A Ford Fusion Energi electric vehicle being recharged at a charging station.Handout / Ford Changes made to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act should help make finding a charging spot a little easier for EV drivers in the province. Because now, parking a car with a regular combustion engine, or even an EV that’s not plugged in, in a designated charging spot could get you a $125 fine. Vehicles must be electric and be actively charging, or they could be hit with the ticket. Leader of the Green Party of Ontario Mike Schreiner told CBC that the bill was proposed after the party learned of the “major issue” that is the lack of charging spots in Ontario. Freeing up those few spots that are available for the cars that need them does seem like a logical step. Schreiner says he also plans to push Progressive Conservatives to add more EV charging infrastructure by incentivizing businesses to install stations. “Having policies in place to put more chargers in government-owned parking lots so that way, as more and more people move to electric vehicles, they have the confidence that they’ll be able to charge those vehicles and get on with their travels,” Schreiner said.The change to the Act marks the first time a private member’s bill by the Green Party has become law. LISTEN: What do you get when you combine a cross-country electric vehicle road trip with a poignant love story? Mary Ann’s Electric Drive, that’s what. In this week’s episode of Plugged In, we chat with Harvey Soicher, a Vancouver man who tragically lost his soul mate 18 months ago but found some semblance of healing by embracing what he calls a ‘pioneer spirit’ to drive his Audi e-tron from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and back.
Origin: There’s now a $125 fine for parking a gas car in an EV spot in Ontario
Ontario
News Roundup: Key-fob-relay thieves hit Ontario, CR names the year’s best and worst, and more
Sometimes, a defective key fob can be the cause of glitches with your cars alarm system.Supplied / iStock.com Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.Look out Toyota and Lexus owners! Key fob relay thefts on the rise in CanadaCanadian thieves have been capitalizing on the key fob’s imperfect digital security to steal dozens of newer Lexus and Toyota vehicles from Ontario driveways. A report by the CBC explains how tech-savvy criminals are making hay by catching the key fob’s wireless signal near the front doors of a drivers’ homes, and tossing them to a second device which is then used to open and start the vehicles. Scary, but there’s good news: you can protect yourself with something called a Faraday pouch. Consumer Reports names 2019’s most (and least) reliable modelsConsumer Reports released a pair of insightful lists, naming the year’s most and least reliable vehicles, as identified through driver surveys. The research organization landed on a pretty typical collection of worst and best, with mostly Japanese-made cars on the top and mostly American-made on the bottom.Beating out Lexus for the number-one spot was the Mazda MX-5 Miata (that’s right, a sports car!) while the Chevrolet Colorado brought up the rear at the very bottom. Reports suggest GM will take a loss on base CorvettesThe new Chevrolet Corvette is a predator, and not just because it looks like the kind of creature that, if it had a chance under the cover of darkness, would totally eat your baby. It’s also priced like a predator. According to a GM source quoted by Motor Trend, the $69,998 tag on the C8 ‘Vette “would have to go through the roof in order to cover GM’s cost” in the coming years. So brace, if you want a base, or buy now. Jaguar F-Type 2021 hits 450 km/h (on Hot Wheels track)Jaguar took to the toy chest to hype up a mid-model refresh of its F-Type. With a video of a camouflaged toy car ripping down a 232-metre Hot Wheels track, the British brand teased and then revealed (in pieces) the new two-seater. You can watch the stunt, which includes multiple loop-the-loops, “gravity-defying” jumps and peaks at the bits of the actual F-Type including its grille, head rest and wheels before its full reveal at the end, right here. 2020 Nissan Qashqai gets priced just over $20,000As Nissan’s second-best-selling model in Canada, the Qashqai is worthy of any SUV shopper’s attention. With a recently announced starting price of $21,498 for the base S MT FWD model, the Qashqai is $1,300 more than its predecessor, but comes with a bunch of added comfort features like rear-seat heating and cooling, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, plus a suite of intelligent safety systems including high-beam assist, rear sonar, traffic sign recognition and driver attention
Origin: News Roundup: Key-fob-relay thieves hit Ontario, CR names the year’s best and worst, and more
Ford Flex discontinued, Ontario assembly plant nixes 450 jobs
