A bevy of deeply disappointing June auto sales results wasn’t enough to undo a modest second-quarter improvement in the Canadian market. Compared with the second-quarter of 2023, auto sales in the April-June period rose 3% as total first-half volume climbed 8%.
Yet a glance at the horizon suggests storm clouds may be brewing in the shape of improved supply and weaker demand. Honda sales, for example, dipped 18% in June. Perhaps more telling were the June figures from the Toyota brand, Canada’s highest-volume reporter of auto sales. Toyota’s 15% June slide equalled 2,895 lost sales compared with June 2023. Premium brands, meanwhile, aren’t pumping out the big numbers to which they’ve become accustomed: Audi, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Acura, Porsche, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Maserati all reported fewer first-half sales this year than last.
Just a blip on the radar? Unlikely. Assuming that pent-up demand from years of limited supply is now at least somewhat sated, conditions aren’t exactly ripe for a strong second-half auto market. Interest rates remain high; new-vehicle prices are still at uncomfortably lofty levels; unemployment is ticking up — peak-pandemic aside, youth unemployment is at its highest point since the fall of 2014.
Scanning the first-half of 2024 in its entirety, however, might lead you to believe almost exclusively in sunshine and four-wheeled roses. The average first-half year-over-year gain for Canada’s nine best-selling auto brands was 21%. Canada’s eight best-selling SUVs have collectively added over 31,000 units to sales ledgers so far this year.
Among those positive results are big numbers from the biggest sellers. These are the five best-selling auto brands, five best-selling cars, five best-selling SUVs/crossovers, and five best-selling pickup trucks in Canada from the first six months of 2024. Missing are first-half figures from Ford Motor Company, which is unfortunately determined to skip reports for monthly and quarterly figures in the Canadian market. Also excluded are figures for Tesla, which doesn’t report model-specific, market-specific sales results. Automotive News estimates that Tesla sold 8,750 Model 3s in the first-half, enough to rank among the best-selling cars.
Canadian auto brand sales
5. Nissan: 51,984, up 17%
Bolstered by much-improved sales at the entry points of its lineup, Nissan posted a 7,567-unit improvement in the first-half of 2024. It started with the subcompact Versa (up 107%) and continued through the Sentra (up 14%) and Kicks, which posted its best second-quarter ever and a 37% overall first-half jump. Of course, Rogue is always key to Nissan Canada’s success — sales of the brand’s best seller rose 47%.
4. Honda: 57,401, up 10%
After a first-quarter in which Honda sales jumped 70%, what happened in the spring? Q2 was discouraging for Honda stores as sales slipped 16% on plunging sales of the CR-V, Pilot, and Accord. The midsize Accord sedan fell by half; the fourth-gen Pilot’s volume dipped 42%, and the brand’s best-selling CR-V followed up a 12,606-unit wintry Q1 with a 13,645-unit spring Q2, equivalent to a 24% drop from the same period one year ago.
3. Hyundai: 66,008, up 19%
As the second-generation Kona explodes out of the starting gates, Hyundai followed up a middling 7% Q1 increase with a 29% jump in Q2. The Kona and its larger Tucson sibling carry more than their fair share of the load, now accounting for slightly more than half of the brand’s Canadian volume. Both rank among the country’s best-selling utility vehicles.
2. Chevrolet: 70,103, up 13%
With scant support from a car division that posted a 92% sales jump at this stage of 2023 — and a 48% drop this year — many of Chevrolet’s SUV gains were offset. Nevertheless, there were a bundle of big increases, from the Trailblazer’s 74% surge to the 150% Blazer increase to the resurgent second-gen Trax, which contributed 7,968 sales in total. Trucks, of course, remain a huge component of the Bowtie brand’s success — the Silverado/Colorado duo account for 44% of Chevrolet sales in Canada.
1. Toyota: 109,833, up 20%
When you combine a 36% Q1 increase and a far less consequential 10% Q1 increase, the result is a 20% uptick for Canada’s top-ranked auto brand. This makes 2024’s January-June period the best first-half for Toyota since… flips calendar… 2008. Doubling sales of the Corolla Cross, Prius, and 86 certainly helped, as did a trebling of Sienna sales.
Best-selling cars in Canada
5. Volkswagen Jetta: 5,882, up 79%
Volkswagen isn’t about to sell Jettas like it’s 2012. The brand was pumping out over 2,200 Jettas per month back then. But then again, there isn’t a brand that’s selling any car like it’s 2012. That era is over. However, Volkswagen is selling Jettas like it’s, well, 2018. That means nearly 1,000 Jettas are leaving VW showrooms each month, a big improvement over the 580/month average across 2022 and 2023.
4. Toyota Camry: 7,076, up 37%
The Toyota Camry isn’t just Canada’s best-selling midsize car. It’s Canada’s best-selling midsize car by an enormous margin. The next-best-selling (and soon-to-expire) Chevrolet Malibu is nearly 4,000 sales abaft. In fact, all other midsize sedans — Accord, Legacy, Altima, K5, Sonata, Malibu — combined for only 6,463 first-half sales, 613 shy of the Camry.
3. Hyundai Elantra: 9,641, down 8%
Though firmly entrenched in a podium position, the Hyundai Elantra is losing ground as Canada’s prime rival for the historically dominant car sales leaders. That’s not to say the Elantra is the only compact car losing ground. (The Elantra’s 8% year-over-year decline is comparable to the 11% drop in sales of its Kia sibling, the Forte.) But a number of rivals, including the Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and Volkswagen Jetta, are trending in the opposite direction.
