Best-Selling Cars: Canadian car production in the first half of 2024

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Canadian automotive production fell 3% to nearly just over 700,000 units in the first-half of 2024. According to data from Automotive News, only 8% of the vehicles built on this continent are assembled in Canada, down from 12% in pre-pandemic 2019 and 16% in pre-recession 2008.

Gone are the days when Volvos were exiting a factory in Halifax’s Bayer’s Lake Industrial Park — Swedish wagons called it quits in Nova Scotia 26 years ago (although at least a couple dozen Volvos still sit at the bottom of the Halifax Harbour). The General Motors plant in Sainte-Thérèse ended its run of Camaro and Firebird production 22 years ago. Factories that once built tens-of-thousands of vehicles monthly — take Windsor’s Chrysler/Dodge plant, for example, which was churning through 25,000 minivans per month in 2008 — are now much more sedate.

Only five years ago, Canadian auto workers were still assembling nearly two million vehicles per year, but 2024 is well off that pace. There are no longer Canadian-built Toyota Corollas, no Canadian-built GM SUVs, no big Canadian-built Chrysler sedans.

However, the biggest producers of vehicles in Canada are trending in a slightly positive direction. Two manufacturers account for seven out of every 10 vehicles sold in Canada, and those two manufacturers — Toyota and Honda — produced 54,000 more new vehicles in the first-half of 2024 than in the equivalent period of 2023.

But you want specifics. The complete breakdown by Canadian plant and model in 2024’s first six months is by no means consistent from brand to brand.

Ford’s Canadian automotive production

Oakville, Ontario: 54,178, down 28%

Ford hasn’t built an Edge in Oakville since May. Meanwhile, the original plan to switch from midsize SUVs — Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus — to electric vehicles has resulted in something of a pivot. Instead, Ford will keep Oakville running with, well, kind of the exact opposite of electric vehicles: Super Duty pickups. Expect the HD trucks to begin exiting the Oakville plant in 2026. Oakville was an Edge-oriented plant — along with the Nautilus/MKX, Ford Flex, and Lincoln MKT — since 2007.

Markham, Ontario: 0, down 100%

Of little note in terms of mass production but of major consequence in the supercar world, production at the Multimatic plant in Markham came to a close last year. The final 30 Ford GTs were built in early 2023. A decade after the first modern Ford GT called it quits, Ford began selling this new GT in 2017. Canadians snapped up 73 in total.

General Motors’ Canadian automotive production

Oshawa, Ontario: 79,256, up 3%

The history of General Motors automobile production in Canada stretches over 100 years. Oshawa has always been at the heart of GM’s efforts in Canada. Although GM builds BrightDrop vans in small numbers some 215 kilometres away in Ingersoll, Oshawa’s Chevrolet Silverado assembly is the core operation. GM also builds its full-size pickups in Silao, Mexico; Flint, Michigan; and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Of GM’s North American full-size pickup production in the first-half of 2024, 15% took place in Oshawa.

Honda’s Canadian automotive production

Alliston, Ontario: 214,816, up 21 %

Split almost evenly between CR-Vs and Civics, Honda’s assembly lines in Alliston account for 30% of Canada’s first-half automotive production. That includes 108,677 CR-Vs and 106,139 Civics. Honda opened its Alliston facility in 1986 with Accords flowing off the line; the Civic moved onto the line in 1988. Alliston has, by times, also been responsible for production of the Acura MDX, Canadian-specific Civic-based Acuras such as the EL, Honda Odyssey, Honda Pilot, and the Honda Ridgeline. The CR-V came to Alliston in 2011. North American production of the CR-V and Civic also takes place in Ohio and Indiana.

Stellantis’s Canadian automotive production

Brampton, Ontario: 0, down 100%

After a 20-year run, Brampton production of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Challenger ended in December 2023. During the course of its nearly four decades in operation, the Brampton plant has moved through a series of owners — American Motors, Chrysler Corporation, DaimlerChrysler, Cerberus Capital, Fiat Chrysler, Stellantis — and averaged 217,000 builds per year. (Brampton built 81,987 vehicles in the first-half of 2023.) Though never short on turmoil, it’s likely that Brampton will be building the next-gen Jeep Compass in 2025.

Windsor, Ontario: 79,311, up 41%

Although it’s been known for the last four decades as a minivan manufacturing centre, Windsor Assembly has a century of history with vehicles including the Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Dart, and Chrysler Cordoba. As for people carriers, which presently feature sixth-generation Chrysler minivans, production escalated sharply in the first-half of 2024 relative to the same period a year ago.

Toyota’s Canadian automotive production

Cambridge, Ontario: 153,357, down 1%

Although Toyota RAV4 production increased by a substantial margin at Toyota’s Cambridge North plant in the first-half of 2024, production of the Lexus crossovers — NX and RX — that Cambridge built at its North and South plants was down by over 10,000 units. Cambridge’s two Toyota plants came on line in 1988 and 1997.

Woodstock, Ontario: 121,539, up 18%

Toyota began building RAV4s in its Woodstock plant in 2009. Fifteen years later, Woodstock remains dedicated to RAV4 assembly. Between two southern Ontario locations, Toyota Canada assembled nearly 194,000 RAV4s in the first-half of 2024. (Canadians acquired 42,116 new RAV4s during the same period.) RAV4 Hybrid production is shared on fairly equal terms between Woodstock and Georgetown, Kentucky. The two plants are currently combining to build 15,000 per month.

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