Canada April 2024: Market up 14% on low year-ago result

Hyundai Kona sales are up 152% in April.

According to estimates by local consultancy DesRosiers Automotive, the Canadian new light vehicle market is up 14% year-on-year to an estimated 164,000 units, yet still below the 180,000+ units secured before the pandemic. This solid growth rate is partly due to a weak year-ago result, April 2023 being the slowest month of that year in terms of SAAR. Talking off which, the SAAR for this month is estimated to reach 1.68 million vs. 1.48 million a year ago and compared to over 2 million in January and February. Year-to-date volumes are up 14.8% to 565,000.

Among groups still communicating monthly data, Toyota Motor (+27.8%) and Hyundai-Kia (+17.9%) excel but Honda Canada (-14.8%) sinks. Brand-wise, Subaru (+43.7%), Toyota (+33.8%), Volvo (+33.7%), Mazda (+33.5%) and Hyundai (+29.3%) all impress as does Acura (+17.1%) to a lesser extent. Honda (-17.3%), Genesis (-9.1%) and Lexus (-4.9%) can’t capitalise on the market growth.

Looking at models with available April volumes, the Toyota RAV4 (+10.6%) is rather soft but sells double the amount of it main rival the Honda CR-V (-30.6%) in freefall. The Hyundai Kona (+152%) surges ahead with the Hyundai Tucson (+37%), Toyota Corolla (+63.2%), Subaru Crosstrek (+145.4%) and Toyota Camry (+202.1%) also outstanding.

Previous month: Canada March/Q1 2024: Toyota overtakes Ford to #1 brand, Subaru, Honda stand out

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

Full April 2024 data for groups, brands and models with monthly figures available below.