2. Toyota Corolla: 14,427, up 18%
After two years on top of the annual car sales leaderboard, the Toyota Corolla remains firmly in contention to once again claim the honours historically reserved for its chief rival. Corolla sales perked up 18% in the first-half, though one wonders if the Corolla Cross will make a move to overtake the Corolla in 2025 or sooner, at the sedan’s expense. The gap between the duo stood at nearly 8,000 units during the first-half of 2023; it’s only 5,332 units now.
1. Honda Civic: 14,529, up 15%
With a narrow 102-unit lead over the two-time defending car sales champion, the Honda Civic is on track (barely) to reclaim its title as Canada’s best-selling car. The Civic held the crown for 24 consecutive years, but Honda’s streak ended with a Corolla victory in 2022. The Civic’s 15% first-half increase isn’t a terrible effective means of anticipating what will occur in the summer and fall — sales slid 9% in Q2, including a 41% downturn in June that cost Honda 1,351 units.
Best-selling trucks in Canada
5. Toyota Tacoma: 4,855, down 35%
“Expect to see the Tacoma on top of the midsize pickup truck sales charts by the end of the year, if not much sooner.” Those were the words written in this space after a 48% Q1 slide for the Tacoma. Then came a 30-percent Q2 downturn for the new Tacoma in Q2. The General Motors twins, Colorado and Canyon, have now built a 1,556-unit lead over the traditional No.1 midsize pickup. Six months remain for the Tacoma — always a truck that runs on minimal inventory — to cancel out the first-half’s weakness.
4. Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon: 6,411, up 44%
Combining a 35% increase to 3,462 units for the Colorado with a 56% jump to 2,949 units for the Canyon results in a segment-leading 6,411 sales for GM’s new midsize twins. It’s a striking improvement not just in the context of the Tacoma but also the Jeep Gladiator (which fell 13%) and the Nissan Frontier (which tumbled 59%).
3. Toyota Tundra: 6,790, up 22%
As the new Tacoma struggles to ramp up, the Tundra continues to reap the rewards of simply being new after the second-gen full-size Toyota lingered on the market, largely unchanged, for 15 years. Tundra sales rose 5% in the second-quarter after a 50% Q1 surge. Toyota Canada’s best-ever year of Tundra sales occurred just last year with 13,365 units after a 5,559-unit first-half.
2. Ram P/U: 31,708, down 24%
Narrowly out in front of the GMC Sierra (by 901 units), Ram’s pickup line actually slots in behind the combined total of GM’s full-size twins by a 26,309-unit margin. 2024’s first-half, and the second-quarter in particular, couldn’t have been much more challenging for the Ram. With somewhat affordable Ram 1500 Classics all but gone from dealer lots, Stellantis is now trying to run at a decidedly more premium price point with its newest iteration of Hurricane six-cylinder trucks. Q2 Ram truck sales fell 27% to 15,748 units.
1. Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra: 58,017, down 0.2%
In the Ford F-Series’ absence, GM’s twins are the clear top dogs on Canada’s full-size truck leaderboard. Four out of every 10 GM Canada sales come from the Sierra or Silverado, pivotal profit centres for the company. In fact, there are full-size SUV spin-offs from this platform that kicked in another 8,706 first-half sales at distinctly premium price points, too: Yukon, Yukon XL, Suburban, Tahoe, Escalade, and Escalade ESV.
Best-selling SUVs and crossovers in Canada
5. Hyundai Tucson: 15,461, up 19%
Twenty-three years after Hyundai sold its first SUV in Canada, utility vehicles now generate 80% of Hyundai Canada’s sales. While that first SUV — the Santa Fe — has moved upmarket and now represents a smaller piece of that pie, the brand’s second SUV is hugely popular. Hyundai sold 11,533 Tucsons in 2005, the model’s first full year on the market. At its current rate of growth, Hyundai will sell over 31,000 in 2024.
4. Hyundai Kona: 17,972, up 83%
The fifth SUV/crossover nameplate in Hyundai’s history was the Kona, which has now moved into its second-generation. Launched in the Kona for the 2018 model year, the Kona is typically Canada’s best-selling subcompact utility vehicle. Through the first-half of 2024, the Kona is outselling its nearest subcompact rival by a 21% margin.
3. Nissan Rogue: 18,893, up 47%
Just how important is the Rogue to Nissan Canada’s fortunes? During the first six months of 2024, the Rogue outsold the Pathfinder, Murano, Kicks, Frontier, Armada, and Ariyacombined. This is the heart of the market, and many a mainstream brand’s success — or failure — depends largely on the way in which its compact SUV performs. Nissan sales are up 17% in 2024. Yet with the Rogue excluded, Nissan sales are up just 5%.
2. Honda CR-V: 26,251, up 11%
For Canada’s second-best-selling SUV, 2024’s first-half is a tale of two very different quarters. Q1 sales shot up 114% compared with 2023; Q2 did not. April sales slipped 31%, May fell 22%, June dropped 18%. One simple way to detect how different the market is now from the way it was at the peak of the supply chain crunch in 2021 and 2022 is through an automaker’s incentive structure. Honda recently doubled its loyalty bonus and then added an extra $1,500 discount for CR-Vs in July. This is not the behaviour of Honda circa 2021.
1. Toyota RAV4: 42,116, up 11%
Almost certainly, if Toyota stopped selling vehicles on August 31, the RAV4 would still end the year as Canada’s best-selling SUV for a ninth consecutive year. The RAV4 isn’t simply outselling every other utility vehicle — it outsells most auto brands altogether. Volkswagen sold 40,447 vehicles in total in the first-half of 2024. Subaru, Ram, and Mazda were all between 33,000 and 36,000 vehicles. The RAV4 is an absolutely dominant force on Canadian roads, and even with a disappointing end to Q2 — June sales dropped 19% — that fact is not about to change.
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