As Canadian consumers continue to deal with the high cost of living, paying top-dollar for new cars is far less appetizing than it was one, two, or three ago. Automakers are responding with taglines that Canadians have heard before.
Canada-Wide Clearance. Employee Pricing. All-In Clearout Event.
And at the heart of it all are incentives that are precisely tailored to provide targeted relief exactly where Canadians feel the most pain: interest rates. Cash discounts are helpful, but consumers who’ve grown increasingly disgusted with advertised rates topping 6, 7 or 8% are prone to respond to 0%/72-month offers on the Chevrolet Silverado, 0.99%/24-month leases on the Nissan Rogue, or 1.99%/60-month financing – with $1,000 discounts – on the Volkswagen Taos.
There are still plenty of automakers struggling to supply their dealers with sufficient inventory, either across the board or in certain sections of the lineup. In many of those instances, deals remain few and far between. But automakers aren’t keen on seeing inventory levels intermittently balloon like they so often did in pre-pandemic years, so they’re responding quickly with attempts to offset high MSRPs with eye-catching subvented rates.
Will it work? In an industry that absolutely hates the thought of slowing demand, it almost always does. Canada didn’t break annual auto sales records in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and again in 2017 because we needed to buy 2 million new vehicles per year. We did it because automakers made it possible.
In 2024, the combination of natural consumer demand, gradually increasing OEM supply, and early attempts to induce a modicum of artificially inflated demand resulted in a 6% uptick in auto sales through the first three-quarters of 2024. Figures are sadly not entirely complete due to Ford’s decision to pull out of the sales reporting process – we won’t know precise Ford and Lincoln sales figures for 2024 until the year is complete. Tesla also skips the reporting of market-specific monthly/quarterly sales figures.
Among those that remain, we’ve compiled lists of Canada’s best-selling auto brands, best-selling cars, best-selling trucks, and best-selling SUVs through 2024’s first nine months.
Canada’s best-selling automakers in 2024’s first three-quarters
5. GMC: 76,255, up 3%
Despite a third-quarter that was weaker this year than last, GMC managed to bump Nissan out of the top five over the course of the summer months. GMC remains overwhelmingly a pickup-oriented brand – two-thirds of the brand’s Canadian volume comes from the Sierra and Canyon. Canyon volume is actually up 58% this year. Pair that with a 29% uptick in sales of the compact Terrain SUV and GMC’s modest year-over-year sales gains stem largely from gains of its most affordable models.
4. Honda: 91,262, up 7%
Third-quarter sales at Honda barely ticked up as the brand’s two most popular models, CR-V and Civic, both posted marginal year-over-year losses. Nevertheless, Honda is ahead of 2023’s nine-month sales pace by nearly 6,000 units primarily because of first-half increases from those same two Canadian-made models.
3. Hyundai: 98,390, up 12%
Third-quarter sales at Hyundai increased 1% in spite of significant year-over-year sales declines from the Elantra, Ioniq 6, Kona, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Tucson, and Venue. Credit the electric Ioniq 5, Hyundai’s big hatch, for its 158% Q3 increase. Year-to-date, Ioniq 5 sales have more than doubled. According to Statistics Canada, the Ioniq 5 accounted for 2,333 iZEV rebates in July and August alone – 78% of those were in Quebec.
2. Chevrolet: 110,429, up 10%
GM Canada is outpacing the Canadian market’s growth rate in 2024 largely on the back of its best-selling division, Chevrolet. Sales at the Bowtie brand have grown by more than 10,000 units this year due in large part to the brand’s ability to sell somewhat affordable vehicles in a market that seems to be abandoning affordability. Combined, the Trax and Trailblazer subcompact utilities produced 21,752 sales during the first three-quarters of 2024, a 124% improvement from 2023.
1. Toyota: 158,317, up 10%
In the absence of figures from Ford Motor Company, Toyota claims top spot among auto brands. It’s not all sunshine and roses, however, as Q3 volume slid 9% at Toyota. (September sales at Toyota actually tumbled 14%.) Even as Toyota struggles to get supply back on track, the brand still reported 48,484 third-quarter sales. In 2024, 60% of the 158,317 vehicles sold by Toyota have been SUVs/crossovers, led by the best-selling RAV4.
Canada’s best-selling cars in 2024’s first three-quarters
5. Volkswagen Jetta: 8,691, up 57%
The year 2024 will go down as a resurgent year for Volkswagen in Canada. No volume brand is growing at anywhere near the pace of the Jetta’s parent company, which jumped 59% in the third-quarter and is up 56% through the first nine months of the year. The Jetta’s 57% uptick is only one component. The Golf family is up 103%, Taos volume is up 88%, the ID.4 posted an 81% increase, Tiguan sales grew 35%, and the Atlas duo reported a 24% improvement. Volkswagen is on pace to break its annual sales record (72,210 units in 2018) by mid-November.
