Tariffs hit vehicles, not parts, helping Canadian automaker Linamar post record growth

Linda Hasenfratz, executive chair of the board at Linamar, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the company's Q4.

Canadian auto parts maker Linamar says it has been unaffected by tariffs on the automotive industry after a solid year of earnings.

The Guelph, Ont. based company posted double-digit growth in both sales and underlying earnings in its automotive sector in the latest quarter, with strong results for the full year as well.

“We won last year in 2025, so we’re pretty proud of that,” Linda Hasenfratz, executive chair of the board at Linamar, told BNN Bloomberg.

The company’s strategy of producing parts within the same regions its customers reside has particularly paid off during the trade war, said Hasenfratz.

“We don’t make parts in Asia or Europe and ship them to North America. We try to stay within the same continent that our customer is,” said Hasenfratz.

She explains while U.S. tariffs on Canada have targeted finished vehicles, auto parts that comply with Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and made in North America can still move tariff-free across the region.

“So our industrial business has some impact. It’s not zero, but it’s a manageable level, and we’re working to mitigate those costs further.”

The company’s interim 2025 performance report, released on Wednesday, shows it generated $937.2 million in free cash flow, up $148.9 million from the previous year, marking the second-highest free cash flow in Linamar’s history.

Linamar operates 75 manufacturing locations around the world, the vast majority of which are in the automotive sector, producing parts and components for on-highway and off-highway vehicles, said Hasenfratz.

She said this accounts for roughly 75 per cent of the company’s revenue.

The remaining quarter of the business is split between its Skyjack division, which makes aerial lifts such as scissor lifts, boom lifts and telehandlers, and its agricultural equipment business.

Agriculture sector in a down cycle

Hasenfratz said the agricultural segment has been facing a prolonged down cycle tied to weaker conditions in the farming sector.

She said agriculture markets typically experience multi-year swings, where conditions decline for a period before getting better.

“So we are seeing this year or expecting this year to see that little bit of improvement,” said Hasenfratz.

“When I say improvement, I mean it’s not declining as much as it did last year.”

Despite the softer agricultural environment, Hasenfratz said Linamar has been gaining market share in both its agricultural and Skyjack division.

“And that really helps to go a long way to offset these softer markets,” said Hasenfratz.

The company’s diversified model across passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, agriculture and industrial equipment has helped even performance across economic cycles.

“They don’t all sort of work on exactly the same cycle. So as a result when things are a little soft on the auto side, often things are going well on the AG, business and vice versa.”

She said in the last 16 years, the company has grown its top and bottom line by 81 per cent.

“And in the majority of those years it was double-digit growth,” said Hasenfratz adding that the company’s Canadian plants secured more new contracts in the mobility segment last year than it had in the previous three years combined.