I just want to make sure i got this straight. Our Canadian federal government involved in a "national car".............. our Canadian federal government. Just the thought of the wasted countless millions scares me to death. A project like this can only be carried out by private enterprise and not ANY kind of government. In the not so distant past, Canadian tax payers have been raked over the coals too many times funding car companies. Supporting a "national car" would mean being boiled in hot oil and not just raked over the coals. No way. 

Good points.  I suspect from a pure business case point of view, we are so close to the country with the largest auto industry in the world it makes more sense to ride on their coattails than to risk it all on your own.

I think that the industry is so heavily regulated and so competitive these days its a huge risk to try a startup from scratch.  You have to invest so much before you can ever sell your first car, the industry is only available to the big players.  And then theres no guarantee that the public will buy it.  Look at all the orphan companies that have failed over the years because they couldnt compete with the big dogs.

Then if the government tries to subsidize it, the orange-man down south will be crying unfair competition and slap tariffs on them, effectively shutting out the largest potential customer.  Just my thoughts, however, as I am not a businessman.

From a national pride point of view, Id love to see it happen, but I wouldnt invest my lifes savings into it.

DonSSDD wrote:

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We are very good at inventing things and then selling out to foreigners, like with our auto business and our oil business.

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 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-patents-innovation-1.5264711

"They do the innovations. They are listed on the patent. 

And then the patent is immediately assigned to the foreign company for which they work,

or else, if it's a Canadian company, often the Canadian company will end up

selling the innovation with the patent. That's sort of the core of the issue."

It's the Canadian way...sad but true.

MC wrote:

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The car isnt even planned to be sold until maybe 2022, so a little early to be advertising prices. The factory hasnt even been built yet. The vehicle shown is a prototype, gussied up to look production-ready, but likely with all kinds of deficiencies and bugs to be worked out. Note that prototype, without a factory, means hand-built car with no relation to what will be produced on an assembly line. They are parading it out for the media to maintain the peoples confidence and to show the world what they can do. Also to be noted that this is only their second attempt at a Turkish car. The first one was over 50 years ago, and it failed.

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 What's Canada's record on building a "Canadian" car?

I think you need to go back to the 1930'a to find one....

Greaser wrote:

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MC wrote:

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The car isnt even planned to be sold until maybe 2022, so a little early to be advertising prices. The factory hasnt even been built yet. The vehicle shown is a prototype, gussied up to look production-ready, but likely with all kinds of deficiencies and bugs to be worked out. Note that prototype, without a factory, means hand-built car with no relation to what will be produced on an assembly line. They are parading it out for the media to maintain the peoples confidence and to show the world what they can do. Also to be noted that this is only their second attempt at a Turkish car. The first one was over 50 years ago, and it failed.

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 What's Canada's record on building a "Canadian" car?

I think you need to go back to the 1930'a to find one....

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 See one of my posts above. Where do you think General Motors of Canada came from???

Greaser wrote:

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MC wrote:

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 See one of my posts above. Where do you think General Motors of Canada came from???

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Yes it is the way of the world.......but Japanese auto makers first made cars for Japan and sold them around the world,so did South Korea,Italy,Germany,England,Sweden,the U.S.

and a whole bunch of other countries including Russia. 

  --> Many car companies of these countries are owned by companies from other countries.  Check out who owns Volvo, Rolls Royce, Land Rover, etc. (already mentioned Chrysler).  It's not all cut and dried, not simple at all.

And in each case the profits from those foreign countries where cars were sold or built went back to the country producing them.

  --> Not entirely true - much of the profits are reinvested back into the countries that produce them, and in many many cases, provide research and development for them.

That's the point, Canada has no automobile that has profits that come back to Canada because there are

no major Canadian investors who own cars plants that are being built here.

  --> So what? There are many industries that Canada and many other countries rely on that are not based in Canada.  Is Canada struggling because of that?  On the other hand, there are suppliers based in Canada that profit greatly from the automakers of other countries, where the profits do go back into Canada.

Canadians build their cars mostly for American car companies. Plus some for Japanese companies.The profits go to those companies in those countries.

  --> See my comment above.

General Motors of Canada is a subsidiary of the parent company General Motors of the U.S.A.

  --> Yes, see this link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaughlin_Motor_Car_Company  This is a case where being close to a larger US industry worked out to be a good business decision for a Canadian company... I mean this is the Canadian Poncho board, right?  You must like something about this arrangement.

So when GM USA pulls the plug on building cars here we have nothing to say but accept their decision. The same for Chrysler and Ford. 

  --> GM also closes US plants, and the states that they are in have little to say about it.  Many US towns have been decimated by automotive plant closures.  Would be no different if a Canadian company closed a plant in Canada...

We have had no Canadian car companies that mass produce automobiles since McLaughlin mass produced cars back around 1915 in Canada for Canadians.

  -->  Yet we are all car enthusiasts who have enjoyed cars all of our lives in most cases.

While other countries like Turkey are making an effort to create a manufacturing plant in their country, Canadians wait and hope for foreigners to create manufacturing jobs for us.

  -->  All is not as it seems.  I'm not going to go into the complex political situations and the smoke and mirrors that result, which surround these ventures.  It's just not all that simple.

As mentioned above, I would love to see a Canadian car company emerge and be successful, but I'm not going to be angry or upset if it doesn't happen.  Life goes on, and we all have much bigger fish to fry these days...

I've enjoyed the conversation, though.  

 

 

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Once this car gets to the manufacturing stage, I wonder how much the Turkish workers will get paid per hour to build them. My guess is that Canadian auto workers would never settle for a wage comparable to what the Turks would earn.

MC wrote:

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Thanks for that, Bob.  I had never heard of them.  Looks like a good product and a good target market that has a need for a vehicle such as this.  I hope they will be successful.

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 I too have never heard of them.

With a wheel chair bound family member,I went to the link looking for more information.

Great purpose vehicle,but I couldn't find any information regarding the drive train or cost of the vehicle.

Niche market for customers,but I'm sure with an older population it should do well.

Company definitely needs more exposure for it's product.

Thanks for posting.

-G

MC wrote:

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That was the question I had... no specs.  Drivetrain, fuel economy, dimensions, pricing... all those would be nice to have.  Don't have a personal need for one of these, but as you say who knows what age will bring...

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 A little bit of searching, proved to find some more information.....

It also appears it is an American built vehicle (Indiana,at the old Hummer plant)

and production ended in 2017 there,when VPG was building it......shortly after the AM General company bought the plant and started the production

again of the MV-1. and apparently still builds it there.

https://jalopnik.com/did-you-know-am-general-built-mercedes-r-classes-for-ch-1836717151

According to AM General, it's the only vehicle that meets and exceeds the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It's also 70 percent American-made, the manufacturer said.

The body-on-frame MV-1, powered by either a 4.6-liter Ford V8 or a natural gas engine and equipped with a wheelchair ramp, was used as taxi cabs and sold to private customers. Officials at the company blamed a lack of strong dealers who could sell the van, but despite their problems the vehicle itself proved extremely popular in the disabled community.

WBST reports AM General plans on producing 5,600 MV-1 vehicles a year. They will be priced between $50,000 U.S. and $60,000 U.S., depending on the model. 

It appears also that it isn't a Canadian designed and built vehicle as thought, and Concord Ontario is the address of the

Canadian distributor/dealer.