2017 Ford Flex Ford is killing its boxy Flex wagon after 11 years of production time spent, for the most part, in the sales doldrums.When the vehicle was first shown at the 2005 North American International Auto show, Ford called it the Fairlane concept, resurrecting a much-revered old nameplate. (No surprise, that choice made pretty much everybody angry, just as Fords new maybe-Mach E-badged SUV has all over again.)Despite the stupid name, the vehicle was marketed as an upscale, roomy, retro vehicle with all-wheel drive, albeit one not necessarily meant for taking off-road. It could have been something great, but Ford decided to advertise it as an edgy machine for young urbanites, and not the family truckster it obviously was. The Flex continued leading a hard life marketed alongside the venerable Explorer, instead of replacing it outright.While the Explorer refused to move to a new platform due to the perceived towing benefits of the rear-wheel-drive chassis, it would eventually move to the Flex platform, ironically. The Explorer was no doubt the ugly duckling of the two, but name recognition kept it in buyers minds enough to outsell the Flex.The Flex was built in Oakville, Ontario, which means all the workers tasked with its assembly will have to find work somewhere else. Some 450 jobs will be cut from Ford production at the plant, according to an email sent to Automotive News Canada by Ford of Canada spokesperson Lauren
Origin: Ford Flex discontinued, Ontario assembly plant nixes 450 jobs
Watch: Classic Ford truck goes up in flames in Ontario
An unlucky classic car enthusiast in Windsor, Ontario saw his vintage Ford F-150 almost burn to the ground after a small engine fire turned into something much larger.The incident, captured in a now-viral video post shared on Facebook by Firefighter World, involved an incredibly clean-looking classic 1980-to-1986-gen Ford F-150 Stepside pickup.Initially, the owner tries in vain to put out the flames with a pair of pants.The woman riding in the vehicle searches for a fire extinguisher or some water from nearby businesses, while the man frantically tries to put the fire out by himself.The owner can be heard repeatedly crying out I just finished it today!Eventually, he finds a fire extinguisher and tries to put out the growing blaze himself, but the fire had by then gone past the point of handheld extinguishers, and the man is forced to watch his truck burn until firefighters arrive to put out the blaze.The cause of the fire is not known, but being a likely carbureted classic truck, the engine may have backfired due to incorrect tuning and caused the air cleaner to catch fire. At one point the chrome air cleaner top is seen falling off the fender and onto the ground.Its also possible the fuel lines werent all tightened up properly, causing fuel to drip onto the exhaust manifold. This is a stark reminder of why classic car owners or any car owner really should carry a fire extinguisher in their vehicle. Theyre cheap, and in some cases can save you a phone call to your insurance provider.Commenters on the video have been mostly sympathetic, and our hearts cry for this guy, too, who doubtlessly poured his soul into this truck just to watch it go up in smoke. Somebody want to start a
Origin: Watch: Classic Ford truck goes up in flames in Ontario
Pink auto insurance card goes digital for Ontario drivers
Traffic is blurred in a timed exposure on the Gardiner Expressway during the evening rush hour in Toronto, Ont. on Wednesday April 30, 2014.Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency Ontario drivers can now carry electronic proof of their auto insurance on their smartphones or other devices.Finance Minister Rod Phillips says the pink paper insurance slip isnt being eliminated yet, but being able to display the information on a phone can save drivers from rummaging through their glove compartments.He says there will be a one-year phase-in period, when insurers will have to issue a paper card in addition to the electronic option if it is requested.Phillips says the electronic cards will feature safeguards that wont allow them to be altered or edited, and privacy concerns are top of mind.Drivers will be responsible for making sure their phone can display the proof of insurance, even with a poor signal, drained battery or damaged screen.The Insurance Bureau of Canada says consumers have digital options in other sectors such as banking and retail, so auto insurers are pleased their customers will have the same
Origin: Pink auto insurance card goes digital for Ontario drivers
Driver busted doing 228 km/h, say Ontario police
OPP Const. Jacqueline Dowhaniuk pulls a speeder over on Hwy. 401 eastbound. A man is accused of treating the Toronto areas Hwy. 403 like a race track.Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says a 20-year-old from Mississauga was stopped by police for allegedly doing 228 km/h on Hwy. 403 in Mississauga just before 1 a.m. on Thursday.The speed limit on the highway is 100 km/h.20 year old Male from #Mississauga stopped and charged after doing 228km/h on #Hwy403 in Mississauga. Audi S4 impounded for 7 days and licence suspended for 7 days. RV#SlowDown#TooFast#NoExcuse#7DayImpound#7DayLicenceSuspension pic.twitter.com/CZq9VL9Kin Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) August 8, 2019The unnamed driver had his licence suspended for seven days and his Audi S4 impounded for seven
Origin: Driver busted doing 228 km/h, say Ontario police
GM plans ‘temporary layoffs’ at Ontario plant late September
Production of the General Motors CAMI Automotive facility in Ingersoll, Ontario, is shown in this Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006 file photo.Dave Chidley / Canadian Press General Motors Ingersoll, Ontario production facility, known as CAMI Assembly, will go through a temporary layoffs for the week starting September 30, and may see several more layoff weeks through the end of the year, the automaker told Automotive News.The shut-down will allow GM to re-adjust production targets for the Chevrolet Equinox crossover built there, to re-align manufacturing with market demand.While sales of the Equinox were up slightly in the U.S., reports the outlet, they were down significantly in Canada in the first half of this year; a generally softening North American new-car market will see the other facility that builds the Equinox, GMs San Luis Potos plant in Mexico, permanently cut one of its three shifts, starting this month.The head of the union representing the CAMI plants 2,500-plus workers, Unifor Local 88 President Joe Graves, said GM cutting a shift at its Mexican plant instead of at Ingersoll is a sign that GM does recognize our quality, even if labor costs at the San Luis Potos are
