Don’t let it happen
It’s one of the hottest days Toronto (and much of the rest of the country) has ever measured. Still, I can’t get a skiing image out of my head. All thanks to Best Buy. If we were starting down a …
Category: Opinion
Wanted: Young guns
Are you ready for the next generation? There’s a lot of interest in issues like succession planning, the lack of a solid bench strength for our industry, and questions about where the future leaders of Canada’s automotive retail industry are …
The missing perspective
Short sighted policies hamper our economic performance I recently had the pleasure of attending a very interesting presentation. Professor Christopher Ragan of McGill University – a renowned economist with a world class resume – gave a talk entitled A Complex …
Study: new fuel standards will cost jobs and sales
While President Barack’s Obama administration and automakers battle it out over the target for new fuel efficiency standards, a new white paper suggests it will lead to millions fewer cars sold and 220,000 lost jobs. The paper’s author, Dean Drake, …
Shifting Gears
Got an opinion? We’d love to hear it. The first thing you’ll notice in this issue of Canadian auto dealer is that my picture replaces the picture of our longtime editor Gerry Malloy in this spot. But all is well …
The next chapter begins…
New faces in different places on our team In September 2004, in a hotel room outside Detroit, Mich., Canadian auto dealer magazine was born. In that room, CADA’s President & CEO Rick Gauthier and I presented the concept for the …
The budget that never was
Budget that toppled government worth reviewing The federal budget that was presented on March 22 was, like all budgets, cre- ated by mixing equal parts economics and politics. As it happens, the budget quickly turned into an election platform for …
New model launch for Canadian auto dealer!
If you are reading this, then you have navigated your way to the just launched new website for Canadian auto dealer magazine. We blew up the old site, and built an entirely new one on a more robust platform that …
The border business
Easing flow of goods doesn’t have to raise security risks More than two decades ago, Canada went through a wrenching national debate on the prospect of free trade with the United States. The 1988 election was a plebiscite on that …
We are not selling just transportation devices any more
And we no longer operate in a closed, automotive-only environment A very few years ago, people in the industry were joking that the car would soon become little more than a mobile platform for the newest electronic gadgetry. It’s no …
Those are fighting words…
Unfortunately, they are not an isolated opinion I had an interesting conversation last week with someone who is very familiar with the automotive service business in Canada. He has a long history of covering dealer fixed operations and the aftermarket. …
Tip of the iceberg
It’s a slippery slope that leads away from your store. Last issue I discussed the partnership Ford has put in place with Best Buy Canada and Future Shop. With this arrangement, the role of advising consumers on matching their electronic …
