Canadians registered 426,872 new motor vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 2.9% from the first quarter of 2024 and a decrease of 3.8% from the fourth quarter of 2024.
In the first quarter of 2025, new registrations for vans (+23.3%) grew the most compared with the same period one year earlier, followed by pickup trucks (+9.8%) and multipurpose vehicles (+2.6%). Meanwhile, registrations for passenger cars decreased by 10.6%. Multipurpose vehicles continued to be the leading vehicle choice among Canadians, accounting for 63.5% of all new registrations, followed by pickup trucks (20.6%), passenger cars (11.9%) and vans (4.0%).
Among fuel types, new registrations for hybrid electric vehicles (+54.1%) saw the largest increase in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2024, followed by diesel-powered vehicles (+31.5%). New registrations for battery electric vehicles (-26.2%), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (-14.4%) and gasoline-powered vehicles (-0.4%) decreased in the first quarter of 2025.
New zero-emission vehicle registrations experience first year-over-year decline since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
In the first quarter, 37,299 new zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) were registered, making up 8.7% of all new motor vehicle registrations. This represents a decrease of 23.1% compared with the same period one year earlier, marking the first year-over-year decline in new ZEV registrations since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among Canada's three largest provinces, the largest decline in new registrations for ZEVs in the first quarter of 2025 was in Quebec (-50.8%), which coincided with the province's temporary suspension of subsidies for the purchase of ZEVs from February 1 to March 31, 2025. Historically, Quebec has led in new ZEV registrations, accounting for over half (54.4%) of Canada's new ZEV registrations in 2024, thus significantly impacting the national total. New registrations for ZEVs in the first quarter of 2025 also decreased compared with the same period one year earlier in British Columbia (-11.5%), while Ontario experienced an increase of 8.9%.
More ZEVs were registered in Manitoba (+52.6%), New Brunswick (+41.9%), Nova Scotia (+33.2%), Prince Edward Island (+19.4%) and Saskatchewan (+12.8%) in the first quarter compared with one year earlier.
Note to readers
Estimates for Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta are currently unavailable because of contractual limitations of the existing data sharing agreement. However, they are included in the Canadian total.
This survey looks at registrations of new motor vehicles in the provinces and territories in a given year.
With the release of the data for the first quarter of 2025, table 20-10-0024-01 has been archived. New registrations by fuel and vehicle type by geographic level are now available in the table 20-10-0025-01.
Reference
Data table: 20-10-0025-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5307.
Previous release: New motor vehicle registrations, fourth quarter 2024.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).