Innovation in automotive manufacturing demands continuous investment, from developing EV components and lightweight materials to automating production and enhancing safety. With operations around the world, Ayming brings global insight to help automotive companies access SR&ED tax credits, innovation grants, and non-dilutive funding. Maximizing support and accelerating R&D across the value chain.
Automotive
Addressing the key challenges
The automotive industry faces significant challenges as it drives innovation toward electrification, advanced materials, and automation. Many companies mistakenly believe that only major product redesigns or successful prototypes qualify for government funding. In reality, funding programs reward experimentation, including early-stage design work, process improvements, and incremental innovations critical to evolving vehicle technology.
Core innovation areas face distinct challenges:
- Electrification: Redesigning vehicle structures to accommodate batteries demands extensive R&D on lightweight alloys, composites and advanced chassis components to balance weight, safety, and performance while meeting evolving regulatory standards.
- Advanced In-Vehicle Technologies: Integrating modern displays, HUDs (heads-up displays), and electronics creates packaging management constraints that drive material innovation and novel structural designs.
- Process Improvements & Automation: Many manufacturing process innovations and automation upgrades go unclaimed, yet these are essential to efficient, scalable production.
- Documentation and Resource Challenges: Smaller manufacturers often struggle with properly capturing and documenting eligible activities, risking lost funding opportunities.
- Global Competitiveness: Keeping pace with global automotive leaders requires continuous R&D investment supported by strategic funding and tax incentives.
These challenges require systematic experimentation and innovation supported by a full spectrum of government funding, including grants, repayable loans, and SR&ED tax credits. Whether you’re advancing electric vehicle design, pioneering new materials, or optimizing manufacturing processes, tailored funding options are available to accelerate your growth.
Navigating multiple funding programs and aligning innovation with finance teams can be complex. At Ayming, we simplify this process by helping you access the optimal mix of funding and tax incentives. Partner with us to maximize your capital, reduce administrative burdens, and accelerate breakthroughs that keep you competitive in the evolving automotive landscape.
How we can help maximize your results
We help you identify and capture all eligible SR&ED activities embedded in your automotive R&D. From lightweight materials and electrification to advanced safety systems and automated manufacturing processes, Ayming ensures every qualifying innovation is properly documented and claimed.
Our full-service support includes:
- Technical Expertise and Project Framing:
The automotive industry sits at the cutting edge of engineering, especially in areas like electrification, automation, and advanced materials. We collaborate directly with your engineers, program leads, and R&D teams to frame projects in alignment with the CRA’s three-part SR&ED test. - Our deep technical expertise allows us to craft robust, audit-ready narratives that clearly link technological challenges to experimental development across EV architecture, lightweight materials, vehicle automation, and advanced systems integration. We bring particular value in highlighting process-driven innovations. This includes automation upgrades, robotics integration, or novel assembly methods, that are often under-documented yet fully eligible under SR&ED.
- Framing SR&ED-eligible activities:
Many valid R&D activities in automotive manufacturing go unclaimed simply because they don’t “look like” traditional research. Our consultants work alongside your technical teams to uncover and document overlooked SR&ED opportunities, especially in: early-stage development; design iterations and process optimization.We help isolate eligible components of iterative design, simulation, prototyping, and testing, particularly for EV platforms, battery systems, and electronic modules.Our documentation highlights critical SR&ED indicators, such as failed tests, design revisions, and negative outcomes, which demonstrate technological uncertainty and experimental effort. Ayming ensures incremental advancements, like the development of custom alloys, composites, or electronics integration (e.g. HUDs, infotainment systems), are captured and properly framed to maximize your claim. - Optimizing Claims Involving Contractors:
In the automotive sector, collaboration with design houses, toolmakers, and engineering contractors is common but it can complicate SR&ED claims. Our SR&ED consultants provide actionable guidance on how to differentiate eligible vs non-eligible contract costs, in establishing ownership of IP and R&D effort. This ensures you claim only what’s eligible while minimizing compliance risk - Audit defense and compliance strategy:
The CRA is increasing scrutiny on claims in high-dollar sectors like automotive industry. Our proactive approach ensures your claims adhere to the latest interpretations, e.g., experimental development in composite tooling, prototype iteration timelines, and systems integration. We provide early warnings on audit trends and policy shifts that affect the automotive sector, and if you are selected for review, we manage the end-to-end audit response to minimize disruption to your business.
Whether you’re developing lightweight alloy materials, designing new EV chassis components, or innovating automated manufacturing solutions, we translate your toughest automotive R&D challenges into high-impact SR&ED claims that maximize your financial return while ensuring full compliance.
We guide automotive innovators through the full spectrum of government funding, from repayable loans and non-dilutive grants to targeted programs supporting advanced manufacturing, electrification, and sustainable vehicle technologies.
Our mission is to secure the capital you need to accelerate automotive R&D, drive adoption of innovative production methods, and develop next-generation vehicles. We work closely with your leadership to align project goals with federal and provincial priorities such as clean transportation, safety enhancements, and global competitiveness. Our team crafts compelling applications designed to maximize approval success.
Our comprehensive support includes:
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Grant Applications
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Pre-Application Strategy & Positioning
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Government Relationships & Advocacy
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Funding Landscape Insights & Strategy
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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Funding Strategy
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Post-Approval Compliance & Claim Support
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Additional Incentives Support, including tariff-relief and related cost-saving programs
Whether you’re advancing lightweight materials, designing electric vehicle components, or implementing automation on the production line, we help you create a strategic funding plan that powers innovation, reduces costs, and fuels growth.
More about Government Grants, Loans & Innovation Funding
Government Grants & Loans | Our Full-Service Approach
We deliver a tailored, industry-specific funding strategy that integrates your SR&ED claims with complementary government programs, grants, and loans. Maximizing total recoverable funding throughout your innovation lifecycle.
Our consulting services include:
- Integrated Funding Strategies: Combining SR&ED credits with grants and loans designed for automotive R&D and manufacturing.
- Stage-Based Alignment: Matching funding sources to your project milestones—from early research and prototyping to pilot testing and full-scale production.
- Risk Reduction & Cash Flow Optimization: Layering incentives to reduce upfront capital risk, improve cash flow, and extend your innovation runway.
- Policy-Informed Positioning: Aligning projects with evolving automotive priorities such as electrification, lightweight materials, and smart manufacturing to enhance competitiveness and funding approvals.
With deep expertise in automotive innovation and government funding, Ayming is your trusted partner for navigating complex technical challenges. We turn innovation hurdles into financial opportunities, accelerating your journey from concept to market leadership.
More about Strategic Funding Alignment & Consulting
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