There were 339,820 new motor vehicles registered in the first quarter, declining 9.6% from the first quarter of 2021, when the global semiconductor shortage began. New gasoline-powered vehicles posted the largest decline, with 13.2% fewer new registrations in 2022, followed by diesel-powered vehicles, down 11.8%. Conversely, battery-electric vehicles had the largest increase from the first quarter of 2021, with 55.2% more new vehicles registered in the first quarter of 2022. Gains were also reported for new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (+37.7%) and new hybrid electric vehicles (+3.8%).
New registrations of all vehicle types declined in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter to 2021, with vans (-29.3%) reporting the largest percentage decline. There were less new registrations of pickup trucks (-16.5%), passenger cars (-8.7%) and multipurpose vehicles (-5.0%). Multipurpose vehicles, Canadians' vehicle type of choice, represented 56.9% of new motor vehicles registered in the first quarter of 2022.
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