Photo: Honda Canada. 2026 Honda CR-V exterior styling.
Canadians registered 547,673 new motor vehicles in the second quarter of 2026, the highest second-quarter total since 2019, up 1.1% from Q2 2025. Hybrid-electric registrations rose 39.5% year over year, the largest increase among fuel types. Battery-electric rose 37.4% and plug-in hybrid 8.0%. Gasoline fell 7.3% and diesel 12.6%. Statistics Canada
What it means: This is not an EV-only headline. Conventional hybrids — the kind you fill at a regular pump, no plug required — grew faster than battery-electrics. Statistics Canada also does not count those hybrids as zero-emission vehicles. ZEVs were 58,811 units, 10.7% of new registrations, up from 8.6% a year earlier. A Civic Hybrid or CR-V Hybrid sits in the hybrid column, not the ZEV column. If someone tells you “Canada went electric last quarter,” they are blending two stories.
Honda Canada still has not posted an August 2026 retail-sales table, which I already flagged on September 9. I will not invent a CR-V Hybrid take-rate to fill that gap. What I will say from the floor: shoppers who used to default to gas CR-V now ask whether the hybrid is the one they will keep. Civic Hybrid is rated 4.9 L/100 km combined and CR-V Hybrid 6.4 L/100 km combined on the Canadian cycle. Both of those Canadian-market hybrids are Alliston-built. That is the Honda you can actually buy this week, not a ZEV rebate story.
My prediction: When Statistics Canada publishes new motor vehicle registrations for the third quarter of 2026, hybrid-electric registrations will again be up year over year versus Q3 2025. I will be wrong if that Daily shows hybrid-electric registrations flat or down from Q3 2025.
If you're buying right now: Do not skip the hybrid CR-V because you think it is a specialty order. Drive gas and hybrid back to back, then compare the Honda against the rival that already prints a hybrid mix — start with RAV4 vs CR-V in Vaughan if that is the cross-shop. Confirm the written September Honda Financial Services quote on the exact VIN.
Quick answers
How much did Canadian hybrid registrations rise in Q2 2026?
Statistics Canada’s September 8 Daily said new hybrid-electric vehicle registrations rose 39.5% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with Q2 2025. That was the largest fuel-type increase. Battery-electric registrations rose 37.4% and plug-in hybrids rose 8.0%. Gasoline registrations fell 7.3% and diesel fell 12.6%.
Does Statistics Canada count a Honda CR-V Hybrid as a zero-emission vehicle?
No. Statistics Canada treats conventional hybrids as a separate fuel type from zero-emission vehicles. ZEVs in that release are battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. A 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid or Civic Hybrid is a hybrid-electric vehicle, not a ZEV, in that accounting.
Should I still look at a gas CR-V after this hybrid surge?
Look at both, then pick the one that matches how you drive. The national mix moved toward hybrid. Honda Canada still lists gas and hybrid CR-V trims. CR-V Hybrid is rated 6.4 L/100 km combined and Civic Hybrid 4.9 L/100 km combined on the Canadian cycle. Confirm the written September quote on the exact VIN.
Gas or hybrid on the CR-V you actually want?
Send the trim and the quote you already have. I will tell you whether the hybrid, the gas, or a used Honda is the cleaner match for how you drive — not a national percentage pretending to be your payment.
Henry Chen
Sales and Leasing Executive, Maple Honda
89 Auto Vaughan Dr, Maple, ON L6A 4A1
647-523-6878 · henry@maplehonda.com
New motor vehicle registrations from Statistics Canada, The Daily, September 8, 2026. Civic Hybrid 4.9 L/100 km combined and CR-V Hybrid 6.4 L/100 km combined from Honda Canada facts locked to honda.ca. Predictions are my personal read, not Honda Canada policy.
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