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Motive is privately owned and has seven full-time staff members and four thousand square feet of office space in Calgary.
Motive has completed over twelve concept vehicles and five production vehicles, with many more in the works.
Company President Nathan Armstrong has seventeen years experience in the transportation industry, including working for Boeing and Arrowhead Products on projects like the International Space Station and the Joint Strike Fighter.
The personal design portfolio of Vice President of Design Darren McKeage can be seen online at
www.keageconcepts.com
President Nathan Armstrong met Vice President of Design
Darren McKeage after McKeage's mother mentioned that he was attending Coventry University for car design while standing in line in a shop in Bragg Creek.
Founded in California, Motive was formed in 2004 by Nathan Armstrong, Darren McKeage and Meagan McKeage.
Industry sectors: Automotive ideation, design and engineering.
Geographical presence: North America.
Customers: Automakers.
Motive is deeply involved in 5 different vehicle production programs.
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“A lot of what we're doing in the concept car world has huge validity in the production world as far as low-cost tooling, low cost development, integration of more advanced materials and integrations of more advanced drive train technologies,” says Armstrong. “We're trying to break the Big Three automakers out of their comfort zone and try and accelerate the evolution of the automobile because in the last 20 years the styling has changed but the technology behind it has really stayed the same.”
There are several ways Motive hopes to push big automakers. Modular tooling strategies allow vehicles to be produced with varying fuel sources, such as electric batteries, fuel cells or natural gas powered engines. As technology advances, designing a new car every week or month is impossible, so Motive plans adaptive vehicles, where it's easy to make changes and swap in newer, more advanced parts and systems, Motive also sees an end to massive production runs of vehicles, and aims towards a future without massive start up costs for production lines. Rather than investing hundreds of millions of dollars to produce millions of cars over a period of years or decades, Motive believes the future is in shorter timetables, smaller start-up costs and fewer cars.
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Nathan Armstrong sees Motive as not just designing cars, but also advocating and helping build a Canadian auto industry that focuses on being environmentally green, on new technology and producing cars for Canadians. Armstrong believes Canada has everything it needs to build this kind of industry, with much of it found here in Alberta.
Alberta proved to be fertile ground for Motive. Calgary has all the infrastructure needed for prototyping and testing. A number of ongoing research projects applied to what Motive was doing. One example was the Alberta Research Council's work on bio-composites, using natural materials with synthetics to produce lighter, cheaper, environmentally friendly materials for cars. Furthermore, the Research Council was looking for a partner in automotives, which proved timely for the company. Motive has also benefited from a push by the Canadian government to develop the infrastructure for a Canadian auto industry.
“Build a community around yourself. Believe in people and get the story to grow by itself. Even if people aren't working for you or if they're not working directly with you, it's amazing how you can find support just through spreading the story. If the story is genuine and it's real and not just smoke and mirrors you'll find that support comes from places you didn't expect it.”
Nathan Armstrong |
According to Armstrong, Canada is home to world leaders in battery development, firmware, software, as well as electric motors. There is also significant government support via the National and Alberta Research Councils. Motive is now an active participant in the Canada Car Initiative, an industry collective with the goal of creating a Canadian electric auto industry. Numerous participants, including Motive, are busy researching and developing advanced vehicles with realistic odds and business cases for short run domestic production. |
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