How pickup trucks took centre stage with consumers and the U.S.-Canada trade war

Ford's F-Series pickups have been the overall best-selling vehicle in Canada for 16 straight years and have held the same title even longer in the U.S. PHOTO BY PETER POWER/POSTMEDIA General Motors Co. says it will spend $144 million so that its Oshawa, Ont. assembly plant can build more kinds of the vehicle that has emerged as a sore spot in Canada’s trade war with the United States: pickup trucks. Today, suburban moms, executives, crunchy hikers and rural cowboys are all likely to drive a pickup, which has evolved far beyond its utilitarian roots, with price tags on new high-trim models often topping $100,000 and luxury features such as quilted leather seats, concert hall audio, intelligent air suspension systems and high-output engines. Midsize SUVs and sedans may outsell pickups in raw numbers, but U.S. automakers count on the latter as a high-margin, low-volume product that forms the core of their profits. Trade war or not, GM and other automakers are forging ahead on plans to increase production in Canada, which may be why U.S. negotiators are so focused on enforcing higher tariffs on Canadian-made pickups. “Trucks are the most profitable vehicles in a manufacturer’s portfolio, hands down,” Joe McCabe, president of consultant AutoForecast Solutions LLC, said. “They’re high margin and people are spending money on them like they’re going out of style.” Under the recently rejected trade deal, U.S. negotiators agreed to lower tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles to 15 per cent from 25 per cent, but not on medium- and heavy-duty pickups. Prime Minister Mark Carney cited that exception as a reason why trade talks broke down, saying it would have threatened GM’s Oshawa plant and also Ford Motor Corp., which is still finishing a $5 billion investment at its Oakville, Ont., plant, where it plans to start building its F-Series Super Duty pickups this fall. He said the proposed U.S. deal “would have made the production (of pickups) uneconomic over time.” Read More Terence Corcoran: The economics of free trade are being lost in the fog of trade war After $1.1-billion GM deal, Unifor faces tougher test with Stellantis Still, with an estimated $1 trillion in goods traded between the two countries, the situation is testing just how important pickup trucks are to Canada and its economy. Ford’s F-Series pickups have been the overall best-selling vehicle in Canada for 16 straight years and have held the same title even longer in the U.S. But measured by…