Where cars come from may sound like a simple question, but it has a complicated answer that’s suddenly getting a lot of attention as the trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump goes global.
As the Trump administration levies a hefty tariff on Canadian-made vehicles, steel and aluminum as well as all foreign-made vehicles and (soon) Canadian auto parts as well, it has potential to drive up prices for vehicles and/or grind North American auto production to a halt.
Modern cars are devilishly complex machines consisting of roughly 30,000 parts, which are put together into thousands of bigger parts, which are eventually assembled into a finished vehicle. In North America’s tightly integrated auto manufacturing sector, parts may cross the borders of Canada, the United States or Mexico five or six times before being put into a finished vehicle.
So, “Buying Canadian” isn’t quite so simple when it comes to cars. That said, here are the passenger cars and light-duty trucks currently being assembled at Canada’s major auto plants:
Assembled in Canada
Honda of Canada Manufacturing in Alliston, Ont.
- Honda Civic (sedan, hybrid and Si)
- Honda CR-V
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Cambridge, Ont.
- Toyota RAV4
- Lexus NX
- Lexus RX
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Woodstock, Ont.
- Toyota RAV4
Stellantis Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ont.
- Chrysler Pacifica
- Chrysler Grand Caravan (marketed as Chrysler Voyager in the U.S.)
- Dodge Charger
After Trump announced the tariffs on Wednesday, Stellantis announced it would pause production at the Windsor plant for two weeks starting on Monday. In addition, it is pausing production at a plant in Mexico. Stellantis is also temporarily laying off 900 workers at six U.S. plants that supply the plants in Windsor and Mexico.
Stellantis Brampton Assembly Plant in Brampton, Ont.
- Nothing. Down for retooling to build next-generation electric and gas-powered Jeep vehicles, but the retooling work was paused in February 2025.
General Motors Oshawa Assembly in Oshawa, Ont.
- Chevrolet Heavy Duty Silverado
- Chevrolet LD Duty Silverado
General Motors CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ont.
- Chevrolet BrightDrop (electric delivery van)
Ford Oakville Assembly Complex in Oakville, Ont.
- Nothing. Down for retooling with Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup production slated to start in 2026.
Where do Canada’s best-selling vehicles come from?
These are the best-selling models in the car and light truck (which includes SUVs) segments in 2024, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. If you’re buying one of these models in Canada, here’s where it is assembled:
Passenger cars:
- Honda Civic – Alliston, Ont. (Civic hatchbacks are assembled in Indiana)
- Toyota Corolla – Blue Springs, Miss. (gas); Takoka, Japan (hybrid)
- Hyundai Elantra – Asan, Korea
- Tesla Model 3 – Fremont, Calif. (According to a customer service representative; the company did not respond to requests for comment.)
- Volkswagen Jetta – Puebla, Mexico
Light trucks:
- Ford F-Series light duty – Dearborn, Mich. and Kansas City, Miss.
- Toyota RAV4 – Cambridge and Woodstock, Ont.
- GMC Sierra light duty – Silao, Mexico and Fort Wayne, Ind.
- RAM 1500 – Sterling Heights, Mich.
- Honda CR-V – Alliston, Ont.
Last year, 1.29 million passenger vehicles rolled out of Canadian assembly plants, roughly 1.1 million of which were exported to the U.S.
Canadians purchased 1.86 million new vehicles last year, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. About 200,000 of the new cars Canadians purchased were assembled in Canada and the rest were imported from all around the world.
That 1.29 million vehicles is roughly 8 per cent of all North American vehicle production, which, as Linda Hasenfratz of Linamar recently pointed out, is the same percentage of Canada’s population relative to North America. In other words, we make our fair share, with automakers taking advantage of particular benefits of all three countries to build cars in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible.
Automakers built factories across the U.S and Canada based on the understanding that it was a tariff-free zone for automobile production – something that has been in place since 1965. And now, with the stroke of a Sharpie, free-trade is over and car companies are left scrambling and auto workers are left wondering if they will have a job in the future.
The auto manufacturing industry in this country is a major employer, providing more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributing more than $18-billion to Canadian GDP, according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association. All of it is on the line as Trump’s trade war kicks off.