I've often wondered why Canada doesn't have its own home-grown auto industry, and more specifically its own EV industry. If countries like Korea, India, Sweden, France, even Czechia, have their own vehicle design, manufacture and assembly industries, you'd think we could too, right?
After all, we've been beavering [sic] away building cars and trucks here for American, Japanese, Korean and European cars for decades, so we have the labour force and the expertise, and even quite a sizeable market. So, why no Saab, no Kia, no Skoda? No Tesla, no Togg (a homegrown EV designed and manufactured in Türkiye, of all places)?
Well, it turns out we kind of do (but only kind of). Project Arrow - named after the ill-fated Avro Arrow fighter jet, designed and built in Canada in the 1950s, and abandoned and destroyed in controversial circumstances - promises to be the first ever Canadian-made concept electric vehicle. And a good-looking beast it is too.
With an innovative drive train, a 3D-printed chassis and a state-of-the-art navigation system, it caught many eyes when it was displayed at Canada's Pavillion at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai a couple of years ago. In 2026, it showcased its Vector and Borealis models at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto. The Vector is a sporty 650-horsepower crossover with a 550 km range. The Borealis is a driverless shuttle with a range of up to 1,500 km.
Project Arrow was initially launched in 2020 and spearheaded by Canada's Automative Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA), under the leadership of Flavio Volpe, using $12 million raised from the Canadian auto sector and $8 from all three levels of government. (Just for context, US EV maker Rivian had raised about US450 million in equity and debt by the time it brought its first vehicle to market 8 years ago.) Its original goal was not to launch a commercial vehicle, but to demonstrate the strength of Canada's EV supply chain to the world. As Mr. Volpe says, "With Project Arrow, Canada shows it has the technology and the people to do an 'all- Canadian' car". APMA originally figured it could have a compact SUV model Arrow available for a very reasonable $35,000 by 2029.
In recent months, though, the industrial landscape has changed out of all recognition in Canada, specifically with the US's u-turn away from EVs under Donald Trump and the trade war that followed. Now, the Canadian auto sector is wondering whether it can survive at all. To a large extent, Canada is subject to the whims of the American auto industry and of Trump himself. There has been a pull-back from electric vehicles, mainly due to American influence, and several EV and battery projects in Canada have been shelved in favour of ICE vehicle production.
Some industry insiders now believe that the only future for Canadian-built EVs is for military vehicles, and that is indeed the focus of Arrow 3.0. For one thing, it lines up with Canada's new increased NATO spending commitment of 5% of GDP, so there could well be development money available. But also EVs have untapped potential in the military sphere: they are quiet and harder to detect in stealth operations, can cut down on vulnerable fuel-resupply challenges, and they are able to power the various on-board sensors and electronics that are increasingly part of modern military defence. (Most of this is taken from an article by Stephen Baldwin for the Corporate Knight's magazine that does not seem to be available online.)
It seems ironic - or perhaps fitting, depending on how you look at it - that the Arrow car should go the same way as the original Avro Arrow plane. But maybe that's just the way the winds are blowing these days. Let's hope it's not dogged by the same kind of controversy as the Avro Arrow.
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