Canada Car Brands

There are few Canadian automotive brands because the industry is underdeveloped in the country. It is not a key part of the economy and is not a major contributor to government revenue. Instead, Japanese and American companies produce their transportation equipment in Canada. However, there is a small group of companies that make up the Canadian auto industry. It is mainly focused on “green” technologies.

What are Canadian automobile brands?

It is an essential part of the Canadian economy as the automotive industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in the country. But Canada is mostly home to assembly lines of foreign companies – primarily Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler. There are not so many brands there. They supply products either to the domestic market or to the market of foreign manufacturers.

Major Canadian Car Brands

This category of manufacturers is the most numerous in Canada. The cars represented in it are characterized by a careful attitude to nature, high technology, comfort, and practicality. Prevost, Intermeccanica, Campagna Corporation, and Bombardier make up its main backbone. They either belong to foreign representatives or supply products only to the domestic market.

Prevost

The company is located in St. Clair, Quebec, where it was founded in 1924. It is a part of Volvo Buses Corporation and is engaged in the production of business-class transportation vehicles. In particular, the company produces three-axle buses of two categories – tourist and commercial. Its best product is the Prevost X3 (New York City Transit intercity bus). The list also includes the H3-45 bus used for tourist trips (Tai Pan Tours).

The company, created by carpenter Eugene Prevost, was originally called Les Ateliers Prévost. After receiving an order for a bus chassis, the private manufacturer retrained and began producing metal chassis instead of wooden ones. In 1995, the company was bought by Volvo Bus Corporation. As of 2007, the company employs about 1,400 people and has six offices across the North American continent. The Canadian manufacturer also has a group of premium business-class vehicles and RVs.

Intermeccanica

Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica is an automobile company that dates back to 1959. Its origin is the city of Turin (Italy). The founder of the company was Henry Reisner, who later transferred the business to his son, Frank Reisner. The Italian business first moved to the United States and then to Canada, with headquarters in New Westminster. It has not left the country since, focusing on the production of tuning kits.

Gradually, the company moved into the production of automobiles. Its first model was a sports car, Formula Junior, with a Peugeot engine. Then, there was a line of copies of famous models. These are Porsche 356 Speedster (1976) and Checker Taxi (1979). Now, there are copies of Porsche 3560 and Volkswagen Kubelwagen in the company’s range. There are also variants of the 1958 Speedster and the turbocharged Roadster and Speedster.

Campagna Corporation

Based in Boucherville, Quebec, this Canadian automobile company was founded in 1988. It was founded by Daniel Campagna, a Quebec-based Formula 1 Ford racer and inventor of the T-Rex prototype sports car. He was personally involved in designing the cars, gathering a team of specialists around him.

In 2019, the company announced its closure due to a lack of funding, but a month later, it resumed operations and equipment sales. The reason is that the company found new investors, a manager, and a place of production (a factory in Boucherville). There, it currently produces two-seat tricycles.

Canadian Electric Vehicles

A company with the acronym CEV came into being in 1996 in Errington, British Columbia. At first, it focused on converting internal combustion engines into battery-powered electric engines. In the early years, the company also designed and developed parts for automobiles. Later in its lineup appeared a large-tonnage truck. It was named Might-E Truck. It is a specialized heavy-duty truck that is actively used by the management of many private companies, municipalities, parks, universities, etc.

Felino Corporation

This Canadian manufacturer of supercars and racing cars appeared in 2009. It was founded by Antoine Bessette, a former racing driver from Montreal (Quebec). The automaker’s debut model was the Felino CB7 sports car. It was developed over several years (2010 – 2014) and tested at the Gilles Villeneuve Formula 1 circuit. Prototypes of the novelty were first presented at the Montreal International Motor Show. Serial production of the signature design began in 2016. The designer of the original car is the head of the company himself.

Acadian

The Acadian car brand was introduced in 1962 by GM Canada and existed until 1971. Its logo contained a large red letter “A” on the background of a white and blue rectangle. At the bottom were three maple leaves, symbols of Canada.

ASNA

ASNA stands for Auto Shows of North America, a committee formed in 2003 to promote automotive marketing. The ASNA logo contains both versions of the name: full and abbreviated. At the top is a blue abbreviation, with a gray phrase below it, separated on both sides by horizontal lines.

Beaumont

Beaumont was another General Motors brand that existed in the 1960s. Its logo featured two maple leaves in a polygon and an arrow pointing downward.

