Canada February 2018: Jeep, VW and Chevrolet shine in record market

The Jeep Wrangler posts another stellar month in Canada at +175%. 

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 260 models by clicking on the title *

Following up on five consecutive record years and a new January record last month, the Canadian new light vehicle market doesn’t seem to want to slow down with sales up another 2.2% year-on-year in February to 126.026 units, the 4th consecutive February record Canada has posted. Accordingly, the year-to-date tally, up a sturdy 3.9% to 243.770, is a new all-time record after two months. Continuing on a years-long trend, passenger cars continue to skid down 6% to 35.879 and just 28.6% share whereas light trucks continue to gallop ahead at +5.6% to 89.651 and 71.4% of the Canadian market, figures being slightly lower than above as Desrosiers doesn’t include some luxury brands such as Tesla.

The Tiguan (+76%) helps Volkswagen up 32.3% in February in Canada.

Group-wise, FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles dominates for the second month running despite sales down 1.2% to 15% share, less than 400 units above Ford down 2.4% to 14.7%. General Motors posts another impressive score, up 8.8% to 14.3% and up 11.7% year-to-date. Toyota Motor (-1.3%), Honda Motor (+1.5%) and Nissan Motor (+6.1%) follow but it’s the Volkswagen Group that lodges the best performance at +27.2%. In the brands ranking, Ford remains leader by far in spite of a 2% drop to 14.3% share, well ahead of Toyota (+0.9%) at 9.6% while Chevrolet soars 21% to 8.7%, overtaking Honda (+2.5%). Jeep once again stuns with a 45.7% surge at #7, Volkswagen gains 32.3%, with Alfa Romeo (+2525%), Volvo (+34.6%), Tesla (+28.6%), Mitsubishi (+27.2%), Genesis (+25%), Audi (+21.9%) the other carmakers managing a 20% gain or more.

The Ford Ecosport is up 76 spots on last month to #72.

Unsurprisingly, the Ford F-Series remains the most popular nameplate in the country but, like in January, it posts an uncharacteristically steep 16% year-on-year drop. The Ram Pickup does a little better in 2nd place at -10% while the Honda Civic drops 5% at #3. The Honda CR-V (+5%), Chevrolet Silverado (+9%) and Nissan Rogue (+8%) on the other hand all beat the market while the Jeep Wrangler impresses again with a 175% surge at #10, remaining in 5th place year-to-date. Further down, the Jeep Compass (+1370% due to the new model), Subaru Crosstrek (+114%), BMW X3 (+98%), Mitsubishi Outlander (+78%), VW Tiguan (+76%), Audi Q5 (+72%), Ford Transit (+70%), Toyota Tundra (+65%) and VW Golf (+52%) make themselves noticed in the Top 10. The Nissan Qashqai (#25) continues to dominate recent launches (<12 months) head and shoulders, followed by the VW Atlas (#66), Ford Ecosport (#72, up 76 on January) and Toyota C-HR (#84).

Previous month: Canada January 2018: Honda, Jeep and Chevrolet soar in market up 5.9%

One year ago: Canada February 2017: New light vehicle sales do not weaken at +3.2%

Full February 2018 Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 260 models below.