Car Guy

Flavio Volpe built a $20-million concept car to show off Canadian auto parts. Now if only he could get someone to finance production 

- COURTNEY SHEA

What compelled you to design Canada's first zero-emissions car?

This started, funnily enough, with Donald Trump and his attempt to reopen NAFTA when he took office. I'm president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturer's Association, an advocacy group, so Ottawa tapped me to take part in negotiations. We got a deal that was very favourable to Canadian parts makers. Because of that, I was invited to attend the prime minister's 2019 throne speech, where he challenged everyone to make their respective industries netzero. I went back to the office and came up with the concept for the Arrow.

Which is what, exactly?

The Arrow is Canada's first lightweight zero-emissions self-driving vehicle. It is, as people have said, "the world's most expensive business card"-a platform for Canadian parts makers to show off their cutting-edge tech. For example, its steering wheel uses textile computing to monitor vitals, so if you were to have a heart attack while behind the wheel, it could pull over and call an ambulance.

Is there any way your concept car could end up on a lot near me?