In 2021, Volkswagen had announced its intention to build six battery plants by the end of the decade. “So when I saw that there was this big generational shift toward electric vehicles … I said, ‘There must be a fit.’” “We have never really had strong relationships with the European automakers,” said Champagne. When he called Keogh, Champagne was getting ready to announce Canada’s first-ever gigafactory, a joint venture by LG and Stellantis in Windsor, Ont.Ĭanada also had electric-vehicle manufacturing deals announced or in the works with Ford, General Motors, Honda and Toyota.īut, as always, Europe’s car manufacturers were proving elusive. And producing the batteries that power them requires a solid supply chain.Ĭanada is in the midst of a massive push to corner at least some of that industry for itself, with enthusiastic buy-in from provincial and municipal governments. Still, like other large automakers, it is making the transition to produce electric vehicles. Volkswagen has sold cars in Canada for decades, but it has never made them here. “I introduced myself, and I said, ‘Listen, here I am, Minister Champagne from Canada. His staff dug up the number.Ĭhampagne said in an interview with The Canadian Press that he’d never met Keogh before, but he got him on the phone on St.

Out of the blue in early 2022, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne decided he should call the company’s then-North American CEO, Scott Keogh. The $14-billion deal that will see Volkswagen, the world’s largest automaker, set up a manufacturing presence in Canada for the first time in history, took a year of negotiations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.īut the talks that led Volkswagen to choose southwestern Ontario for the location of its first battery plant outside Europe all started with a whim.

The sly company of those who care