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Public perception may be that jobs in the automotive industry are diminishing, but students in Canada’s largest automotive program beg to differ. In fact, the Canadian Automotive Institute in Barrie recently celebrated its success with a rebrand and name change to the Automotive Business School of Canada.

“We would like to dispel the myth that automotive jobs are in jeopardy. In fact, our graduate placement rate has been over 90 per cent for the past 27 years,” said Jennifer Sheremeto, marketing specialist for the school, based at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario since 1985.

The new brand was officially launched at the Toronto Auto Show on Feb. 17. The automotive business program receives tremendous support from the Canadian automotive industry, which provides co-op jobs, grad jobs, scholarships and vision through industry partners.Current students and alumni were involved with the rebranding process.

“The rebrand is about better representing students. This new brand illustrates our passion, dedication and drive. We are represented as professional individuals working toward taking over the industry, and that is what we intend to do,” said Nicole Simpson, a second-year Automotive Marketing student on co-op as a marketing and communications assistant in the Automotive Business School of Canada.

“Our school is a group of driven individuals who are going to become the next generation of the automotive industry. There is nothing that we aren’t capable of,” Simpson adds.

Georgian partnered with Young and Rubicam (Y & R), the same advertising agency used by a large automotive manufacturer, to create and launch the new brand. The entire process took place within a year. Y & R suggested changing the name to Automotive Business School of Canada and establishing it as a business school. This would avoid the confusion that some prospective students may have regarding it being a technical school rather than a business school.

“When great organizations come together, great things happen. The Automotive Business School of Canada is grateful to Y & R for its support and partnership,” said Sheremeto. “They are helping us to meet our overall goal of increasing the number of applicants and helping bring negative public perception in line with the reality that the program is in fact strong and our graduates get jobs.”

Although the automotive industry has been challenged from time to time, said Dean Marie-Noelle Bonicalzi, the program has always had a strong co-op component. The school has produced more than 2,700 graduates who experienced co-ops in the field.

“Since the inception, we always had to explain that we are not a technical school, but a business school for the automotive industry,” said Bonicalzi. “Now our name says what we are all about. We are very pleased with our new motto: Automotive Business School of Canada – For the driven.”

The school also has a creed which exemplifies the dreams and desires of its students, says Bonicalzi. It is a moving testament to their love of everything automotive, she said. One section of the creed that says a great deal about the students is, “Something special propels you…you have gasoline flowing through your veins…in your world, they’re not just cars, they’re life.”

Conducting business in the automotive industry has become more sophisticated, which increases demand for multi-skilled personnel.

“I chose the school because it offers a chance to be involved in the automotive industry, which is always offering new jobs. It is an industry that will always exist and there are countless opportunities available,” said Simpson.

After graduation, says Simpson, there are career opportunities in dealerships, from being a sales person to being a service advisor. Grads may also manage or own a dealership, work for a head office or run an aftermarket business. Career opportunities also include operating auto shows, remarketing vehicles or financing for potential customers.

“If it has anything to do with automotive business it could be your potential career.”

To learn more, visit the newly launched website www.automotivebusinessschool.ca.

Volkswagen Group is significantly boosting its production footprint and will have 100 production locations worldwide by 2018, the automaker's production chief, Michael Macht, told Automotive News Europe.

The group is considering opening a factory for its Audi brand in North America and launching production in southeast Asia, in addition to expanding in China, Macht said in an interview.

VW's takeover of MAN, Germany's biggest truck maker with 31 factories, will take the group's production locations to 100 instead of 70, the number previously targeted by the automaker, he said.

"In China, we are working on new production locations in Foshan, Yizheng and Ningbo," Macht said. In addition VW will develop components works in the region.

VW is looking more closely at expanding in production presence in southeast Asia – "above all in Malaysia," Macht said. In North America, the group is expanding a parts factory in Mexico and is examining the possibility for a new car plant in the region under Audi's leadership.

A core strategic aim is to build up an annual production capacity for 10 million vehicles by 2018, Macht said.

VW will not close European factories in Europe, which is home to 39 of its 62 global vehicle and components plants. "Just the opposite - our German and European production locations are and will remain the backbone of our global success. That's why we are deliberately investing in new technology and capacity there," the executive said.

He added: "The total is about 28 billion euros by 2016 in Germany alone. That makes it more than clear that Germany is at the forefront as a Volkswagen manufacturing center compared with other countries."

VW has 30,000 suppliers, including 6,000 core suppliers, and this will remain unchanged for the future, Macht said, pointing out that rival automakers that use single-sourcing for parts were harder hit than VW during the recent natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.

Currently two thirds of VW's global workforce of about 500,000 are employed in production, manufacturing over 200 models for VW Group's 10 brands.

This year, the group will launch 49 new products after introducing 42 fresh vehicles in 2011. "With our groupwide production strategy and by maintaining strict discipline in implementing our modular platforms strategy, we will master this Herculean task," Macht said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Companies hope you'll be gabbing about their Super Bowl ads on Monday morning. But the ultimate score is if those conversations continue throughout the year.

The Super Bowl is an advertiser's biggest stage (more than 111 million fans are expected to tune in this year). It's also an advertiser's biggest gamble (a 30-second spot costs $3.5 million). Marketers are willing to take the risk, though: A successful ad can generate buzz well after the game for the companies, products and people who star in them.

"If you do it well, it has the opportunity to set your company straight or change the direction of your company," says Allen Adamson, a managing director at brand consulting firm Landor Associates. "You'll never get all those people in one room again until next year."

