Big Three automakers face challenge in la belle province
Despite a slight uptick in the number of sales in Quebec by the Big Three North American automakers last year, sales have been in steep decline since a high of just over 200,000 units sold in 2000.
In 2013, the combined sales of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler vehicles was 127,851, up 472 vehicles from 2012.
The biggest drop came in 2009, with a 24-per-cent decline due mainly to the economic crisis that resulted in General Motors and Chrysler going into bankruptcy protection. A general perception that products from the Big Three might also have been of an inferior quality hasn’t helped matters.
But industry analyst Dennis Desrosiers thinks there is more to the matter. And his is a controversial opinion in automotive circles in Quebec.
“Quebec has been anti-Detroit for decades,” Desrosiers said. “It has the lowest market share in Canada for GM, Chrysler and Ford products.”
He says Quebecers embrace European, Japanese and Korean products partially because they are not built in Detroit. “There’s an anti-American element to the Quebec buyer.” And not just in the automotive sector, he added.
The Big Three accounted for 31 per cent of Quebec vehicle sales in 2013.
Quebec’s penchant for buying small vehicles has been a challenge for the Big Three because of their historical weakness in the entrylevel marketplace, he said.
But other industry figures don’t agree with what Desrosiers’s views.
Jacques Béchard, CEO of the Quebec automobile dealers’ association, doesn’t attribute an anti-American attitude to Quebec buyers.
But the fact that GM closed nearly 70 dealerships in Quebec during the economic crisis did nothing to help sales, he noted.
Christine Hollander, the communications manager for Ford of Canada, was surprised by Desrosiers’s analysis.
Sales figures reveal that for 2013, Ford is in fact the best-selling brand in Quebec, with 47,681 sales, surpassing Toyota’s 46,893.
“In Quebec, consumers have chosen the Ford brand,” Hollander said. “It is quite an accomplishment and one we are very proud of. Our vehicles are resonating with customers. We see more and more traffic in our dealerships. I think they are liking the Ford vehicles because of the fuel economy and the technology that we offer.”
Vincent Boillot, Eastern Region manager for sales for General Motors, doesn’t think Quebec consumers are anti-American.
“There’s nothing that demonstrates (an anti-American sentiment). That is an opinion,” he said. “When you buy a vehicle and drive around with it, it is also a political statement, I don’t disagree with that.
“But consumers are free to make the choice they want to make, right?”