Canada September 2017: Sales up 8%, headed to first year above 2m

The Ford F-Series breaks its Canadian monthly volume record for the 6th time in 19 months. 

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 267 models by clicking on the title *

The Canadian new light vehicle market continues on its record run in September, up 8% year-on-year to 187.266 units, the highest ever score for the month. This means we are headed towards a 5th consecutive annual record and the very first year above 2 million sales, with the year-to-date tally now adding up to 1.595.306, up 5.8% on the previous record established in 2016. According to local analysts Desrosiers that have a slightly smaller monthly total due to the absence of some luxury brands, light trucks are up 12.5% to 129.731 or 69.4% share vs. 67.7% year-to-date while passenger cars continue to struggle at -1.8% to 57.107 units or just 30.6% share vs. 32.3% so far in 2017. It’s an exceptionally strong month, with Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Honda all breaking their September volume records.

The GMC Acadia (+81%) helps GM up 7%. Picture caranddriver.com

Ford Motor reclaims the groups lead off General Motors with sales up 2.4% to 30.881. The Ford brand is up 2.7% thanks to the F-Series breaking a new volume record at 16.323 units. This is the 6th time the F-Series breaks its Canadian monthly high mark in the past 19 months… The Ford Escape (+7%) breaks its September record at #7 overall. General Motors is up 7% to 27.237 units, with Chevrolet (+6.6%) posting its best September score since 2006 and GMC (+10.5%) is at its highest for September since 1999. The Chevrolet Silverado surges 45% to remain above its twin the GMC Sierra (+17%) in 4th place overall. The Chevrolet Equinox also performs well at +27% as does the GMC Acadia up 161%. Toyota Motor soars 14.5% with double-digit increases in the cars, trucks (up 16.5% to 11.537) and luxury segment (up 11.1% to 2.419). The Toyota brand is up 16%, with the RAV4 (+15%), Corolla (+10%), Camry (+31%), Sienna (+40%), Highlander (+25%) and 4Runner (+20%) all outpacing the market.

The Hyundai Tucson (+75%) helps Hyundai-Kia up 9.2% in Canada this month. 

Contrary to its paltry performance in the neighbouring U.S., Hyundai-Kia is up 9.2% in Canada this month, with Kia up 19.4% and Hyundai up just 3%. The Hyundai Tucson (+75%), Kia Forte (+78%) and Kia Rio (+63%) are pulling up the rest of the lineups. FCA is agonising again with a 6.1% drop to 18.444 sales. Jeep is down 28%, with the new Compass (+268%) the only bright spot. Chrysler is down 33%, with the Pacifica up 11%, Dodge is down 10% with only the Durango up (+9%), Fiat is down 10%. Ram (+16.4%) brings fresh air to the group as the Pickup is up 16%, while Alfa Romeo goes from just 1 units a year ago to 109 this month as the Giulia and Stelvio gear up.

The all-new Nissan Qashqai is hurting the Rogue (-3%) in Canada.

Honda Motor is up 3.3% to a September record of 18.181 units, with the Honda brand up 3.4% and Acura up 2.5%. The Honda Civic remains the best-selling passenger car in the county despite a 1% year-on-year drop, the Honda CR-V (+24%) and Pilot (+88%) post September records. Nissan Motor soars 13.2% with Nissan up 14.4% to a September record, Mitsubishi up 6.8% and Infiniti up 13.6%. The group’s best-seller, the Rogue, is down 3% just as the smaller Qashqai continues to rise to #27, up one spot on August, the Murano is up 17%, the Pathfinder up 22% and the Titan up 48%. The Mitsubishi Outlander is up 13%, the RVR up 21% and the Infiniti QX60 up 63%. Subaru manages an impressive 11.5% year-on-year gain, with the Impreza up 41% and the Crosstrek up 67%. Mercedes (+12.9%) dominates the luxury race above BMW (+3.4%), Lexus (+11.1%) and Acura. Land Rover gains 12% with the Velar up 103 spots on last month to #141, Porsche is up 15.2%, Mini up 15.1%, Volvo up 21.4%, Jaguar up 32.3% and Tesla up 45.2%

Previous month: Canada August 2017: GM up 28.5%, VW up 72% in record market

One year ago: Canada September 2016: 4th all-time record in 7 months for the Ford F-Series

Full September 2017 Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 267 models below.