them?”
He said we also have to shift our perceptions of the Chinese OEMs as just low-cost providers of vehicles. For example, Chinese OEM NIO already has thousands of battery swapping stations through China that solves the range anxiety and charging delays entirely. They are also building stations in Europe. “China is not just low cost, they are high tech and advanced technology leaders,” said Dunne.
They are also growing rapidly. BYD is one company to watch. They went from building 400,000 cars four years ago to a projected 4 million this year. “China’s ambition is to be the automotive powerhouse for the world,” said Dunne.
He said we have seen the Chinese playbook — they acquire massive capacity at home to provide products to the world. They have 40 million units of capacity at home, which means they already have an excess manufacturing capacity of 10 million.
The challenge for the rest of the world is that there are now price wars in the domestic world and the Chinese are looking at global markets for their products, that includes ICE vehicles and not just EVs. In fact, 75 per cent of the vehicles the Chinese are exporting this year are ICE vehicles.
Many fear that without tariffs Chinese automakers will “demolish” current legacy OEMs, because made-in-China vehicles are 35-40 per cent cheaper than those made in North America. The U.S. has already imposed a 127.5 per cent tariff on made-in-China cars, and Canada followed with a 100 per cent tariff.
“Where are we today?” said Dunne. “We want to get these cars to our customers, but at what cost? We are in a new territory. Can we even compete with the Chinese?” he asked.
Dunne said North American companies could insist on joint ventures for domestic markets, and some Chinese OEMs are looking to invest in manufacturing inside foreign countries to combat tariffs.
When asked in a question and answer session about their business model, Dunne said that for now, China’s OEMs seem to want to support a franchised dealer model in their foreign markets. “Every other Chinese automaker as they’ve gone global has done the franchise model,” said Dunne. “They need allies, they need advocates.”
But Dunne also cautioned that in his opinion, these OEMs would like to go direct as soon as they can. “I think their longer-term ambition is to go direct,” said Dunne.
Dealers need to assess the upside and risks if they want to work at representing a Chinese OEM, he said. “You might be able to sell cars but the cost won’t be free,” he said. The risks include the damage to an existing brand a dealer might be operating if Chinese vehicles start to eat into sales.
He also presented a bigger picture concern: there are serious national security considerations if every car is made in China. “If we don’t have our own vehicle manufacturing industry, from a national security standpoint, that would pose risks. The Chinese are very pragmatic. They want market access and they will figure out a plan to get more leverage over time,” said Dunne.
He said in the immediate short-term, they are “on pause” until after the U.S. elections, and then the likely Canadian elections on the horizon. “It will be 2026 at the earliest,” he said. “They are pausing, not stopping.”
Other speakers included Travis Snow, a 20 Group Moderator, and Dealership Consultant, with NCM Associates; Finn Ensig, President, Finds Results Training; Ian Cruickshank, Leadbox; and Jean-Francois Perrault, Scotiabank.
The opening day’s closing session featured an in-depth interview with Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister Stephen Harper, (2006-2015) who was interviewed by Bruce Croxon, Digital Innovator and Investor.
Harper covered a broad range of topics from domestic politics, immigration, deficits, the U.S. election race and geopolitics.
Harper took issue with the policies the Liberal government put in place after his term in office, including mushrooming federal deficits.
Harper said when you run deficits and print money to expand the money supply, it’s only expansionary economic growth for a short time that eventually fuels inflation and slows growth.
Harper said once governments start running deficits they just keep getting larger and larger. “As an economist and historian that was a movie I’d seen before,” said Harper.
Harper said he has great confidence in Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. “He will be the next Prime Minister of Canada. I think he will win very large and he understands why that is — because things are in bad shape.”
“He understands he has to be bold,” said Harper. “You have to take credible steps to get the house in order. It’s going to be a terrible mess. There’s been no expenditure management for a decade.”
“It’s a real challenge, I’m glad it’s his job and not mine,” joked Harper. “Being Prime Minister was the best job in the best country in the world — and I wouldn’t do it again in a million years.”
One thing the next government will have to do is cut the bloated federal public service. Harper said when he took power his government cut 30,000 public service jobs. “You never heard about it; we did it very quietly,” he said.
Harper said he liked working with car dealers and their associations when he was in power, adding they were among his favourite groups to deal with when he was in power.
In terms of current automotive policy and zero-emission vehicle mandates, Harper said the policies are flawed. “I think this is an area where we need a total rethink,” said Harper.
“You can’t tell the market what it wants, you have to provide them price and quality and the market will ultimately decide,” said Harper. “The market is not telling us that by 2035 no one will want a combustion engine vehicle,” Harper said to applause from dealers.
Croxon asked Harper about the U.S. political landscape, who said that regardless of who wins, Canada will have to remain on good terms with either president, especially with key trade deals like the USMCA being opened back up for re-negotiation.
After Harper’s talk, the exhibitors hosted dealers in the trade show hall with a cocktail party featuring celebrity booth visits and food and drinks. The delegates then moved to Margaritaville where they were entertained by a repeat appearance by the upbeat cover band Dwayne Gretzky.
