Ontario surges forward as a hub for automotive innovation, manufacturing & technology
The governments of Ontario and Canada are embarking on a major thrust to showcase the strengths of the province in automotive innovation, advanced manufacturing and clean technology. Ontario is the only subnational jurisdiction in the world with five global automotive assemblers, Honda, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Toyota; as well as truck manufacturer Hino.
To further the mission, the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth (MEDG), Government of Ontario, is forging business ties with manufacturers from around the world to keep Ontario’s auto sector globally competitive. Supporting the auto industry creates employment and helps the economy grow; ensuring better opportunities and living standards for Ontario’s citizens.
MEDG has recently partnered with Honda Canada to modernize their Alliston assembly operations to improve manufacturing competitiveness, so that the next generation of vehicles are produced from the province. The Governments of Ontario and Canada are each providing Honda with conditional grants of up to $41.8 million and Honda will invest up to $408.3 million for a total project investment of up to $492 million.
These investments will go towards designing and building a new state-of-the-art paint shop that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the paint process by 44%, as well as other vehicle assembly technologies, including lightweight materials and advanced material bonding techniques. A part of the investment will also be towards R&D for production of future vehicle models, including software upgrades and prototyping of new components.
Honda accounts for about 17% of Ontario’s vehicle output and these upgrades will secure 4,000 direct jobs at the Alliston facility, and thousands more in Ontario’s automotive supply chain. Vehicle assembly and auto parts production directly supports more than 100,000 jobs in Ontario, with hundreds of thousands more spin-off jobs across the province.
