Only three weeks until CADA Summit 2023: Register now!
January 23, 2023
It’s just three weeks until CADA Summit 2023, and the excitement is gearing up for CADA’s biggest annual event: Canada’s Automotive Summit. Bringing together dealers from across the country, this year’s Summit – back in person at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on February 15 - will explore the topics most important to Canada’s auto dealers right now, featuring expert speakers who will dive into key areas that will impact automotive retail in 2023 and beyond.
“CADA Summit 2023 will explore a range of timely and important topics to dealers across the country,” said Bonnie Wasser, CADA’s Industry Relations Manager. “This year’s event features expert speakers and panelists discussing topics ranging from electrification to the supply chain.”
After a welcome address, dealers will get an in-depth Canadian economic update from Mario Lefebvre, Regional Director (Economics), Bank of Canada Quebec Regional Office, and Thomas Feltmate, Director & Senior Economist, TD Bank Group, who will address the economic uncertainty created by supply chain disruptions, inflation and rising interest rates, that are creating economic headwinds for 2023 and beyond.
The next speaker, Bob Armstrong, President of The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, will explain how the supply chain works and what it will take to get it back on track.
Walmart Canada Head of Innovation Lee Jeyes will share his experiences leading Walmart’s first-ever innovation accelerator and incubator, which is focused on “testing and scaling radical innovations in retail”., followed by the 2022 DSI Awards, which recognize the top ranked manufacturers in CADA’s 2022 Dealer Satisfaction Index Survey. Following lunch, there will be a video presentation honouring the 2022 CADA Laureate winners.
Launching the afternoon sessions is the presentation “Fast Forward: Norway’s already living our EV future,” by Norwegian Auto Dealer Sverre Helno, Managing Director, Møller Bil AS, the largest automobile retailer in Norway. Helno will explain what it’s like operating dealerships in our soon-to-be EV future—a market where 80 per cent of vehicles sold and serviced are EVs.
Following Helno is a Canadian who is going all in on EVs. Jérémie Bernardin, Co-Founder, All EV Canada Inc.(part of the Steele Auto Group) will give a Canadian dealer’s perspective, as he shares his experiences operating an all-EV dealership, with lessons learned on managing the EV customer experience and setting expectations.
This year’s Dealer Panel will feature Rein Knol, Dealer Principal of Performance Hyundai and Grimsby Hyundai in Ontario, Michael Wyant, Chief Operating Officer of Wyant Group in Western Canada, Mathieu Pothier, Dealer Principal, Acura Trois-Rivières, and Bert Hickman, President and CEO, Hickman Automotive Group in Newfoundland and Labrador.
CADA’s President and CEO Tim Reuss will be joined for a panel discussion by his North American dealer association colleagues, Mike Stanton from NADA, and Fernando Lascurain, the deputy Executive Director of the Asociacion de Distribuidores de Automores in Mexico, to chat about the state of the industry, and commonalities among the North American countries regarding how the associations can help their members navigate the current political and economic environments in their respective countries. Flavio Volpe, President and CEO of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) will then give us a guided tour of Project Arrow.
To close out the program, Jason Stein will take the stage with a celebrity guest to record an episode of his popular Cars & Culture with Jason Stein podcast that will be broadcast on SiriusXM.
Seats are selling very fast, but you can still register for the Summit. Dealer members can register for $549 each, including two online logins for their dealership staff to watch the Summit remotely, while non-members can register for $649. New for this year, French captioning is available for online participants.
For full information about CADA Summit 2023, please visit the Summit website.
TD Auto Finance is the exclusive sponsor of CADA Summit 2023.