Best March for new car sales since 2018

Despite the on-again-off-again-on-again tariff announcements and poor weather across much of the country, Canadians turned out to their dealerships to buy new vehicles at the highest rate in many years.

DesRosiers Automotive Consultants estimated that sales for March 2025 came in at 185,000, 11.4 per cent from March 2024 and the best March total since 2018. And most sales were in the light truck segment.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate for the month came in at 2.02 million, keeping pace with February’s numbers. These are stats “that the industry would love to see repeated over and over again,” the consultancy’s report noted.

It did note that the battery electric vehicle category is still suffering, though it did see some recovery from February.

“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,” said DesRosiers managing partner Andrew King, referring to the end of the suspension of the Ev purchase incentive program that went from Feb. 1 to April 1.  

“April indeed promises a raft of potentially impactful further changes — as the carbon tax is gone, and destructive U.S. tariffs are imposed on a global scale,” the report observed.

The group further noted that light trucks made up 88.1 per cent of total sales, with passenger cars making up the other 11.9 per cent.

Total first quarter sales reached almost 425,000, up about 3 per cent from the first quarter of 2024. General Motors led the market in terms of volume for the Q1 with sales of 74,000 units.

Software company CDK noted heightened customer satisfaction at dealers, pointing to vehicle availability as more shoppers are finding vehicles in stock. It noted that availability rose to 56 per cent in March, up from 49 per cent in February.

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