Canada May 2019: Toyota (+9.1%), Kia (+8.6%) and VW (+6.6%) swim against 15th market fall in a row

The RAV4 (+22.9%) helps Toyota up 9.1% in a declining Canadian market.

New light vehicle sales in Canada endue a 15th consecutive year-on-year fall at -5.9% to 203.242 units, leading to a year-to-date volume down -4% to 805.611. The consolation prize: this is the first month above 200.000 units since last June, and only the 6th time in Canadian history it crosses that milestone after April 2016 (200.607), May 2017 (216.861), June 2017 (203.495), May 2018 (215.903) and June 2018 (202.701). According to local consultancy Desrosiers whose figures are slightly lower due to the absence of some luxury brands such as Tesla, even light trucks (-0.4%) tilt into negative territory this month at 145.825 units or 71.9% share vs. 68% a year ago, while passenger cars keep on freefalling at -17.4% to 56.975 and 28.1% share vs. 32%. Year-to-date, light trucks are now down -0.1% to 587.762 and 73.5% share vs. 70.3% with cars down -14.7% to 211.661 and 26.5% vs. 29.7%.

Ford Motor (-1.6%) holds onto the groups #1 spot at 16.1% share, a safe margin above General Motors (-13.1%) at 14%. Toyota Motor (+9.1%) and Hyundai-Kia (+3.9%) are the only Top 10 groups in positive alongside Subaru (+6.6%) at #10. FCA (-25.4%) and Mazda (-17.7%) are hit particularly harshly while Nissan Motor/Mitsubishi (-2%), the VW Group (-2.4%) and Honda Motor (-4.7%) manage to contain their fall to single-digits. Brand-wise, Ford (-1.8%) is also in control ahead of Toyota (+9%) posting the largest gain in the Top 20 alongside sister brand Lexus (+9.5%). Kia (+8.6%) and Volkswagen (+6.6%) also post serious gains in the Top 10 with Nissan (+1.8%) and Hyundai (+1.4%) also managing to edge into positive but Ram (-21.7%), Chevrolet (-15.3%) and GMC (-13.4%) all skid down spectacularly. Smart (+115.8%), Cadillac (+18.7%), Genesis (+14.3%), Tesla (+10.2%) and Lincoln (+9%) lead gainers among smaller brands.

The Ford F-Series (-0.9%) easily remains the best-selling vehicle in the country, even widening the gap with its immediate followers the Ram Pickup (-22%) and Honda Civic (-22.4%) both in perdition this month. The Toyota RAV4 (+22.9%) on the other hand drops one spot on April but delivers the only double-digit year-on-year gain in the Top 10 and the largest in the Top 12, with the Toyota Corolla (+9.8%) and Honda CR-V (+2.4%) the only other Top 10 nameplates in positive. The GMC Sierra (-17.1%), Chevrolet Silverado (-7.6%) and Hyundai Elantra (-7.2%) suffer greatly in contrast. The Chevrolet Blazer leaps up 16 spots on last month to #14, remaining the most popular recent launch by far at 2.701 sales, distancing the Ford Ranger (#82) and Kia Telluride (#91).

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

One year ago: Canada May 2018: Ford F-Series breaks record in 2nd largest month in history

Full May 2019 Top 15 groups, Top 35 brands and Top 280 models below.