New motor vehicle sales, January 2022
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Released: 2022-03-14
New Motor Vehicle Sales, 2021
New motor vehicle sales (units) rose 0.9% in 2021 compared with 2020, with 1,606,664 units sold. This marked the first increase in units sold since 2017. New motor vehicle sales in dollar terms increased 6.8%. Despite these gains, new motor vehicles sales were lower in both units (-18.9%) and sales (-11.0%) when compared with 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.
For the first time since 2013, annual passenger car sales increased. Higher sales of passenger car units (+6.1%) and sales in dollar terms (+18.1%) were reported in 2021 than in 2020. Sales of light trucks declined 0.7% in units sold, but increased 4.4% in dollar terms. Despite this slight decline in units, light trucks, a group which comprises pickup trucks, SUVs and crossovers, still represented 76.2% of total new motor vehicles sold in 2021.
Gains in both types of heavy vehicles were observed in 2021. Higher numbers of heavy trucks were sold in 2021 (+1,975). In dollar terms, heavy truck sales increased 9.0%. There were 1,043 more buses sold in 2021 than 2020, representing an increase of 38.8%. In dollar terms, sales of buses increased 1.0%. Prices per unit for buses can vary widely, which can lead to a large difference between the changes in units and sales.
Note to readers
New motor vehicle sales data for Canada and the provinces are now available for January 2022.
The New Motor Vehicle Sales Survey collects data on monthly sales (in dollars and units) of new motor vehicles in Canada, by type of vehicle and by country or region of manufacture.
Find more statistics on the Retail and wholesale statistics portal.
These data are subject to revision.
Contact information
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