Canada April 2019: Ram (+31.3%), Volkswagen (+11.6%) go against 14th straight market decline

Ram (+31.3%) delivers the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 25.

No sign of improvement for the Canadian new light vehicle market, enduring a 14th straight month of year-on-year decline in April at -4.4% to  183.754, leading to a year-to-date drop of -3.3% to 602.369. According to local consultancy Desrosiers whose total figures are slightly different due to estimates for GM, passenger cars fall a painful -15.6% in April to 48.995 sales and 26.5% share vs. 30.3% a year ago just as light trucks edge up 1.8% to 136.163 and 73.5% share vs. 69.7% in April 2018. This means that YTD results show passenger cars down -13.7% to 154.686 and 25.9% share vs. 28.9% and light trucks now stable at 441.937 and 74.1% share vs. 71.1% over the same period a year ago.

Among the Top 10 groups, only Toyota Motor (+6.1%) and Hyundai-Kia (+4.2%) manage an uptick, with Ford Motor (-4.3%), General Motors (-13.3%), FCA (-9.8%), Honda Motor (-4.7%) and Nissan Motor (-6.3%) all in freefall. Brand-wise, Ford (-4.3%) easily keeps the lead at 15.2% share ahead of Toyota (+5.6%), Honda (-5.4%), Chevrolet (-15.1%) and Hyundai (+5.6%). Ram (+31.3%), BMW (+15.1%), Volkswagen (+11.6%) and Lexus (+10.3%) lodge the only year-on-year gains in the Top 20, with Kia (+1.9%) and Jeep (+1.8%) also up. Below, Tesla (+44.4%), Infiniti (+23.3%), Cadillac (+16.1%), Buick (+15.2%), Jaguar (+13.8%) and Genesis (+10.2%) shine.

In the models ranking, the Ford F-Series (-4.6%) is back in negative but easily holds onto the #1 spot even though the Ram Pickup (+30.2%) and Toyota RAV4 (+23.9%) both post very impressive gains in the remainder of the podium. Only the Ford Escape (+3.4%) and Hyundai Elantra (+1.3%) manage an uptick at the tail end of the Top 10, with the GMC Sierra (-20.2%), Chevrolet Silverado (-18.2%) and Honda CR-V (-11.9%) all hit full frontal. The VW Jetta (+244.4%), Dodge Durango (+223%), Jeep Grand Cherokee (+79.9%), Hyundai Kona (+52.5%) and Jeep Wrangler (+21.1%) also shine in the Top 30 and the Chevrolet Blazer (#30) is the best-selling new launch above the Nissan Kicks (#37), Ford Ranger (#88) and Subaru Ascent (#91).

Previous month: Canada March 2019: Honda (+12%), Hyundai (+8.8%), Ford (+7.2%) defy 13th consecutive market drop

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

Full April 2019 Top 15 groups, Top 35 brands and Top 275 models below.