Canada Full Year 2018: Light trucks hit all-time high 70.9% share, F-Series, Civic and RAV4 lead respective segments in first market drop since 2010

First annual Top 5 in Canada for the Toyota RAV4.

Consult 35 years worth of Canadian Historical Data here.

All good things have to come to an end eventually: after a whopping 8 consecutive years of gains and 5 straight all-time record volumes, new light vehicle sales in Canada put the brakes on in 2018 at -1.9% to 2.003.506 sales, still the second largest annual result in history and the second ever above 2 million. According to local consultancy Desrosiers whose figures are slightly lower due to the absence of some luxury brands such as Tesla, light truck sales reach an all-time record 70.9% market share vs. 68.6% in 2017 thanks to deliveries up 0.6% year-on-year to 1.407.281 units whereas passenger cars accelerate their demise at -9.7% to 577.711 and a meagre 29.1% share vs. 31.4% a year ago and 34% in 2016. Ford Motor (-3.4%) and General Motors (-4.8%) remains the two most popular automotive groups in the country but fall faster than the market, resulting in reduced shares at 14.9% and 14.4% respectively. In contrast, Toyota Motor (+3.2%) shines, overtaking FCA (-14.7%) for third place overall. The rest of the Top 10 is unchanged on 2017 with Subaru (+6.4%) and Nissan Motor (+1%) in positive as well as Jaguar-Land Rover (+5.7%) and the BMW Group (+0.8%) further down.

Brand-wise, Ford (-3.5%) is still tops by far, distancing Toyota (+3.9%) by 82.000 units vs. 100.500 a year ago, followed by Honda (-1.1%), Chevrolet (-4%), Nissan (+1.7%) and Hyundai (-1.5%) in a Top 6 unchanged on 2017. GMC (-5.6%) takes advantage of Ram’s freefalling (-13.8%) to snap the 7th spot overall even though it records the 2nd largest drop in the Top 10 while Mazda (-0.3%) leapfrogs past Kia (-4.6%) and Dodge (-31.4%) to break into the Top 10 at #9. Tesla (+316.9%), Genesis (+174.5%), Volvo (+29.8%), Alfa Romeo (+26%), Land Rover (+11.5%), Mitsubishi (+11.1%), Porsche (+7.9%), Subaru (+6.4%), Volkswagen (+3.7%) and Audi (+2.5%) also impress further down.

Over in the models ranking, the Ford F-Series (-6.2%) is once again head and shoulders above the competition, celebrating a 10th consecutive win and 15th pole position in the past 16 years (only interruption was by the Honda Civic in 2008), but posts its first year-on-year decline since 2015. At just under 145.700 sales, the F-Series however lodges its 2nd largest annual volume ever, below last year. Note the F-Series is the only nameplate have ever crossed the 100.000 annual unit-milestone in Canadian history, and has done so for the past 7 consecutive years. The Ram Pickup (-13.8%) takes a harsh hit and falls to its lowest volume since 2013 but remains in 2nd place above the Honda Civic down 25 sales to hold onto the title of best-selling passenger car in Canada for the 21st straight year, outselling the Toyota Corolla (-3.1%) at #8 and the Hyundai Elantra (-9.4%) at #10.

The GMC Sierra (-9.1%) and Chevrolet Silverado (-6.7%) struggle while the Toyota RAV4 (+8.8%) is the #1 SUV in the country for the third year running, distancing the Honda CR-V (+8.8%) and Ford Escape (-8.4%). The Nissan Qashqai (+119.2%), Mitsubishi Outlander (+53.2%), VW Tiguan (+42.7%), Jeep Wrangler (+42.3%), Subaru Crosstrek (+30.2%), Ford Transit (+25.1%) and Toyota Tundra (+24.3%) post the largest gains in the Top 50. The Hyundai Kona (#33) is the best-selling 2018 launch ahead of the Tesla Model 3 (#51) peaking at #12 in December, Ford Ecosport (#81) and Nissan Kicks (#108).

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

Previous year: Canada 2017: F-Series and Ram Pickup break records in first 2m year

Two years ago: Canada 2016: Ford F-Series at peak in 4th straight record year

Full Year 2018 Top 15 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 296 models vs. Full Year 2017 figures below.

Full December 2018 Top 15 groups, Top 36 brands and Top 265 models below.