Canada April 2023: Honda (+45.7%), Subaru (+25%) highlight shy market

Honda Pilot sales double year-on-year.

According to estimates by local consultancy DesRosiers Automotive, the Canadian new light vehicle market is up just 2.3% year/year in April to 144,069 units. This is a weak result considering April 2022 was off -13.3% on the year prior. We remain well below the 183,754 sales of pre-pandemic April 2019. The year-to-date volume is also up 2.3% to roughly 492,000 units. However the SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annualised Rate of sales) is weak at 1.475 million units, the weakest in 2023 so far, not a good sign for the rest of the year.

Among groups still sharing monthly data, Toyota Motor (-3.5%) and Hyundai-Kia (-3.5%) are both weak unlike a roaring Honda Group (+39.9%). Brand-wise, Toyota (-7%) declines but remains up 1% year-to-date, while Honda (+45.7%) shoots up to over 11,300 sales. Hyundai (-14.9%) is in a rut unlike Kia (+15.5%). Subaru (+25%), Lexus (+21.2%) and Genesis (+17.2%) also impress whereas Mazda (-25.7%), Volvo (-13.6%) and Acura (-7.3%) struggle.

Model-wise, again among ones that have monthly data available, the Toyota RAV4 (+21.3%) is very solid but the performance of the month goes to the Honda CR-V, up 228% year-on-year. It must be said though that the CR-V April 2022 volume was down a drastic -56.2%, so this is catchup sales in essence. The Hyundai Tucson (+23.9%), Toyota Tacoma (+58.2%), Lexus NX (+35.2%), Hyundai Palisade (+74.5%), Subaru Forester (+152.4%) and Honda Pilot (+94.1%) also make themselves noticed. The Honda Civic (-36.3%) tumbles down but retains the #1 Passenger Car title above the Hyundai Elantra (-34.7%) and Toyota Corolla (-47%).

Previous post: Canada March/Q1 2023: Toyota RAV4 (+66.9%), Ford F-Series (+31.7%) shine in market up 5.4% over Q1

One year ago: Canada April 2022: Volvo, Genesis, Hyundai fare well in market down -13.3%

Full April 2023 data for selected groups, brands and models below.