Volkswagen Group is stepping into the Canadian battery materials sector as it re-evaluates its relationship with Canada and works to localize its North American supply chain amid the shift to electric vehicles.
“It will be a strong pillar holding [up] our EV business [and] cell production, especially for the North American region,” he said at a Toronto press conference Aug. 23. Any material processing or manufacturing footprint in Canada would be a new development for the world’s second-largest automaker by volume. Volkswagen currently has North American assembly and parts plants in the United States and Mexico, but no footprint in Canada beyond sales and distribution.Schmall said PowerCo’s Canadian office will open with three staff and scale up as the automaker’s Canadian involvement grows.
Pablo Di Si, the incoming CEO of Volkswagen Group of America who will take over for Scott Keogh Sept. 1, said the new legislation will “only strengthen our strategy to localize more.”