Oshawa tested and engineered Project Arrow called Canada’s “business card” for innovation
Published February 28, 2023 at 9:36 am
The federal Innovation, Science and Industry Minister has called the Project Arrow concept car the “business card” Canada can use to show the world the country’s innovation and automotive prowess.
“We can say to the world, we can produce an electric vehicle with all made-in-Canada parts,” Francois-Phillipe Champagne said last Thursday at the Canadian International Auto Show. “This is the type of thing where we insert ourselves in the strategic supply chain for the vehicles of the future.”
Champagne, who helped introduce the Ontario Tech University tested and engineered Project Arrow on Media Preview Day, said Canada has a “generational opportunity” ahead of it as the electrification of the sector continues.
Speaking from the Innovation Stage in the Electric City feature at the show, Champagne hinted at big announcements in the automotive sector that will be coming over the course of 2023, and praised Canada’s potential as a key link in the future automotive supply chain.
“This is our moment, and I like to say let’s seize the moment, let’s be ambitious,” he said, while pointing at Project Arrow, which was designed, engineered and built in Canada with Canadian parts. “We are seeing generational opportunities, and it’s for us as Canadians to seize them. We have everything to succeed in the economy of the 21stcentury. I’ve never been more upbeat to look at the future, especially in the automotive sector.”
Champagne cited several advantages Canada offers automotive manufacturers, including critical minerals that are located here, readily available renewable energy and access to markets, noting that Canada is the only G7 nation that has free trade agreements with all of the other G7 nations.
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The approach is working, he added, using General Motors’ decision to invest in its St. Catharines plant to build electric drive units that will be used in the electrification of GM’s fleet, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV.
These are examples of captains of industry making a deliberate choice to invest in Canada, he said. “When you have brands betting on Canada, it resonates.”
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