GIVING THANKS
On October 1, August Luxury Motorcars held an event to raise funds for the Okanagan Fire Relief Fund in response to the British Columbia wildfires. Owner of August Luxury Motorcars, Matt August said through the Dream Rally and other events, he’s gotten to know many local firefighters and RCMP officers, and this event was a way for him to give back to first line responders and the community.
“My whole family was evacuated,” August said. “The store was almost evacuated, the road just behind us was the evacuated area. It kind of hit home for everybody, all of our staff and everybody here volunteering their time were affected or just love helping support our RCMP and our fire department.” The charity car show featured millions of dollars worth of vehicles, including sports cars, boats and trucks.
Coldstream Helicopters was in attendance with one of its aircrafts. They also brought a bambi bucket–a key tool in fighting fire by air. “A lot of people see the helicopters flying with these buckets, they look very small from the ground, and when you see it in real life and you stand beside it, it is absolutely massive,” August said.
No fundraiser goal was set for the event, but entry was a minimum of $10 per person or $30 for a family of four. Overall, the event saw a few hundred people in attendance. “I was born and raised in this city,” August said. “This city means the world to me, our community means the world to me. For them to put in all that extra time and effort into making sure more people didn’t lose their homes and kept everyone safe… It’s amazing what they did.”
FEELING CRUSHED
On November 11, a cinderblock wall of a condo under construction in downtown Langley City, B.C. collapsed onto a nearby car dealership. According to accounts on social media from people who heard the crash, the wall collapsed sometime around 1:30 a.m. and came as the result of a wind storm that hit the lower mainland and also knocked out power to thousands of homes.
The site was for a six-storey mixed-use condo building and when it collapsed, it fell onto the property of the King of Cars dealership, crushing at least one pickup truck and causing yet to be confirmed damages.
According to Tessa Hiebert, project coordinator for the condo site, the wall that came down wasn’t structural but was a fire wall meant to protect the lot from surrounding properties in emergencies.
Hiebert said the site abided by B.C. building codes and that structural specifications were set. “In the coming weeks, we’ll be working with engineering and our masonry contractor to establish what happened, and to build back better,” she said.
EXPLORING THE OPEN ROAD
OpenRoad Auto Group, British Columbia’s largest automotive dealer group, has launched a new campaign that aims to create a “hub” where car shoppers can learn more about electric vehicles.
The “Electrified” campaign, launched in conjunction with Zero Emissions Day in September, will include details about chargers, EV rebates, video reviews, an overview of the EV models available in the current market, as well as access to OpenRoad’s EV inventory. Users will be able to find the included information by checking the “Electrified” tab on OpenRoad’s dealer websites.
OpenRoad dealerships currently have 76 EV specific chargers stationed at 20 of its rental centres. OpenRoad cited Statistics Canada data showing that during the first quarter, new zero-emission vehicles made up 8.6 percent of all new motor vehicles registered. This is up from 7.7 percent during the same period of 2022.
“The demand for electric vehicles continues to grow, and as OpenRoad is the largest EV retailer in B.C., we wanted to provide prospective buyers, current clients, and the whole community a place to visit, where they can learn all about EVs,” OpenRoad CEO Christian Chia said in a news release. “We are proud to have invested more than $2 million in EV-focused infrastructure over the years at many of our retail centers, with many more chargers planned.”
