Automakers didn't invest in new Canadian capacity in 2014

Not a single automaker announcednew capacity investments in Canada last year, according to a report prepared at the University of Windsor.

The report measures only investments in new assembly plants or money spent to increase capacity at existing plants. Upgrades to plants that have no effect on capacity are not included.

• Ford adds 400 jobs at Oakville plant to build new Edge SUV

Canada has not received new capacity investments in four of the last five years. Over a four-year period from 2011 to 2014, Canada has received $180 million, or 0.2 per cent, of all global new capacity investment announcements.

The Annual Major Automotive Assembler Investment Announcements Report, prepared by the Office of Automotive & Vehicle Research at the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor, and the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, reports that $24.1 billion in auto assembler new capacity investments were announced globally in 2014.

That's a 36.9 per cent increase from the $17.6 billion reported in 2013.

China, the world's largest automotive market, led the way in new capacity in 2014 with a 52.7-per-cent increase worth $12.7 billion.

The U.S. was a distant second last year, with new capacity investment announcements of $4.2 billion, up substantially from 2013.

Nearly 60 per cent of all new capacity investment announcements made over the past four years a total of $48.7 billion have been in China.

The next three leading countries in new capacity investments over the past four years were:

• Mexico $9.3 billion
• U.S. $7.7 billion
• Brazil $7.6 billion

North American light vehicle assembly will likely establish an all-time high by 2016, the report says. But the majority of new vehicle assembly capacity in North America will be going to the southern U.S. and Mexico and will be added by the Japanese, South Korean and European assemblers.

Future assembly growth from the Detroit Three will be coming outside of North America, much like it did last year. New capacity growing announcements from the Detroit 3 in 2014 were made for China, Brazil, Russia and the United States.

While new capacity wasn't increased in Canada in 2014, assembly was up 4.8 per cent, to nearly 2.5 million units.

The report also says automotive jobs in Canada remain below the levels reached before the downturn of 2009.