Canada April 2018: Premium brands and Nissan defy market down 2.6%

The XC60 (+140%) helps Volvo up 49.5% year-on-year in Canada in April.

* See the Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 265 models by clicking on the title *

New light vehicle sales in Canada post a second consecutive year-on-year decline in April at -2.6% to 192.297 units, but thanks to a strong start of the year the YTD tally remains at an all-time record level, up 0.5% on the previous record established last year at 623.153 registrations. This is the first back-to-back decline of 2018. According to local consultancy Desrosiers whose figures are slightly lower due to the absence of some luxury brands such as Tesla, light trucks stay in positive at +2.2% to 133.773 sales or 69.7% of the market, with passenger cars solely responsible for the market decline, hit a steep 12.4% to 58.083 or 30.3% share. YTD light trucks gain 5.1% to 441.845 or 71.1% vs. 68% a year ago just as passenger cars drop 9.6% to 179.269 or 28.9% share vs. 32% over the same period in 2017.

Land Rover jumps 32.4% year-on-year with the help of the Range Rover Velar. Picture caranddriver.com

Ford Motor is back in the groups lead, losing less ground than the market at -1.1% to 15.6% share and edging past last month’s leader General Motors down 4.6% to 15.4%. FCA (-15.5%) suffers heavy losses and loses the YTD 2nd spot to Ford Motor with Hyundai-Kia (-8.7%) in the same boat. In contrast, Jaguar Land Rover (+22.6%), Daimler AG (+8.5%), the BMW Group (+8.2%), the Volkswagen Group (+7.9%) and Nissan Motor (+6.5%) both post solid gains with Toyota Motor (-0.3%) almost stable.

Acura gains 23.2% year-on-year in April, with the MDX up 34%. Picture caranddriver.com

Brand-wise, Ford (-0.8%) comfortably stays on top, improving its market share by one percentage point vs. YTD at 15.2$. Toyota (+0.9%), Chevrolet (-6.3%), Honda (-7.1%) and Hyundai (-14.4%) round up the Top 5 with Nissan (+10.9%), Mazda (+7.4%) and GMC (+5.1%) the best performers in the Top 10. Below, the largest year-on-year gains are the exclusivity of premium brands: Genesis (+291.4%), Alfa Romeo (+245%), Volvo (+49.5%), Land Rover (+32.4%), Tesla (+28.6%), Acura (+23.2%), Audi (+13.9%) and BMW (+10.8%) all impress. Reversely, Fiat (-83.7%), Ram (-34.4%), Buick (-30.4%), Maserati (-28.9%), Infiniti (-27.4%) and Chrysler (-20.3%) implode.

The Chevrolet Silverado (+15%) limits General Motors’ drop to -4.6% this month.

The Ford F-Series remains the best-selling nameplate in the country by far with stables sales (-1%) whereas the Ram Pickup crumbles down 35% to less than half the F-Series. On the other hand the Dodge Grand Caravan (+18%), Chevrolet Silverado (+15%) and Honda CR-V (+10%) are the only Top 10 models posting a double-digit year-on-year gain, just as both the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla drop 16%. Great performers further down include the Jeep Compass (+482%), VW Tiguan (+101%), Subaru Crosstrek (+90%), Jeep Wrangler (+54%), Kia Sorento (+31%), Toyota Sienna (+31%), Mazda CX-3 (+27%), Mitsubishi Outlander (+27%) and Ford Mustang (+26%). The Nissan Qashqai continues to dominate recent launches (<12 months) at #31 (-7 on March) ahead of the VW Atlas at #69 (-3), Ford Ecosport at #76 (+10) and Toyota C-HR at #91 (-6).

Previous month: Canada March 2018: Top Four 100% Full-size pickups, market down 0.5%

One year ago: Canada April 2017: Ram Pickup breaks record in market down 1.5%

Full April 2018 Top 15 groups, Top 37 brands and Top 265 models below.