Canada July 2022: Market down -16.2% to weakest in 21 years

Honda Ridgeline sales buck the negative trend with sales up 400% year-on-year.

DesRosiers Automotive estimates the Canadian new light vehicle market falling -16.2% year-on-year in July to 130,480 units, while July 2021 was already down -5.7% on the year prior. This is the weakest July volume in 21 years (since 2001) and down -24.8% on pre-pandemic 2019 (173,519). The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of sales (SAAR) is down -16.4% year-on-year to a poor 1.43 million. This leads to a year-to-date volume down -12.5% to 886,356 units.

All groups still communicating monthly sales fall faster than the market, indicating that the DesRosiers estimate might be too high. Honda Canada (-49%) takes the biggest hit while Hyundai-Kia (-24.5%) and Toyota Motor (-22.1%) also struggle. Brand-wise, Toyota (-22.8%) falls to just under 16,500 sales, Hyundai (-18.4%) resists a little better but Acura (-64.2%), Honda (-47.4%), Subaru (-48%), Mazda (-36.1%), Kia (-35.9%) and Volvo (-20.7%) all endure significant falls. Only Genesis (+13.2%) reports a year-on-year uptick for the month but with a very low volume.

Among models with available monthly figures, the Toyota Corolla (+24.8%) surprises with a superb year-on-year gain in a market going away from passenger cars. The Toyota RAV4 (-37.3%) is topples and falls over twice as fast as the market. The Hyundai Elantra (+6.1%) also shines whereas the annual passenger cars leader for the past 24 consecutive years, the Honda Civic (-55.2%) is in complete freefall and now outsold by the Corolla year-to-date in a dramatic leadership changeover. The Hyundai Tucson (-10.9%) also resists better than the market unlike the Mazda CX-5 (-21.1%) and Honda CR-V (-66.2%). Outstanding performances by the Toyota Tundra (+166.3%), Kia Seltos (+56.5%), Honda Pilot (+35.5%), Ridgeline (+400%), Passport (+104.6%) and Genesis GV80 (+63.6%).

Previous month: Canada June 2022: Market falls to lowest since 2009, Ford, Ram, Jeep up over Q2

One year ago: Canada July 2021: Toyota, Lexus ignore market back in negative (-5.7%)

Full July 2022 sales for selected groups, brands and models below.