Toyota, Honda, FCA Canada, Hyundai and Kia all saw significant increases in first-quarter sales, a little more than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began in Canada.

No one, from automakers to restaurants to auto dealerships, wants to be known as a COVID19 petri dish. Rest assured, they’re all taking steps to manage risk.

Plants affected are in Michigan, Illinois, Ontario and Mexico in the latest round of production cuts forced by the global shortage of microchips.

When fully operational, the new facility is expected to be capable of producing up to 20,000 Solo vehicles per year and create up to 500 new jobs, ElectraMeccanica said. 

New York Rep. Brian Higgins on Feb. 24 wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden to “challenge the administration to work with me to reach a goal for a partial reopening of the Northern Border by Memorial Day of this year with a full reopening by July 4 of this year.”

The oval-shaped track with four lanes allows GM to test that technology with continuous driving at speeds ranging from 60-100 km/h (37-62 mph.)

Unifor Local 444, which represents hourly workers at the plant, said in a Facebook post that Windsor Assembly Plant will be down for three weeks starting Feb. 8 “due to the semiconductor shortage [the technology used to make microchips].”

Goodman becomes the third Canadian CEO in four years. Mark Buzzell replaced Dianne Craig in 2017 and was succeeded by Stoneley in 2019.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is idling two North American assembly plants, including its Brampton plant in Canada, through the end of January due to the ongoing global microchip shortage.

The Detroit 3, Nissan, Toyota and Hyundai all suffered double-digit sales decreases by percentage in 2020.

The new company, called LG Magna e-Powertrain, will immediately supply General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, with an eye to land business from more automakers. “From our viewpoint, electrification is a sustainable trend going forward,” incoming Magna CEO Swamy Kotagiri said.

General Motors Canada President Scott Bell recently told The Canadian Press that Oshawa is already on pace to be one of the fastest plant transformations in GM history.

The Canadian union plans to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. ET Thursday to provide details. The two parties had agreed to talk past a strike deadline overnight.

The shutdown, planned for the week of Nov. 2, comes shortly after a three-week shutdown that ran from Sept. 28 through Oct. 18. The plant assembles the Chrysler Pacifica, Voyager and Grand Caravan.

Toyota's venture capital firm said at CES in January that it would award funding ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to early-stage startups in what it's calling a worldwide "call for innovation” focused on smart, connected cities.