Origin: GM plans ‘temporary layoffs’ at Ontario plant late September
Ontario man shot in the face over road-rage middle-finger-flip
A young man stopped in his car at an east London, Ontario intersection was shot in the face after giving another motorist the finger in what police now say is a case of possible road rage.Investigators on Thursday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the attempted murder case that has gone unsolved for nearly two months.A man, 21, had left work and was driving a Volkswagen in the area of Royal Crescent and Wexford Avenue around 4 p.m. on May 11 when he encountered a Chevrolet Cruze being driven aggressively, police said.The man gestured toward the Cruze driver friends of the victim say he gave the middle finger before proceeding to the intersection at Admiral Drive and Trafalgar Street, where the Cruze driver pulled up beside the Volkswagen and shot the driver before speeding away, police said.It appears that it may well be an incident of road rage, Det. Sgt. Alex Krygsman said.We know from what this young man was able to tell us, and also from citizens who came forward, that this (Cruze) was seen being driven in an erratic manner in the neighbourhood and that this young man simply encountered this vehicle on the street as he was minding his own businesses.The bullet shattered the passenger-side window of the Cruze before going through Volkswagens open window and striking the driver in the left side of the face, shattered two of his teeth and fracturing his vertebrae, before exiting the right side of his neck, Krygsman said. The suspect drove away west on Trafalgar Street and then south on Marconi Boulevard, said police, who released three images of the Cruze that showed damage on the drivers side, a smashed-out front passenger window and possible damage on the bumper.Four days after the shooting, police seized a Cruze without a front bumper from a home on Bowcott Crescent, south of Trafalgar Street and west of Veterans Memorial Parkway. The resident and the vehicles owner both spoke with investigators, Krygsman said.The suspect, who wasnt previously known to the victim, is described as in his 20s with a slim to average
Origin: Ontario man shot in the face over road-rage middle-finger-flip
Ontario writes off $445 million in old Chrysler debt from bailout
Fiat Chrysler, Ford and GM all saw steady gains in Canadian auto sales through September. Ontario has written off $445 million as uncollectable debt from Chrysler, following the 2009 automaker bailout. The federal and provincial governments loaned billions to Chrysler to rescue the company and save thousands of jobs during the recession.Ottawa wrote off $2.6 billion last year that it wouldnt collect from Chrysler, and a spokeswoman for Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips says once that happened, the province had no legal recourse to recover outstanding money.Ontario loaned the company nearly $1 billion but it since restructured the new company FCA Canada (Fiat Chrysler) says it repaid all of its loan, with interest, six years ahead of schedule.But the other part of the former company, Old Carco, has been in bankruptcy since then and its debt is unrecoverable.The $445 million Ontario write-off forms the bulk of the governments annual write-off of $607 million for last
Origin: Ontario writes off $445 million in old Chrysler debt from bailout
Ontario classic car collection auction full of trucks and Studebakers
A 1937 Studebaker Coupe Express from the Rier Collection.Supplied / Sheldon Rier A Cambridge, Ontario-based collection of classic cars and trucks is being trimmed down via a massive auction July 6 numbering some 150 lots, most of them of rare cars, trucks and motorcycles dating back to 1927.Sheldon Rier and his father John have been acquiring obscure classic cars for many years, with one of their focuses on Studebaker models and trucks.Dad had a 1936 Studebaker back in the mid-70s, and all these years later we have this flock of them, says the younger Rier about the collection.The sheer size of it is getting to be a lot for the pair to store and maintain, so the plan is to shed the bulk of the cars via this sale.Its a pretty big change for us but its a good time for others to be caretakers of some of these cars that we have had so much fun with, Sheldon Rier said. Highlights from the sale include a concours-shown 1937 Studebaker Dictator Business Coupe; a 1927 Ford Model T pickup; a 1932 Auburn Brougham; a 1941 Willys pickup; and dozens of cars and trucks in project condition.Aside from the classic cars up for sale, the auction will see some of the Riers motorcycles, automobilia, and old literature, brochure and parts trade hands, too.The auction preview is July 5, with the actual auction going down the next day; bidding can be done in person, online or by
Origin: Ontario classic car collection auction full of trucks and Studebakers
All about car 