DesRosiers Automotive Consultants described March as a month of change, with light vehicle sales estimated to have come in at 185,000 units — up 11.4% from a year earlier, and the best March total since 2018.
Many things happened in March, from U.S. tariffs being announced, rescinded, and announced again. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left, and a new prime minister, Mark Carney, arrived. The weather also shifted from snow to rain.
During this period, Canadians continued to buy vehicles and March enjoyed a “robust” SAAR of 2.02 million. DAC said the figure was broadly in-line with February, and a number the industry “would love to see repeated over and over again.”
“On the BEV front there was some slight recovery from the annihilation seen in February, with a number of the higher volume BEVs seeing modest gains,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner of DAC, in a statement. “Sales however remain well below their 2024 highs — it will be interesting to see how sales progress with the return of Quebec incentives in April.”
April has already started off with what promises to be a month of further changes, with the carbon tax gone and U.S. tariffs imposed on a global scale. Canada was overall spared the wider imposition of these tariffs, although its automotive industry was not.
