Canada March 2015: Ram Pickup less than 1,000 units below F-Series

Only 997 sales separate the Ram Pickup from the Canadian pole position this month.

* See the Top 257 All-models, Top 35 All-brands & Top 15 groups by clicking on the title *

The Canadian new light vehicle market continues on its positive trend: up another 2% year-on-year in March to 160,416 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to a record 368,927 units, up 3% on 2014 which was already a record year. The overall trend at play in Canada is pretty clear: pickup trucks now hold 19.8% of the total market vs. 18.3% a year ago, whereas passenger cars are down 2% over the 1st Quarter 2015. The Fiat Chrysler Group maintain its stranglehold on the market thanks to sales up 2% to 25,060 units for a strong 22.9% market share ahead for Ford Motor Co. at 19.6% (-5%) and General Motors at 19.2% (-3%). Hyundai-Kia overtakes Toyota Motor Co. to snap the 4th spot overall thanks to 19,389 sales vs. 16,805.

VW Golf sales are up 10-fold on March 2014 in Canada.

Brand-wise, surprisingly all marques in the Top 5 underperform the market: Ford (-5%) leads ahead of Toyota (-6%), Honda (-3%), Hyundai (+0.2%) and Chevrolet (-16%). Further below though, Nissan (+8%), Ram (+24%), GMC (+26%), Volksvagen at a polar opposite from its US performance (+73%), Lincoln (+28%), Porsche (+46%), Mini (+26%) and Scion (+29%) all shine. In the models ranking, the Ford F-Series remains the uncontested leader thanks to sales up 3% to 9,988 units, however the Ram Pickup continues to lodge record month after record month, now up 17% to a fantastic 8,991 sales, lifting its 1st Quarter result up 10% to 20,647 units.

Ram ProMaster City

The GMC Sierra (+11% at #4), Chevrolet Silverado (+14% at #7) and Honda CR-V (+16% at #9) are the other great gainers in the Top 10, while further down the Toyota RAV4 (+34%), Jeep Cherokee (+53%), Mercedes C-Class (+78%) and Chrysler 200 (+72%) also impress. Special mention to the VW Golf up 10-fold on March 2014 to #19 and 1,970 deliveries. Among recent launches, note the GMC Canyon overtaking its mass-market twin the Chevrolet Colorado at a best-ever (for this generation) #80 and 485 sales vs. #82 and 466 units, the Ram ProMaster City up 61 spots on February to finish just off the Top 100 at #102 and 371 sales and the Jeep Renegade selling its very first Canadian unit in March.

Previous month: Canada February 2015: GMC Sierra/Chevy Silverado on fire

One year ago: Canada March 2014: Hyundai Santa Fe in Top 10 for the first time

Full March 2015 Top 257 All-models, Top 35 All-brands & Top 15 groups below.