The car dealer lobby is a funny thing. Wealthy middlemen spending great deals of money trying to influence policy decisions, it can prove rather frustrating for consumers. While American dealer lobbyists are trying to ban legally imported kei cars state-by-state, the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) just announced that they want to try to increase the availability of imported cars from Europe, Japan, and Korea by pushing for harmonized vehicle standards. Huh?
Yes, despite a shared border, there are some key differences between the Canadian and U.S. car markets. For one, Canada has no major domestic automakers to protect. There’s no homegrown equivalent of Ford or Volkswagen, and both American and Japanese automakers have extensive Canadian manufacturing footprints. The Honda facility in Alliston, Ontario is the global lead assembly plant for the CR-V, Toyota builds the RAV4 and the Lexus RX and the Lexus NX in Southern Ontario, the list goes on.
What Canada does have is a now unsteady trade partnership with the U.S. as tariff threats have upended a sense of normalcy. Since the days of the Auto Pact allowing free trade of cars between Canada and the United States, it’s made sense to align Canadian vehicle safety and emissions regulations with those of its closest trading partner. Now that roughly 60 years of free automobile trade has been partially upended, maybe it’s time for Canada to open up to other possibilities.
The current Canadian administration has already spoken about strengthening ties with Europe, and accepting UNECE-spec vehicles could allow for a whole bunch of glorious stuff to reach Canadian shores. Cars like the Fiat Grande Panda, the Hyundai Inster, and even Volkswagen’s forthcoming ID.2 already have dealer networks in Canada, they just need legislative approval and manufacturers willing to send them over should that approval come through.
Oh, and then there’s the non-electric stuff. Canadians tend to buy smaller cars than Americans, so models like the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Puma, Hyundai i20, Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit could have a market in Canada if they didn’t have to be modified for U.S.-led regulations. Granted, even if the lobbying were to work and Canada were to adopt UNECE safety standards, that doesn’t mean U.S.-spec harmonization would disappear overnight. Take a look at Mexico, a country that accepts UNECE- and FMVSS-compliant vehicles. It’s also worth noting that CADA presents a logical argument, with CEO Tim Reuss telling Automotive News Canada, “Do you really believe a vehicle that has been environmentally certified and deemed safe enough to be driven on a German autobahn … is not safe enough to be driven in Canada?”
As for whether or not this push for change will result in anything actually happening, I’d say the chances are slim, even just judging by CADA’s other initiatives. The group calls for scrapping of zero emissions vehicle mandates, including the federal mandate to effectively go all-electric by 2035. Now, I like EVs, but with a federal mandate of a 20 percent zero-emissions vehicle sales mix for 2026 and an actual 2024 ZEV sales mix of 13.8 percent according to Statistics Canada, some sort of scaling back is a good idea. Maybe lower the target numbers closer to actual consumer demand and reintroduce long range plug-in hybrids to the end plan.
So far, there’s no sign that this will actually happen, just like how the dealers want an end to Canada’s luxury tax on cars over $100,000 Canadian (roughly $72,000 in greenbacks), a tax that made sense but really needed to be tied to CPI headline inflation. That’s probably not gonna happen. Oh, and lease protectionism wanting big banks to stay out of leasing vehicles? Yeah, that probably won’t fly. More options for consumers are good.
Still, with Canada looking beyond the United States for future trade, it’s not implausible that Canadian roads might feature a more interesting mix of cars in a few years. I say bring on the small cars, affordable EVs, and possibilities for Canadian enthusiasts looking to import currently forbidden vehicles. It’s about time.
Top graphic credit: Fiat
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Wait, don’t we already have the Golf, Yaris, and Fit in Canada? Or were those removed recently? We did have them!
I knew having that second passport would come in handy!
To quote somebody: No situation is permanent.
It is sounding like the 1960’s all over again.
Oh look there’s Lester Pearson and Lindon Johnson.
To me, now 50 years down the road it’s a whole different global ball game, politicians reversion dreams are fucked, the time of varying protectionist standards under the guise of safety and emissions should be over. Worldwide agreements on standards make sense.
The US needs to dump FMVSS and just go to UNECE. US automakers need to actually compete or die.
One of the biggest hurdles going from UNECE to FVMSS is that FVMSS requires airbags strong enough to absorb a person not wearing their seatbelt. The other differences are generally minor enough to just have a few parts swapped for export to the US.
…. and there is no reason for US standards to mandate airbags that restrain people not wearing their seat belts. It makes the car less safe for the vast majority of us that wear our seatbelts and makes cars more expensive.
(I got to see some of these requirements first hand when I worked for Delphi as was responsible for the M-Class dash assembly and center console. Crazy to see 6 different versions to meet different global standards)
Those who chases after two hares, catches neither.
Let’s ignore that Europe loves to put children in the rear crumple zone.
Ford didn’t, why the C-Max was a 2 row in America
I could argue that the United States’ FMVSS is a form of trade protectionism.
Yet more proof that while the US plays stupid games thinking the rest of the world somehow needs us – The rest of the world are making other plans that do not include US.
Forget the 51st State. Can we be the 11th Province instead?
GULF OF AMERICA!!! /s
We like to laugh but countries do that all the time. The Philippines always label South China Sea as “West Philippines Sea” for obvious reasons.
SCS wasn’t coined by the Chinese. It’d been in European maps for centuries. They already have their own Philippines Sea.
I was going to say the same thing, where can I sign Colorado up to be the 11th province? Gimme my maple syrup too!
I think US-occupied New England would go much better as part of Canada. The fascists don’t like us, anyway, and I don’t like paying for all their red welfare states with their outsized representation, either, while we have to beg to get our money back just to, say, build modern bridges used in support of an actual economy.
Yes. Time for harmonization, eh?
Mexico accepts both US and UNECE standards. No reason for US and Canada not to do the same.
At the very least, Canada should. Even if the assembly of vehicles for the NA market doesn’t miraculously disappear, manufacturers and dealer networks in Canada should be able to offer the buying public a wider choice of vehicles.
Two reasons:
The US should have gone to the metric system decades ago too but we stubbornly refuse to use logical units.
TOYOTA.
HILUX.
GIMME.
Signed, a Canadian.
I can haz Dacia Sandero to pickup maple syrup ?
Given how toxic “made in the USA” is to Canadians right now, I imagine there are a lot of dealer networks desperate to have clearly non-US models available.
Also bringing over some French brands would be huge for Stellantis dealers in Quebec (and nowhere else).
I would think French brands would do well elsewhere given the current track record of American trade – just look at the pushback in Canada against continuing to move forward with the F35.
Show off some Dassault Rafales next to the Citroen dealer.