Canada July 2020: Lexus (+17.5%), Volvo (+11.8%), Subaru (+10.1%) help thin market loss to -4.9%

Lexus sales surge 17.5% year-on-year in a market down -4.9%.

According to local consultancy Desrosiers Automotive, new light vehicle sales are estimated to drop by just -4.9% year-on-year in July to 165.020, the best hold since last February as the country recovers from the the Covid-19 crisis and minimises new infections. However it remains unclear how much of this recovery is in fact sales that were held off during the March-April lockdown. In any case, this brings the year-to-date tally to 813.507 units, down -29.5% over the same period a year ago. This better-than-expected hols had us amend our 2020 Canada Forecast up from 1.47 million (-24%) to 1.55 million (-20%). Only a handful of brands still share monthly sales data for Canada, and among them Lexus (+17.5%), Volvo (+11.8%), Subaru (+10.1%), Mazda (+6.2%), Kia (+3.7%) and Hyundai (+1.7%) stand out with gains whereas Genesis (-19%), Honda (-11%) and Toyota (-10.3%) underperform and Acura (-1.9%) slightly outpaces the market.

34 of the 83 models with available July sales show a year-on-year improvement, including the Toyota RAV4 (+9%), Hyundai Kona (+39.9%), Mazda CX-5 (+5.4%), Hyundai Tucson (+6.4%) and Kia Forte (+9.1%) among the strongest sellers. Other standouts include the Lexus GX (+152.9%), Subaru BRZ (+65%), Honda Passport (+62.1%), Toyota 86 (+59.4%), Lexus RX (+58.2%), Mazda6 (+57.9%), Hyundai Veloster (+55.7%), Hyundai Ioniq (+47.4%), Lexus UX (+46.2%), Toyota Land Cruiser (+40.9%), Subaru Ascent (+39.4%), Lexus RC (+32.1%), Toyota Avalon (+32%), C-HR (+28.5%), Subaru Forester (+22.5%), Kia Sedona (+21.1%), Hyundai Palisade (+20.6%) and Honda Ridgeline (+20.3%).

Previous month: Canada June 2020: Mazda (+8.9%), Kia (+7.4%) buck market down -16.3%, Q2 off -44.5%

One year ago: Canada July 2019: Toyota (+17.2%), Ram (+34.1%) can’t prevent 17th consecutive market decline (-1.9%)

Full July 2020 sales for selected 6 groups, 10 brands and 84 models below.