All during the worst months of the pandemic. “Working from home, Zoom meetings, and the rest. It’s impressive how well it’s worked,” he says. “Here we are two years down the road and we have successfully navigated this – managed every function remotely. That’s not to say it’s been easy. But it has been incredible.” Perhaps it’s fitting that the last of the original Founding Five is leaving after helping to steer the company not through two years of not just a Canada-wide crisis, but a global one. Then again, Simmonds’ career has been all about adapting to change and meeting challenges. He is something of a self-styled corporate executive but with the heart and sensibilities of an entrepreneur. “I would lean toward the entrepreneur side of things,” he says. “There is a bit of balance there, but I definitely think entrepreneur.” Simmonds’ career path to Mitsubishi amounts to a series of start-up companies – to a history of helping to create something out of, well, nothing. After slightly more than a decade selling cars at retail, interspersed with periods working as a parts and service manager and an interlude in logistics at a non-automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer), Simmonds literally got the call that changed his life. A contact he’d worked with at the OEM reached out. Hyundai Canada was starting up and they needed a manager for logistic, parts, supply and inventory. That was in the early 1980s.
“So, I went over to Hyundai for the first five years,” he says. It was exciting, but a lot of work. Remember the Pony days? It was incredible. The first year at Hyundai we sold 8,000 cars. The second year we did 25,000. Then 55,000. Then 80,000. Then it fell off a cliff before turning itself around to the success it is today.” That’s another long story, of course. From Hyundai, there was a brief interval back in the retail side of the business, as a parts and service manager, and then another call – another OEM opportunity. “Do you want to come and work at Lada,” asked John Wright, a former colleague. “I don’t think so, John,” I said. And he said, “Do me a favour. Let’s go to dinner and chat. “ “The next thing I knew,” laughs Simmonds, “I was his new vice-president for technical services.” He calls that interval a “very interesting time,” which allowed him to learn “a tremendous amount about the safety, emissions, compliance side of the business.” Then it was on to Toyota before being recruited to help start up Daewoo Canada. Finally, the Mitsubishi start-up team came calling. “It’s strange to say I’ve been here at Mitsubishi for 20 years,” concedes Simmonds. “Because as you can probably sense from my story. I was involved
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