Thursday, March 27, 2008

Canadian automobile industry


A new report confirms that the auto industry will be turned on its head the next decade or so. Here's Rueters Canada:

Automobile production in emerging markets is set to outpace output in North America for the first time this year and the Canadian auto parts industry must adapt to the new reality, a study released by Scotia Economics on Thursday says.

Combined vehicle assembly capacity in the BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, will climb to 20 million units this year surpassing the 17.4 million units of assembly capacity in place in North America, according to the Global Auto Report.

Get the full version here

--This is coming on the heels of the a announcement that ford was selling Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian car maker Tata. It's important to remember that protectionism is not the answer. If trade restriction are put up in the next couple years they will be very hard to get rid of in the future.

Yes, it would save jobs in the auto industry, but it will destroy jobs in other places and make it harder for families to buy fuel efficient cheap foreign cars. Not to mention hurt the incomes of people around the world that have it a lot worse than us.

P.S. Has anybody else heard the phrase "coming on the heels of" in any other context besides a news report?


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