The Automotive Parts Manufacturer’s Association’s Project Arrow will display the full extent of innovative Canadian automotive technology in a concept car coming in 2022

An ambitious project to create the first Canadian-designed, Canadian-engineered and Canadian-built electric concept car was announced this week by the Automotive Parts Manufacturer’s Association at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The vehicle will be called Project Arrow, in reference to the Avro Arrow jet plane developed by Canadians in the 1950s. According to the APMA, the road-ready vehicle will test “the best of the best of Canada’s electric-drive, alternative-fuel, connected and autonomous, light weight technology.” From initial design to engineering and execution, the car will be completely Canadian-made.  

The APMA says the initiative is a response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent call for Canada to become a zero-emission nation by 2050.

“At the intersection of advanced mobility and climate change lies the challenge of our times,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the APMA. “Future generations will ask if we ran faster or stretched out our arms farther. The Arrow will be remembered as the gauntlet we dropped in response to this call to action.”

Canadian engineering on display

Project Arrow is not intended for mass production, but rather to exhibit the advanced capabilities of the Canadian automotive supply sector.

APMA will kick off the car’s development this summer by inviting Canadian post-secondary institutions to submit design concepts. Suppliers will then bid on the project this fall, and a fully functional final product will be released and toured in 2022.  

“The idea is to get partially ready technology from Canadian auto tech start-ups but also traditional suppliers who are looking to showcase what they can do to the OEM customers,” Volpe told Electric Autonomy Canada. “It’s going to demonstrate technology that’s saleable in different components rather than in the sum of its parts.”

“If everybody comes away from Arrow understanding that the Canadian sector can supply everything at an advanced capacity level then we’ve done our job.”

The APMA has been involved with innovative industry collaboration projects since 2014, when it developed the Connected Lexus Technology Program in collaboration with 14 Canadian auto firms. In 2017, it also launched a fleet of autonomous vehicles for a pilot program in Stratford, Ont., in collaboration with the Autonomous Vehicles Innovation Network.