Canadian car industry is heavily influenced by companies from other countries. A lot of modern Canadian car firms are simply subsidiaries of the larger manufacturers from abroad, like Fiat, Ford and so on. However, it’s unfair to think of this country as simply a place to outsource car production to. It has several independent and originally Canadian producers.
Campagna
Founded: 1988
Founder: Daniel Campagna
Headquarters: Boucherville Quebec, Canada
Website: campagnamotors.com
Campagna is the largest independent Canadian manufacturer. It was launched in Quebec in 1988 and produced 2 car models to date. All cars produced by this company have a unique and unorthodox design. Instead of a conventional car body, these models have a cockpit and three wheels.
Campagna has enjoyed a moderate success, being regarded as the Canadian brand, despite the peculiar design of their cars.
Ford Canada
Founded: August 17, 1904
Founder: Henry Ford, Gordon Morton McGregor
Headquarters: Oakville, Canada
Parent organization: Ford Motor Company
Website: www.ford.ca
Despite being just a branch of American Ford, Ford Canada still dominates the car industry in this country. It’s also the oldest company this country ever had – it has celebrated 115th birthday recently.
FC is just a collection of assembly plants, but the most interesting part about this company is that they have subsidiaries of their own – Ford branches in former British dominions and colonies answer to Canadians, and not directly to Americans.
‘Plodge’ (General Motors)
Founded: 1918
Founder: General Motors, Samuel McLaughlin
Headquarters: Oshawa, Canada
Parent organization: General Motors
Website: www.gm.ca
Not a car manufacturer, but a very famous Canadian car line from 40s to 60s. The name is a combination of ‘Plymouth’ and ‘Dodge’. These were produced by Chrysler specifically for the Canadian market, and the cars were basically, as the name suggests, the mix of Plymouth and Dodge parts.
The most famed of them was Valiant, but it was also the least unique – the only differences they had from the original Dodge Dart were mechanical.
Minor brands
Except from the numerous bus manufacturers, Canada has birthed several brands that include soon-to-be cars and small manufactures. Here is a small list containing the most relevant of them.
HTT Automobile
HTT is basically a one-car brand that tries to build together the first real Canadian supercar called HTT Plethore (or Locus Plethore) since 2007. The car is supposed to be one of the most powerful of the age, but it also has a fairly standard design.
Canadian Electric Vehicles
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: Errington, British Columbia, Canada
Website: www.canev.com
CEV (1996) doesn’t really create cars of their own, but they do help bigger brands turn their models into electric automobiles. A substantial portion of government vehicles in Canada are electrified by CEV.
Timmis
Founded: 1968
Founder: Andrew J. Timmis
Headquarters: Victoria, Kanada
Website: www.timmismotor.com
This company has a very peculiar line of products. Actually, it’s just one product that they continue to produce since 1967 – a replica of Ford V8 from the 30s. Of course, they are doing it on the small-scale, but they are still somehow fairly successful.
