Canada needs a domestic carmaker of its own, head of auto

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, with the Arrow electric vehicle at the 2023 Toronto International Auto Show.

There hasn’t been a Canadian-owned carmaker in more than 100 years. Flavio Volpe, who represents the country’s auto-parts makers, thinks that should change.

Mr. Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, is spearheading an industry push to explore the feasibility of creating a domestic automaker. The move would allow Canada to shed its some of its branch-plant status and control a part of its manufacturing destiny at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is upending global trade with a chaotic program of import taxes.

The project would tap the Canadian manufacturing and technology sector – much of it centred