Bricklin

This brand produced SV-1 model semi-sports cars in the 1970s. The Bricklin logo looked like a white circle with a metal frame. Inside it, there was a stylized letter “B” on the background of a black rectangle with red lettering.

Brooks

From 1923 to 1936, there was a steam engine manufacturer in Canada called Brooks Steam Motors, Ltd. Its logo contained the dark blue word “BROOKS” written in capital letters that were smaller in the middle than on the edges.

Can-Am

The Can-Am brand is owned by Bombardier Recreational Products and specializes in sports cars. Designers developed a logo in the form of a black circle with the white abbreviation “BRP” and a half-ring stylized as a cogwheel. The brand name is written in italicized lowercase black letters at the bottom.

Conquest Vehicle Incorporated

Conquest Vehicle Incorporated is a Toronto-based company known for its armored vehicles. Its logo resembles a copyright mark, as it also contains the letter “C” in a circle. The letter, border, decorative stripes, and the word “CONQUEST” are silver, while the circle is black.

HHT Technologies

HHT Locus Technologies is a company based in Quebec that manufactures supercars. The emblem of this company can be recognized by the red inscription “HTT,” which is complemented by the white word “AUTOMOBILE” and is located in the lower part of the gray oval. On top is a design of circles and an elongated figure of indeterminate shape.

Knight XV

Knight XV is the flagship brand of Conquest Vehicles. It produces a luxury SUV covered with armor and running on biofuel. The logo of the SUV is a white shield with a black outline, the letter “K,” and a separate inscription, “KNIGHT XV.”

Magna

The Canadian company Magna International does not produce cars themselves, but parts for their assembly and supplies auto parts of famous brands. Its logo contains the word “MAGNA” written in bold gray letters and a stylized abbreviation “MI.” It consists of a black triangle, two diagonal polygons of the same color, and a red circle.

Manic GT

Sports cars of this brand were produced for three years – from 1969 to 1971. The Manic GT logo looked like a simple black word mark. It was the brand name written in bold capital letters.

Russel

Russell Motor Car Company became famous as the manufacturer of the first successful automobile in the Canadian auto market. It existed until 1916 and used a logo that featured its full name. The words were written in an elegant cursive script.

Foremost Vehicles

Foremost Vehicles manufactures off-road vehicles for the construction, mining, and oil and gas industries. It produces heavy-duty all-terrain vehicles, dump trucks, drilling machines, and many other types of specialty vehicles. The company’s logo is a burgundy word “Foremost” with a stylized “F” consisting of three stripes.

Grande West Transportation Group

Grande West Transportation Group is the old name of Vicinity Motor Corp., a Canadian bus company. Prior to the rebranding, its logo consisted of the phrase “GRANDE WEST” written in a stylized bold blue font. The same blue line was drawn across the top in the shape of an arch.

INKAS

INKAS is the brand name under which a group of privately held Canadian corporations operate. These companies offer a wide range of goods and services, including armored vehicles. Their emblem is a winged lion with a sword, depicted inside a rectangular shield with a pointed base.

Manufacturer, Truck, Bus, Other

The production of heavy transportation equipment is not the main direction of production in Canada, but it exists and is represented by several brands. The most famous among them are New Flyer, Nova Bus, and Terradyne Armored Vehicles.

Daymak

This transportation brand from Ontario started with a gift. In 2001, its future founder, Aldo Baiocchi, was trying to find a good electric scooter for his daughter but could not find one. Then, he decided to open a business himself to develop, produce, and sell electric scooters. At first, the entrepreneur settled down in a cramped 30-square-meter garage. Then, he moved into a store so that customers could better study and test the product before buying.

Today, the facility is 60,000 square feet and has more than 100 dealerships at home and abroad. Its appliances have won several prestigious sustainability awards, including Cleantech North. The brand’s product range includes not only electric scooters but also SUVs, ATVs, scooters, mopeds, and other vehicles.

Nova Bus

This automaker from the Canadian city of St. Eustache (Quebec) first emerged as a plant opened in 1979 by General Motors. The brand with the current name appeared on its base in 1993. Its founder was the company Nova Quintech, which bought the Dial Corporation division. Since 1998, the brand belongs to Volvo Corporation. In 2004, Nova Bus was fully transferred into its ownership.

New Flyer

The brand originated in 1930 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and produced buses of the Xcelsior line. It was formerly known as Western Auto and Truck Body Works Ltd. In 1937, the company began assembling buses, and in 1941 produced the Western Flyer model. Its name, received in 1948, served as the name for the entire company. Since then, the automobile platform has produced buses in several classes. It has gone through a succession of purchases and sales, so now its plants are located not only in Canada but also in the United States. The brand name is currently owned by the NFI Group.

