Important Facts

Canada’s Auto Industry: Driving jobs, investment, and innovation

Facts about the automotive industry in Canada:

Economic Contribution

  • Auto manufacturing contributes over $16 billion to Canadian GDP.
  • Manufacturing sales of motor vehicles and parts were $74.2 billion in 2020, accounting for 12.1% of total sales ($611.2 billion).

Trade

  • Vehicles are the second largest Canadian export by value at $42.9 billion in 2020 of which 93% was exported to the U.S.
  • Auto is Ontario’s top export at 21.6% of all exports (2019). 
  • In 2020, the North American trade bloc produced 13,375,622 vehicles (a 20.5% drop from 2019).  The trade bloc represents approximately 17% 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 2020, there were over 2.2 million truck crossings on the Ambassador Bridge – a significant percentage of these would be auto manufacturing related.

Employment

  • Auto manufacturing accounts for 135,000 direct jobs in Canada.  The majority of these jobs – at least 124,000 – are located in Ontario.  The auto industry is responsible for over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs across Canada.
  • For every one auto assembly job, approximately ten other jobs are created in upstream and downstream activities2

Production

  • 1,358,657 vehicles were produced in Canada in 2020.
  • 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 12% of the vehicles it manufactures within its borders.

Canadian Vehicle Fleet

  • Total Vehicle Registrations (vehicles under 4,500 kg) = 23,472,111.

1. Wilson C.E., 2011
2. Unifor, 2020; CAR study, 2015