Automotive Industry Statistics in Canada

Canada is one of the biggest car manufacturing countries in the world and the automotive industry is a significant contributor to the country’s economy. However, the industry was hit hard by the recent pandemic and it is still recovering from the delays and lower demand caused by the pandemic.

Knowing the current and historical statistics and trends of the automotive industry in Canada is important to anyone involved in the manufacturing, sales, or marketing of motor vehicles and their parts. We have collated information on the Canadian automotive industry in this article, so continue reading to find out the key statistics on the industry.

Automotive Industry Statistics for Canadians

• Canada’s automotive manufacturers assemble around 1.4 million vehicles in a year.
• The automotive industry contributes around $19 to Canada’s GDP and has a revenue of over $140 billion.
• The average salary in the industry is $89,400.
• Only 12% of cars manufactured in Canada are sold in Canada.
• In 2024, there were 26.8 million registered vehicles on the road.
• In 2025, around 1.9 million motor vehicles were sold in Canada.
• Both the Canadian Government and automotive manufacturers are investing billions in electric vehicle production.
• China and the US are the biggest automotive manufacturers in the world.

The Automotive Industry in Canada

The automotive industry is a sector of the economy involved in manufacturing, distributing, selling, and servicing motor vehicles. The industry has various segments, which include vehicle assembly, parts production, maintenance services, and dealership operations.

Automotive production has a long history in Canada, with the first Canadian automobiles having been built in 1867 and today Canada is home to several major automotive companies and among the top twelve manufacturers of light vehicles.

Vehicle Manufacturing in Canada

The automotive industry in Canada is largely centred on the automotive manufacturing cluster of the Great Lakes. There are five global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Canada that assemble over 1.4 million light commercial vehicles every year. These companies are Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda, and Toyota. In addition, Canadian automotive manufacturers produce around 460,000 passenger vehicles and 23,000 heavy trucks in a year.

Canada has almost 700 parts suppliers, which include companies such as Linamar, Magna, and Martinrea. In addition, one of the just five machine-tool-die-and-mould-making clusters is in Canada and it has been building motor vehicles for over a century.

Contribution to the Canadian GDP

The automotive sector is one of the largest manufacturing industries in Canada and it is important for the country’s economy. The contribution to Canada’s GDP from the whole automotive industry is approximately $19.2 billion in 2024, with vehicle assembly and parts manufacturing contributing about $16.8 billion.

Automotive Industry Revenue

According to Statista and Statistics Canada, the revenue from the Automotive industry in Canada declined between 2016 and 2019. In 2016, the revenue was $107.24 billion compared to $102.79 billion in 2019. However, the revenue in 2019 was just over $2 billion more than in 2018, showing that the revenues were starting to pick up again before the pandemic.

As a result of the pandemic, the revenue declined in 2020. In 2024, the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts manufacturing subsector reported total manufacturing revenues of about $143.7 billion, though this figure covers all transportation equipment manufacturing rather than just “automotive” narrowly. This followed a decline of several billion from the peak years earlier in the decade.

Automobile electronics manufacturing is a growing sector within the automotive industry and in 2024, its market size was around $6 billion. Another significant sector of the industry is the engine production sector, which was also worth around $6 billion in 2023.

Employment

In 2025, the automotive industry in Canada directly employed about 130,000 people, with most of these jobs located in Ontario. In addition to these direct jobs, around 473,500 people were employed in motor vehicle sales and services in 2024. Approximately 6,100 people work in the auto parts manufacturing sector, about 6,250 in engine production in 2025, and data specific to the automotive electronics sector is not separately published but is part of broader parts manufacturing totals.

According to Salary Explorer, the average salary in the automotive industry in Canada is $89,400. However, there are huge differences in pay depending on the job title and experience. The low averages in the industry are around $35,600 and the high averages in the region of $222,000. People working on the assembly of automobiles can expect to earn around 30% more than the national average.

While the number of women employees in the automotive sector is growing, women are still under-represented with roughly 19 % of auto assembly workers identifying as women in 2024 — comparable with earlier diversity data showing limited representation in key segments of the industry.

Canada’s Automotive Industry is a Key Exporter

The automotive industry is the second biggest exporter in Canada. The biggest export category is mineral oils, which include oil. In 2024, the oil and gas industry exported almost $244 billion worth of products, which represented 30.2 % of all Canadian exports.

The share of vehicle exports was around 8.3 % in 2024, totalling approximately $46.5 billion. Canada’s automotive industry largely depends on these exports. Domestic sales only make up about 12 % of vehicles manufactured in Canada, while approximately 92 % of cars made in Canada are exported — most of them to the United States.

Motor Vehicle Registrations in Canada

According to Statistics Canada, the registrations of road motor vehicles increased in Canada from 25.7 million in 2023 to 26.8 million in 2024, an increase of 4.2 %. Approximately 24.6 million, representing 91.6 % of all vehicles registered in 2024, were light-duty vehicles. Of these, electric vehicles accounted for 5.2 % of registrations in 2024, up from 3.9 % in 2023.

