Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Feb 04/00) - The Daimler-Chrysler motor company is considering setting up shop in Inuvik to try out a range of automobiles in cold-climate conditions.

Brian Desjardins, Inuvik's tourism and fund-raising co-ordinator, said he received the call from Detroit last month, but added Chrysler representatives carried out their research in an unorthodox way.

"They said they were interested in travelling to Inuvik to check out the potential of bringing up a group of 25 to 30 American tourists later in the year," he said.

Evidently, Chrysler didn't want the town to be over-prepared for their arrival or to let it be known they were scouting a research location. Desjardins said the two representatives of the company's automotive development division, Tony Peters and Brad Pughe, revealed their intentions only upon their arrival.

"They said they had already done some preliminary research in other Northern communities and in the past had done their testing in Alaska," he said. "I gave them all the information I could about the community and they looked for a staging point for the vehicles and storage."

Desjardins said the Americans expressed enthusiasm about what they saw in Inuvik and with the help of John Bulmer, Inuvik's public services director, found a town-owned building that would be suitable for their needs. Desjardins said they were aiming for a location with an average temperature below -20 C.

He said Pughe called last week to confirm that Inuvik appears to meet their requirements and are aiming to begin testing cars here from March 15 to 29.

"They looked at all the facilities in town and were in touch with the Mackenzie Delta Hotel Group and New North Networks," said Desjardins. "If we can be good hosts this year, maybe this can become an annual thing."

Desjardins said the Americans estimated they'd be spending a quarter of a million dollars on the project, between transportation, rent and related expenditures.