Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder were in Traverse City, Michigan, this week to sign an Automotive MOU – Memorandum of Understanding – that it’s said will promote auto industry innovation and regional competitiveness. Ontario and Michigan are two of the leading automotive jurisdictions in North America, of course, together accounting for more than 26% of vehicle production in the region. In 2015, two-way goods trade between Ontario and Michigan totaled $74 billion.
“Ontario is already a leader in automotive parts and assembly. Increasingly, we are leading in automotive innovation as well, particularly in the fields of information technology and clean technology. But we can’t take our success for granted,” said Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars.
North America’s auto industry is comprised of regional clusters in the Great Lakes, southeastern U.S. and Mexico – currently a big issue in the U.S. presidential election since Bill Clinton signed the NAFTA agreement. Ontario and Michigan already benefit from a shared and integrated supply chain, with parts and completed vehicles moving back and forth across the border. The Automotive MOU creates a working group to explore opportunities for increased collaboration
Potential Automotive MOU Focus Areas
- Technology advancement, including connected cars, autonomous vehicles, lightweight materials and alternative fuels
- Increased supply chain integration and technology transfer through business-to-business partnerships
- Best practices in industry strategy, regulatory and policy approaches, and workforce skills development.
“This partnership will improve Michigan’s work on skilled trades and workforce development efforts, as well as promote our focus on autonomous vehicles and mobility technologies throughout North America,” claimed Rick Snyder, the lame duck Governor of Michigan.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
