A Golden Age for the BC Auto Industry?

We’ve discussed the auto industry’s importance to the local job market and economy, but now the Vancouver Sun has also got into the act. The paper recently wrote that”there has never been a more exciting and inspiring time to be part of the automobile industry in North America, particularly here in British Columbia”.

The article reports that there B.C.’s auto industry has seen more than 350 new car and truck dealers throughout the province. These new businesses have provided a boost to the already large industry, which supports 34,000 full-time jobs and generates $10 billion. What makes these numbers even more impressive is that the industry represents $1.8 billion of the total B.C. gross domestic product, a figure that eclipses the $1.7 billion in GDP generated by the B.C. film and television industry (which is often seen as B.C.’s bread and butter).

More importantly, however, these numbers can continue to grow. We are on the cusp of an unprecedented amount of development and emergent technology, most especially in the area of clean energy and fuel efficiency. Hybrid electric vehicles, for example, will play an increasingly important role in the industry in the coming years, and their increasing popularity will spark the creation of new automotive service technician jobs and auto sales & leasing careers. The latter will be of particular importance, since there are countless older, gas-guzzling cars currently on the road that will be replaced in the coming years.

There is equal importance being given to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which obviously, are a new frontier for the industry, and can soon develop into an important sector in its own right.

Apart from putting modern cars on the road, these developments also open the doors to new partnerships within the industry and the province, with numerous government incentives coming into play, in both the research and development sphere and sales.

Clearly, the future is very bright, making it an opportune time to start an automotive training program.

 

Form is submitting