Canada November 2018: Toyota (+11.5%) defies longest negative streak this decade – market down for 9th straight month

The Toyota RAV4 is now the best-selling SUV in Canada so far in 2018.

New light vehicle sales in Canada endure a 9th straight month of year-on-year decline in November at -8.4% to 145.578 registrations in the longest negative streak this decade, pulling the year-to-date tally down 2% to 1.881.102. 2018 is now on track to become the first year since 2010 that light vehicle sales drop year-on-year in Canada but will still remain the 2nd largest annual volume in history and only the second time above 2 million annual units. According to local consultancy Desrosiers whose figures are slightly lower (and the market drop at -9.4%) due to the absence of some luxury brands such as Tesla, this month both light trucks and passenger cars alike post ghastly drops. Light trucks fall 8.7% to 104.637 and 72.8% share, their steepest drop in years yet achieving the second highest ever light truck share in Canada below the 73.2% hit last January. Passenger cars skid 11.4% to just 39.031 units and 27.2%. Year-to-date, light trucks gain 1.1% to 1.321.716 and 70.7% share vs. 68.3% over the same period in 2017 but passenger cars sink 9.6% to 548.987 and 29.3% share vs. 31.7% in 2017.

Ford Motor (-10.7%) rallies back up two spots on October to lead the groups ranking at 14.6% share despite a double-digit loss, followed by General Motors (-18.3%) struggling even more whereas Toyota (+10.4%) swims upstream with a double-digit gain ahead of Hyundai-Kia (-0.5%), stable. Jaguar-Land Rover (+8.5%), the Volkswagen Group (+2.7%) and BMW Group (+2.2%) all post very satisfying gains but FCA (-34.9%) and Honda Motor (-14.1%) suffer greatly.

Ford (-11.1%) tops the brands ranking above Toyota (+11.5%), with Hyundai (+10%) and Nissan (+1.3%) the only other Top 10 marques in positive. In contrast, Chevrolet (-22.2%), Ram (-20.2%),  Kia (-17.3%), GMC (-12.8%), Honda (-10.3%) all fall faster than the market with Volkswagen (-2.6%) managing a slim decline. Further down, Tesla (+537.1%) is up 11 spots on October to a record #17, Genesis (+207.7%), Porsche (+14%), Land Rover (+13.2%), Audi (+11.8%), Subaru (+4.8%), BMW (+4.5%), Lexus (+1.7%) and Lincoln (+0.1%) defy the adverse conditions to post a gain.

The Ford F-Series (-15%) and Ram Pickup (-20%) remain the most popular nameplate in the country – as it has also been the case in the U.S. for the past 4 months – but both crumble down. The Toyota RAV4 (+23%) on the other hand steps up to the podium and overtakes the Honda CR-V (-16%) to become Canada’s best-selling SUV year-to-date. The Honda Civic (+12%) holds onto the title of best-selling passenger car, well above the Toyota Corolla (+27%). All other Top 10 models suffer double-digit losses with the Ford Escape (-23%) hit the hardest. The Tesla Model 3 breaks into the Canadian Top 15 for the first time, ranking #4 passenger car below the Civic, Corolla and Hyundai Elantra (vs. #5 in the U.S.), with the Mitsubishi Outlander (+80%), BMW X5 (+67%), Audi Q5 (+52%), Honda Accord (+39%), Ford Edge (+32%), VW Jetta (+30%), Subaru Forester (+28%), GMC Terrain (+25%) and VW Tiguan (+20%) also impressive in the Top 50.

Previous month: Canada October 2018: Toyota, Hyundai can’t prevent 8th market decline

One year ago: Canada November 2017: Market down 1% but 2 million annual result now certain

Full November 2018 Top 15 groups, Top 36 brands and Top 260 models below.