Audi may look to establish a new production facility in Canada to complement the battery plant that VW and its battery unit PowerCo will build in St. Thomas, Ontario.
While Audi itself hasn’t said that a new assembly plant is coming to Canada, senior alternative-propulsion analyst at AutoForecast Solutions, Conrad Layson, suggests that there are benefits to establishing a new factory near the PowerCo site. For example, he noted that battery cells do not travel well so reducing the distance from where they are manufactured to where they are installed in vehicles is a good idea.
The German car manufacturer has been relatively quiet on details about its next factory but in February, Audi chief executive Markus Duesmann said the company was considering a plant in the United States as it would allow it to benefit from tax incentives provided through the Inflation Reduction Act. Vehicles built in Canada are also eligible for tax credits.
Auto News asked Audi Canada spokesman Cort Nielson if Canada was being considered for the new factory. He said “no decision” has been made about where Audi will build its new assembly site.
According to the executive director of automotive advisory services at S&P Global Mobility, Michael Robinet, having an Audi factory in Ontario would benefit from its close proximity to the PowerCo site. However, it would be removed from many established Volkswagen and Audi suppliers in the southern U.S. and Mexico. Working in Canada’s favor is the availability of skilled labor.
Read: Volkswagen Will Build Its First Overseas Battery Factory In Canada
“We’re finding now that vehicle manufacturers are locating dependent upon where they can find people,” he said. “You could get all the incentive money you want from a government, but if you can’t find the people to build the products, what good is it?”
Ontario isn’t the only option for Audi if it wants a site near the PowerCo plant. Michigan could also prove to be a good location for the factory, vice-president of global at AFS, Sam Fiorani added.
