Vancouverites, and people living in the Lower Mainland, seem to love their Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics.
Those two models of cars are by far the most common in the region, according to 2019 statistics from ICBC recording how many vehicles are registered.
The 2019 data is the most recent available; ICBC says it will have 2020 car registration statistics available by spring or summer this year.
In Vancouver, Toyota and Honda are the top to car makes. Right behind them? Toyota and Honda trucks and vans (trucks/vans are their own category in ICBC stats).
And each of the top makes take the top spots in the City of Vancouver with the almost 4,500 Corolla CEs and more than 3,700 Civic LXs. And then, because there are different types of Corollas and Civics, third place is the Corolla LE (3,111).
ICBC records show more than 35 different types of Corollas in the Lower Mainland and around 60 Civic species.
In fourth is the Honda CR-V EX, and in general CR-Vs are the third-place vehicle around the area.
Top 10 registered vehicles in Vancouver, 2019:
- Toyota Corolla CE 4-door: 4,483
- Honda Civic LX 4-door: 3,738
- Corolla LE 4-door: 3,111
- Honda CR-V EX: 2,617
- Lexus RX350: 2,599
- Toyota Matrix Wagon: 2,580
- CR-V EX-L: 2,461
- Civic EX 4-door: 2,250
- Acura RDX: 2,108
- Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TSI: 1,897
It should be noted here that Lexus is owned by Toyota and Honda owns Acura.
Vancouver's love of the Corolla and Civic shouldn't be a huge surprise; they regularly feature in the top 10 vehicles sold in Canada, though trucks dominate the top few spots nationally. Civic has had a run as the top-selling car in Canada for two decades.
Speaking of trucks, even though they dominate Canadian sales, ICBC's records show they aren't as popular in the city. The most popular, the Toyota Tacoma V6 Double Cab, is registered 1,780 times, outside the top 10.
It should be noted that, like the Civic, some truck models have a huge variety. For example, ICBC shows 46 different versions of the Ford F150 in Vancouver (there 1,629 of the top one, the XLT Supercrew, in Vancouver). Often there are only one or two of each type.
In all, there are more than 300,000 vehicles registered in the city, and some are super rare. The oldest registered car here is a 1903 Ford; the second is a 1908 Ford.
Of the high-end Italian manufacturers, Ferrari has a clear lead with 192 in the city. There are 168 Maseratis and 90 Lamborghinis (11 of which are registered as company cars).
There are also a handful of old Studebakers still kicking around.
Also, there are some fairly random vehicles registered in Vancouver, including a Merkur (a Ford product made in the late 80s under a different badge to sound European); a Leyland (from the defunct British Leyland company which stopped producing cars in the 80s); a Tata (India's biggest car manufacturer); and a Bugatti (a super high-end Italian luxury car). The Bugatti is the only modern one registered in the province (someone in West Vancouver has one from 1932).
Elsewhere in the Lower Mainland
Surrey, which also has more than 300,000 registered vehicles, has slightly different numbers. Civic models take first, third and seventh, while Corolla takes second and fourth. The Grand Caravan, by far the most popular minivan in the Lower Mainland, shows up in fifth.
Top 10 registered vehicles in Surrey, 2019:
- Civic LX 4-door: 4,992
- Corolla CE 4-door: 4,917
- Ford F150 XLT Supercrew: 3,399
- Civic EX 4-door: 3,319
- Corolla LE 4-door: 3,277
- Dodge Grand Caravan SE: 2,832
- Camry LE 4-door: 2,424
- Civic DX-G 4-door: 2,381
- CR-V EX-L: 2,369
- CR-V EX: 2,161
The Ford F150 shows up thanks to almost half of them being registered to businesses. Surrey also has a huge number of freight trucks registered.
There are also some rarities in Surrey, like a Rolls Royce Black Badge Wraith and a Vauxhall, a make of car similar to Ford found in Europe and not North America.
Though Burnaby has less than half the number of registered vehicles as Vancouver, the city mirrors its western municipal neighbour closely, with Corollas, Civics and CR-Vs taking the top five spots, with Acura and Lexus SUVs just behind.
Fun fact: Burnaby is home to one of two Yugos, the infamous make of car from Yugoslavia (which broke up in 1992). Delta has the other.
Richmond is more of the same, as well, except there are a few more Camrys. Mercedes Benz, as a make of car, scores well as well.
North Vancouver skews a lot, with the top spot going to the Toyota Tacoma V6 Double Cab and the Ford F150 XLT Supercrew in fourth. Also, Civics are less popular.
Down in Coquitlam is more of the same, with Civics, Corollas, and CR-Vs taking the top seven places except for the Tacoma V6 Double Cab in fourth.
Langley had the most unique make-up with the F150 XLT Supercrew way in front of all other vehicles (almost twice second). After that the next four are all bunched together (the Corolla CE, Civic LX, Grand Caravan SE and Tacoma V6 Double Cab). Langley also has a huge number of Polaris vehicles, which only make off-road vehicles.
Larger trends
Overall in the Lower Mainland Corollas and Civics crushed others, taking four of the top six spots, and the top two spots are ahead by a wide margin (there are more than 20,000 of both the Corolla CE and Civic LX). The F150 XLT Supercrew is in third and the Grand Caravan is in fifth, both thanks to their popularity as a company vehicle (more than a third of the 16,500 XLT Supercrews and more than a quarter of the 13,000 Grand Caravans in the Lower Mainland are registered to businesses).
With the vast majority of the province's cars in the Lower Mainland (1.5 million of the 2.5 million registered in B.C.) the provincial statistics follow the region. When you take it out of the equation the F150's national dominance shines through, with more than 25,800 F150 XLT Supercrews registered in the rest of the province. Second place is Tacoma V6 Double Cab with 14,800. The most popular car, the Corolla CE is in fifth with 10,400.