In 2024, the number of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) continued to grow. There were 372,696 hybrid electric vehicles, 121,261 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and 488,612 battery electric vehicles registered in Canada in 2024, with BEVs showing a large year-over-year increase compared to 2023.

Automotive Sales in Canada

According to MarkLines and industry data, the sales figures improved in 2025 compared to 2024. In March 2025, sales were up by 9.4 % compared to March 2024. The sales were also up when comparing the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2024, with total sales in Q1 2025 reaching nearly 425,000 vehicles, marking a 2.8 % increase over the first quarter of 2024.

The total number of vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024 was 345,439, which was a 5.2 % improvement from the previous year. The total number of vehicles sold in 2024 was about 1.86 million, and sales are expected to increase to around 1.90 million in 2025.

Some brands have seen increases beyond the average. For example, General Motors led the market with 74,005 vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 17.3 % year‑over‑year compared with Q1 2024.

The table below shows the five brands with the most improved sales.

Brand	Sales	Year-on-year change
Genesis	8,221	17%
Audi	37,000	11%
Hyundai	146,184	11%
Kia	94,922	9.2%
Subaru	70,953	4.3%

Not all brands had favourable results, and some saw big declines in their sales between 2024 and 2025. The brand with one of the steepest declines was Tesla, with overall registrations down more than 60% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024. Other brands recording year‑on‑year declines in parts of 2025 included Toyota, which saw its RAV4 and other models fall by about 1–2.6% in sales, and Honda, whose overall monthly reported sales were down slightly year‑on‑year in parts of 2025 compared with 2024.

Brand	Sales	Year-on-year change
Tesla	18,300	-67%
Infiniti	435	-57%
Maserati	143	-35%
Dodge	11,200	-28%
Jaguar	115	-25%

Future Developments in the Automotive Industry

The automotive industry has gone through many changes in the last few decades with new technologies reshaping car manufacturing and the shift towards greener vehicles changing manufacturers’ priorities. What could the future look like for the Canadian automotive industry?

The Government is Investing in Electric Vehicles

Because the Canadian government has set a target for the country’s vehicle fleet to be carbon neutral by 2050, it is subsidising car manufacturers to support the production of electric vehicles. According to the International Trade Administration, the subsidies included $2 billion to Ford, $1.5 billion to Stellantis, and $1 billion to General Motors (GM). All three companies also announced in 2022 that they are building facilities for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries.

Automotive Manufactures Are Also Investing in Electric Vehicles

All the five main car manufacturers operating in Canada have also invested in electric vehicles. Stellantis contributed $3.6 billion in 2022 towards retooling plants in Windsor and Brampton, Ontario, to create the first electric vehicle testing lab in North America with a research and development centre.

GM committed $2 billion to refurbish its facilities in Oshawa and Ingersoll, Ontario and created 2,600 jobs in the process. Ford announced a $1.95 billion investment in Ontario, Honda a $1.4 billion investment to make its Alliston, Ontario plant into a leading hybrid-electric vehicle facility, and Toyota is optimising its plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario intending to produce more electric vehicles than any other automaker in Canada.

Key Statistics on the Global Automotive Industry

The global automotive industry saw decreasing demand and disrupted production because of the COVID‑19 pandemic. In 2021, a chip shortage caused by the pandemic led to approximately 11.3 million motor vehicles being cut from global production.

Global automotive sales and production have since recovered. In 2024, global car and light vehicle sales were estimated at about 92.5 million units, following weaker production in some regions but solid growth overall. Sales in 2025 are forecast to increase further to around 89.6 million units, reflecting ongoing recovery and expansion in key markets.

Passenger cars continue to represent a large share of global motor vehicle sales. In 2025, China remains the world’s largest automotive market by sales and production, accounting for roughly 26.6 million units, followed by the United States and other major markets.

The revenue from the global automotive manufacturing industry was approximately USD 3.2 trillion in 2024, reflecting growth as sales and production have improved from the pandemic years. China, which produced an estimated 28–29 million passenger cars in 2025, is the leading automotive manufacturer in the world. The United States is second with around 9–9.5 million units produced, and Japan is third with about 8 million units.

In 2024, the best‑selling automotive brand globally remained Toyota, with sales of approximately 11.5 million vehicles and a market share near 11.2 %. Volkswagen Group followed with around 9.4 million vehicles sold. Toyota’s leadership in unit sales continued into 2025, with early reports indicating Toyota maintained its position as the world’s top‑selling automaker.

Conclusion

Despite recent challenges, the Canadian automotive industry is looking to the future and investing in Canadian production and development, in particular in the electric vehicle sector. The industry’s annual revenue is over $100 billion and it contributes significantly to the GDP. The automotive industry is vital to the economy of Canada, especially in Ontario where most of the manufacturing is concentrated.