Canada September 2020: Subaru (+39%), Kia (+28.6%), Volvo (+20.9%) trigger market uptick (+2.4%)

Subaru sales in Canada shoot up 39% year-on-year in September. Picture caranddriver.com

14/10 update: Now with complete models data and revised Tesla + overall market volumes.

Similarly to its neighbour the U.S., in September Canada scores its first year-on-year gain since the pandemic hit with volumes estimated up 2.4% to 169.876 by local consultancy DesRosiers Automotive. Among the rare manufacturers still reporting monthly, Toyota Motor (+14%) and Hyundai-Kia (+13.4%) impress while Honda Motor (-10.8%) disappoints. Brand-wise, Subaru (+39%), Kia (+28.6%), Volvo (+20.9%) and Toyota (+17.7%) absolutely smash it, Hyundai (+5.8%) and Mazda (+1.1%) edge up but Acura (-36.9%), Genesis (-17.5%), Lexus (-10%) and Honda (-7.2%) fall. Q3 2020 results give a complete and detailed picture of the Canadian market with overall volumes down just -3% to 507.833 leading to a year-to-date tally down -23% to 1.161.603. We’ve adjusted our 2020 Canada Forecast from 1.55 million (-20%) to 1.57 million sales (-19%) but the Global Automakers of Canada remain a lot more pessimistic at 1.475 million (-24%).

According to Desrosiers Automotive whose totals are slightly different due to the exclusion of some small brands such as Tesla, Passenger Cars sink -21.4% year-on-year over Q3 2020 to 101.548 sales and 20.3% share vs. 24.8% over Q3 2019 whereas Light Trucks brilliantly manage to edge up 1.9% to 399.186 and 79.7% share vs. 75.2% last year. Year-to-date, Passenger cars freefall -39.4% to 237.277 and 20.7% share vs. 26.1% over the same period in 2019 and Light Trucks skid -18.1% to 907.949 and 79.3% share vs. 73.9%. Ford Motor (+8.5%), Hyundai-Kia (+6.8%) and Toyota (+2%) all buck the negative trend on the groups podium, just as Jaguar Land Rover (-25.2%), the BMW Group (-23.3%), Nissan/Mitsubishi (-17.8%), Honda Motor (-11.9%), FCA (-10.7%), General Motors (-10.5%), the VW Group (-9.8%) and Mercedes Canada (-9.3%) underperform.

Ford Q3 sales are up 8.5% year-on-year and the F-Series is up 14.9%.

Brand-wise, Ford (+8.5%) is the big winner over the period, scoring the largest gain among the Top 7. Toyota (+0.6%) edges up but Honda (-11.5%) sinks yet remains on the podium, keeping a strong Hyundai (+2.5%) at bay. Kia (+14.7%) is the only double-digit gainer in the Top 10 and Mazda (+0.9%) the only remaining brand in positive just as Chevrolet (-19%), Nissan (-12.5%), GMC (-6.6%) and Ram (-4.1%) all recede. Below, Tesla (+244.6%), Cadillac (+23.4%), Porsche (+22.5%), Subaru (+19.9%), Volvo (+19.7%), Buick (+16.4%), Alfa Romeo (+15.3%) and Lincoln (+6.6%) all stand out with market-defying lifts. At the other end of the scale, Jaguar (-48.5%), Infiniti (-34.7%), Fiat (-33.9%), Mitsubishi (-32%), BMW (-25.1%), Genesis (-21.8%), Dodge (-19.4%), Land Rover (-16.8%), McLaren (-16.7%), Jeep (-16.3%), Acura (-15.7%), Mini (-13.6%) and Volkswagen (-13.3%) haven’t recovered just yet.

Over in the models ranking, the Ford F-Series (+14.9%) blissfully ignores the challenging context to post an all-time record Q3 volume at 48.425, extending its lead over the Ram Pickup (-5.4%) to over 21.000 units for the quarter and almost 42.000 so far in 2020. The Toyota RAV4 (+19.8%) scores the largest gain in the Top 8 to reclaim the #3 spot it held in 2019 both in Q3 and YTD. The Honda Civic (-13.8%) remains by far the best-selling Passenger Car in the country while the Honda CR-V (-6.7%) rounds out the Top 5 above the GMC Sierra (-1.4%) and Chevrolet Silverado (+2.6%). Below the Toyota Corolla (-12.8%), the Hyundai Kona (+56.3%) skyrockets into the Canadian Top 10 at #9 both over Q3 and YTD. The Nissan Rogue (-17.8%) endures the largest drop in a Top 10 it closes. The Kia Seltos (#21) tops recent launches above the Mazda CX-30 (#41), Hyundai Venue (#46), Tesla Model Y (#60) and Buick Encore GX (#65).

Previous month: Canada August 2020: Volvo (+25.5%), Kia (+14.9%), Subaru (+11.5%) defy market down -8.9%

One year ago: Canada September 2019: Jeep (+21%), Ram (+16.8%), Kia (+15.3%) can’t help market back into negative (-4.1%)

Full Q3 2020 Top 15 groups, Top 40 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.

Full September 2020 data for selected groups and brands below.