Terradyne

This Canadian armored car company is located in Newmarket, Ontario. It manufactures armored vehicles and specialized vans for various government services. Its range includes government bullet-resistant vehicles and private vehicles. Patrol, police, and multi-purpose armored vehicles are also available under this brand.

Bombardier

In 1942, industrialist Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded the company Bombardier Recreational Products, the name of which was gradually shortened to the acronym – BRP. The headquarters of the company is located in Montreal (Quebec). It is now a large manufacturing facility focused on automobiles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and ATVs. It applies its innovations, continuing to win prestigious awards in the Canadian automotive industry. The best examples of this company are the BR180 series snowmobile and two tractors – the B12 passenger tractor and the J5c trailed tractor.

Defunct Car Brands

McLaughlin Automobile

The founder of this company is Robert McLaughlin, who opened it in 1869 in Oshawa, Ontario. It represented the transportation business and, for many years, was engaged in car building for railway trains. In 1907, the head of the company reoriented it to the production of automobiles, achieving high profitability. At the height of its popularity, he purchased the Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada and, in 1915, merged it with his former company. The merger resulted in another organization, which he named General Motors of Canada Limited. The McLaughlin Automobile Company has since ceased to exist.

Gray-dort Motors

Dim Dort Motors, founded in 1855 by William Gray & Sons Company Ltd, was not originally in the automobile business – it was a carriage business. In 1900, it switched to making bodies for Ford at its Walkersville plant. Another five years later, after merging with the Flint Company, she began manufacturing passenger cars. Its debut cars were the Touring Model 5 and Model 4 Roadster. Then came a period of crisis, which it could not overcome, and in 1925 ceased operations. The company was based in Chatham, Ontario.

ZENN Motor Company

Initially, the company was called GoodCars and was immediately focused on the production of environmentally friendly vehicles – low-speed cars and electric cars. This was the goal set by Jan, Marek, and Probyn “Bunny” Bunny, who opened it in 2000. Its current name is ZENN, an acronym for Zero Emission No Noise. All of its transportation products are based on this technology.

Dynasty Electric Car Corporation

Manufacturer of light commercial, recreational, and urban electric vehicles offering miniature versions with a range of up to 50 km and speeds up to 40 km per hour. Founded in 2001 to produce low-speed vehicles. In 2018, Pakistan-based Karakoram Motors announced the purchase of the company, which it plans to relocate to Pakistan.

Allard Motor Company

The Allard Motor Company has managed to produce about 1,900 vehicles in the 13 years of its existence. Its creator, Sidney Allard, has always been fascinated by the automobile industry. First, he created racing models of off-road vehicles and then began to modify Ford cars. During this time, the developer accumulated a lot of spare parts, which came in handy after the war when he founded his own company. Things were going well, and the automobile market was replenished with promising sports cars. In an attempt to expand the lineup, Allard began producing eight-seat sedans and microcars. But no matter what he did, he was unable to beat the manufacturers of cheaper and more technologically advanced brands. In the late 1950s, the company closed its plants. Motorists remembered it by its red oval logo with the white inscription “ALLARD” inside.

Orion Bus Industries

Orion Bus Industries has been producing buses under the Orion brand since 1975. A total of seven generations of vehicles were produced, differing in their main characteristics. In the early years, the manufacturer was called Ontario Bus and Truck, Inc., and after 2006, it became DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses North America. Due to rebranding, its logo was constantly changed. Orion buses had an emblem with blue lettering (model name) next to a curved line.

Studebaker

The first Studebaker were electric cars. They brought the company such popularity that it was able to increase its production capacity and produce up to 180 thousand cars a year. However, in the 1950s, the company became uncompetitive and was forced to merge with Packard Motor Car Company. Their union was unsuccessful: the combined organization was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1967, the Studebaker brand within Wagner Electric formed Studebaker-Worthington. While it was independent, it had its own logo: a handwritten inscription “Studebaker” in the form of a black parallelogram across the spoke wheel.

Suzuki Canada Inc.

Suzuki Canada Inc. is a company founded in 1975 as a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. At the beginning of its activities, it was engaged in the sale of motorcycles, and its staff numbered only three dozen people. The company then began to produce outboard motors, ATVs, and motorcycles. Suzuki Canada Inc. also sold used and new trailers, trucks, and cars on the wholesale market. Its logo featured a large stylized red letter “S.”