- Automaker Stellantis NV said it would begin implementing “contingency plans” with its South Korean partner for electric vehicle battery production as they negotiate with Canada for more financial aid to build a new plant.
Automaker Stellantis NV said it would begin implementing “contingency plans” with its South Korean partner for electric vehicle battery production as they negotiate with Canada for more financial aid to build a new plant. a Stellantis spokesperson said in a statement Friday night that Stellantis and LG Energy Solution Ltd. said last year they would invest more than $4 billion in a battery-making facility in Windsor, Ontario, across the border from Detroit, but the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not met its promises.
Although the company did not elaborate, the statement said that “As of today, the Canadian government has not delivered on what was agreed to. Therefore Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will immediately begin implementing their contingency plans.”
Trudeau has pledged financial help to make Canadian manufacturing plants competitive with US ones after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last summer, and his government offered a huge financial package to Volkswagen AG, worth as much as C$13 billion ($9.6 billion), for a battery plant in southern Ontario about two hours from Detroit.
An official in Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office said negotiations are continuing. The spokesperson Laurie Bouchard said in an emailed statement, “The auto industry is crucial to the Canadian economy and to the hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers in this sector. That’s why Minister Champagne has worked tirelessly to secure the future of Canada’s auto industry. We continue to negotiate in good faith with our partners. Our top priority is and remains to get the best deal for Canadians.”
Source: Bloomberg