Important Facts
Canada’s Auto Industry: Driving jobs, investment, and innovation
Facts about the automotive industry in Canada:
Economic Contribution
- Auto manufacturing contributes over $18 billion to Canadian GDP.
- Manufacturing sales of motor vehicles and parts were $62.1 billion in 2023, accounting for 7% of total sales ($862.8 billion).
Trade
- Vehicles are the second largest Canadian export by value at $51 billion in 2023 of which 93% was exported to the U.S.
- Auto is Ontario’s top export at 28.9% of all exports (2023).
- In 2023, the North American trade bloc produced 16,166,628 vehicles (a 1.1% increase from 2022). The trade bloc represents approximately 17.3% of global production.
- Given the highly integrated nature of the auto industry, parts and components may cross Canadian-U.S.-Mexican borders as many as 8 times before being installed in a final assembly.1
- The Detroit-Windsor crossing represents the highest number of loaded truck container crossings annually. In 2023, there were over 2.5 million truck crossings on the Ambassador Bridge – a significant percentage of these would be auto manufacturing related.
Employment
- Auto manufacturing accounts for 128,000 direct jobs in Canada. The majority of these jobs – at least 100,000 – are located in Ontario. The auto industry is responsible for over 550,000 direct and indirect jobs across Canada.
- For every one auto assembly job, approximately ten other jobs are created in upstream and downstream activities2
Production
- 1,537,111 vehicles were produced in Canada in 2023.
- Canada is the 11th leading vehicle producer in the world.
- Canada contributes approximately 10% of all vehicles produced in North America.
- Canada is dependent on exporting outside of its own borders, with domestic consumption of just 7.7% of the vehicles it manufactures within its borders.
Canadian Vehicle Fleet
- Canadian light and medium-duty vehicle registrations = 24,795,901.
- There are 100 EV models available in Canada. (Ref. NRCan FCR Tool, 2024 MY Vehicles).
1. Wilson C.E., 2011
2. Unifor, 2020; CAR study, 2015