Here’s a new bit of data further highlighting Tesla’s ‘Annus Horribilus’ last year: In 2025, for the first time, General Motors (GM) sold more EVs in Canada than did Elon Musk’s company.
GM’s calculations showed that it owned just over a fifth (21.2 percent) of the EV market in Canada in 2025.
According to S&P Global Mobility, GM’s brands racked up 25,000 new-vehicle registrations in Canada in 2025, putting it ahead of Tesla. To be sure, Tesla does not publish exact sales figures, but Automotive News has reported that the EV maker suffered a massive 63.5-percent drop in new-vehicle registrations in Canada last year compared to 2024, recording just under 20,000 sales. Meaning GM has now overtaken its rival in the field.
It has long been predicted that Tesla’s market share would drop as major carmakers entered the EV segments with increasingly competitive models. But few if any analysts could have foreseen Tesla losing its number-one spot, and so quickly. And of course, that’s because no one could have predicted the massive own goal scored by Elon Musk in 2025 as he allied himself closely with tariff-happy U.S. president Trump and piled on while the latter uttered verbal threats against Canada’s sovereignty. That’s without mentioning the wreckage left behind by DOGE.
Covering many bases
GM claims to have the widest-ranging North American lineup of electric vehicles of any automaker. Led by Chevrolet and Cadillac, the auto giant counts 13 electric models on its roster. Leading the way is the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Canada’s second-best best-selling EV in 2025 after the Model Y. It is being joined, at least for the next 18 months or so, by the more affordable Bolt EV, which hopes to answer the unfilled need for electric vehicles accessible to Canadian consumers on a budget.
Meanwhile, Cadillac has taken over as the top-selling brand on the premium EV market with an impressive 32.1 percent market share, thanks to a trio of EVs, the Lyriq, Optiq and Vistiq.
A permanent divorce?
Traditionally, consumer boycotts of products, services or brands tend to peter out eventually. That does not appear to be happening here; all those car buyers who have turned away from Tesla now own other EVs, and are unlikely to be enticed back easily. We have to wonder if the confluence of unpopular moves by Elon Musk and an increasingly contested EV sector hasn’t created a perfect storm facing the EV pioneer. At this point, would anyone bet on Tesla regaining its momentum in the foreseeable future?