Here are three of the most talked-about ads from last year's Super Bowl and what happened to the companies that created them:

May the force be with you

Volkswagen's ad last year had everything to grab your attention: a cute, little boy, a retro theme, a funny plot.

The German automaker charmed millions of viewers with a "Star Wars" themed ad for its redesigned 2012 Passat sedan. The commercial shows a young boy in a Darth Vader costume trying unsuccessfully to use "The Force" on a doll, washer machine and even his pet dog. Finally, he thinks he's done so when his dad uses a remote to start the Passat. The boy is shocked.

Volkswagen took a gamble by releasing the spot before the game — something most advertisers didn't do last year. But the move paid off: the ad quickly became a viral hit on video-sharing website YouTube, with 49.4 million views since. And it came in No. 3 on USA Today's Ad Meter, which ranks Super Bowl commercials. (The top two ads, tied for first, was a Bud Light ad showing dogs catering a party and a Doritos spot featuring a pug that knocks down a man who taunts him with the chips.)

The ad also helped tout the new sedan. The Passat went on sale in the summer and has been a popular seller for Volkswagen in the U.S. In December, for example, volume sales of the sedan more than doubled to nearly 23,000 for the year.

And the 6-year-old boy in the ad, Max Page, became a celebrity. After the ad aired, Max, who was also part of the cast of "The Young and the Restless" soap opera, appeared on NBC's "Today" show and MSNBC.

For its part, Volkswagen is revisiting its Star Wars motif during Sunday's game, only this time with an ad for its Volkswagen Beetle. The carmaker has released a "teaser spot" for its commercial that shows dogs dressed as Star Wars characters barking "The Imperial March." It has already gotten 10 million views on YouTube.

Then, on Wednesday, the company released online a 75-second version of the 60-second Super Bowl ad that shows a dog losing weight so he can chase after a Beetle. Then it cuts away to show aliens in the Cantina from "Star Wars" discussing the ads.

Volkswagen's thinking: why depart from a proven formula?

Imported from Detroit

While many Super Bowl ads use humor, kids or animals to tug at the heartstrings, Chrysler took an altogether different approach with its cinematic "Imported from Detroit" spot to roll out its 200 sedan.

Set to a pulsating beat from Eminem's "Lose Yourself" song, the ad shows gritty footage of the hip-hop star driving the 200 through the streets of Detroit, past city landmarks, historic homes and of course, people. The ad ended with Eminem on stage in front of a humming choir with the message: "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do."

The ad, which paid homage to Detroit's automotive history, resonated with people immediately. It tied for the third most popular Super Bowl in a ranking by Michigan State University. (The Volkswagen ads, the one starring the mini-Darth Vader and another with an animated Beetle got the top spots.) Since then, the Chrysler ad has been viewed 14 million times on YouTube.

The "Imported from Detroit" slogan caught on, too. The term has become popular among Detroiters. It has been plastered on T-shirts and hats, helping Chrysler's online store sales to more than double. And about a dozen people have started Facebook groups using the tagline.

Larry Callahan's Selected of God choir, the Detroit group that co-stars in the ad, also gained popularity. The choir has since created a music video for the song, and it's been viewed nearly 390,000 times since the end of July. It's also available on iTunes. And a new full length CD is due out in March.

But it seems the ad did more for the city of Detroit than Chrysler. After the ad hit in February, the number of 200s sold jumped four-fold from the previous month to more than 3,000. But overall, only about 87,000 were sold last year. By comparison, the top-selling car in America, the Toyota Camry, sold more than 300,000.

This year, Chrysler has one 60-second Super Bowl spot. It hasn't released any details about the ad, but it's not expected to be as big of a hit.

Not so funny after all

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile has made a 3 billion crowns ($446 million) offer for Saab, which has drawn a cool response from receivers, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

The receivers want bids for parts of Saab rather than the whole business as that would raise more for creditors, the source said.

Saab was declared bankrupt last December after months of efforts to keep it afloat by Dutch owner Swedish Automobile.

"Youngman made an offer for all of Saab on Monday. They intend to start production in Trollhattan," the source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

"(The receivers) said they are not interested in a dialogue about the entity but rather want bids for separate parts of the business," the source said. "Such a solution would ruin any chance of future car production in Trolhattan. But they have declared in plain terms that there are other, higher bids for parts of the business which would, added up, give greater returns."

The receivers and Youngman's legal representative in Sweden declined to comment.

The sticking point of the final rescue deal before Saab's bankruptcy was the refusal of former owner General Motors Co. to allow its technology, which underpins Saab cars, to fall into the hands of Youngman as GM already has cooperation with the Chinese group SAIC Motor.

The source said that, under the fresh offer, Youngman would initially produce Saab's old 9-3 model and a Lotus model for Malaysia's Proton. The cars would be made at Saab's factory in Trollhattan. Youngman has the rights to build and sell Lotus cars in China.

That would keep the business running until Youngman completed the development of Saab's half-finished PhoeniX platform, which is expected to be the base of future models, the source said.

The new platform relies very little on GM technology, but any buyer would have to invest heavily to complete it. Youngman predicts it would take around one and a half years to do so, the source said.

Sweden's Debt Office is the single biggest creditor to Saab having taken over the car maker's loan from the European Investment Bank and is owed abut 2.2 billion crowns.

Other companies that have been named in Swedish media as considering bids for Saab assets include Indian utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra, Turkish investment firm Brightwell Holdings and Swedish engineering firm Semcon.

Any buyer wanting to use the Saab name would have to get permission from defense and security company Saab AB and truck maker Scania , as they still own the rights to the brand.

The receivers, who are due to finish the bankrupt estate's inventory by April, said in a statement they would not comment on interested parties or bids during the sale process.