4. Nissan Sentra: 9,557, up 31%
While the Nissan brand appears in distressing headlines courtesy of its U.S. sales performance of late, the brand posted a 14% Q3 sales increase in Canada. The Sentra wasn’t the only Nissan model to post a big year-over-year increase, but its 73% Q3 jump brought in an additional 1,563 sales over the course of the summer.
3. Hyundai Elantra: 15,094, down 8%
Capped off by a 30% slide in September, Hyundai Elantra sales slipped 8% in Q3 and are down 8% year-to-date, a 1,296-unit decline from prior year levels. Hyundai, however, isn’t nearly as Elantra-reliant as it was 10, 15, or 20 years ago. A decade ago, Hyundai Canada relied on the Elantra for 37% of its sales. That figure stands at just 15% in 2024.
2. Toyota Corolla: 20,339, down 3%
A dreadful third-quarter in which Corolla sales tumbled 33% rendered unlikely a third consecutive year of best-seller status for the compact Toyota. The Corolla is in no danger of losing the silver medal position, but with Toyota’s 287 Canadian dealers notably short on supply, a Corolla bounceback in Q4 isn’t going to be easy. Toyota only sold 1,854 Corollas in September, a 1,092-unit shortfall compared with 2023.
1. Honda Civic: 22,373, up 9%
After a 24-year streak as Canada’s top-selling passenger car, Honda surrendered its title in both 2022 and 2023. Yet the Civic’s lead in 2024 is broadening as Honda seeks to regain its typical position atop the car sales rankings – the Civic now leads the No.2 Corolla by more than 2,000 units. Overall car sales volume is a far cry from what it was when Honda put up record Civic numbers 16 years ago, as is Civic volume. Honda sold 61,712 Civics in the first nine months of 2008.
Canada’s best-selling pickups in 2024’s first three-quarters
5. Toyota Tacoma: 7,967, down 32%
Toyota Canada set an annual sales record with its venerable midsize pickup in 2023. At 16,433 units, the Tacoma cornered precisely one-third of the non-full-size truck market. However, 2024 tells a different story as Toyota endures the growing pains of launching an all-new Tacoma. Sales are down by nearly one-third and GM’s midsize duo is outselling the Tacoma by 1.4-to-1.
4. Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon: 10,977, up 27%
With a 24% uptick in Colorado sales (to 6,096) and a 58% Canyon surge (to 4,881), no automaker in Canada is selling midsize pickups quite like General Motors. Of course, the duo’s tally remains paltry relative to GM’s big earners – the company’s full-size twins outsell the Colorado/Canyon by an 8-to-1 margin.
3. Toyota Tundra: 11,255, up 16%
At a Toyota brand that struggled to put up 2023-like numbers in the third-quarter of 2024, the Tundra was an exception to the rule. Q3 volume jumped 8% for Toyota’s full-size pickup. Toyota set a Canadian Tundra sales record just last year, but that 13,365-unit total is likely to be scratched from the record books just one year later.
2. Ram P/U: 45,534, down 25%
Not by any means are Ram sales the only issue at Stellantis. (Jeep is down 25% this year, Dodge is off by 30%, and Chrysler has fallen 17%.) But if you’re looking for a shining symbol of the automaker’s maladies, Ram is it. First-quarter Ram pickup sales slid 21%; second-quarter volume tumbled 27%, and third-quarter sales fell 26%. Ram lost nearly 15,000 sales over the course of just nine months, harsh results for dealers that have shed market share all year long.
1. GMC Sierra/Chevrolet Silverado: 86,321, up 0.1%
After years of booming full-size truck volume, Canadians continue to turn to full-size pickups in massive numbers. But it’s certainly not as easy to move big trucks this year as last. With no figures from Ford for its longtime top-selling F-Series, GM’s full-size tandem takes the crown with 86,321 total sales (40,434 Silverados; 45,887 Sierras) in 2024’s first nine months, an increase of 58 units compared with last year.
Canada’s best-selling SUVs/crossover in 2024’s first three-quarters
5. Subaru Crosstrek: 22,405, up 51%
Subaru is flying high almost exclusively due to huge year-over-year improvements from two models. Forester sales have more than doubled in 2024. But Crosstrek sales in 2024 have proven to be 81% stronger than Forester sales, a striking result for Subaru’s smallest crossover. Subaru’s 52,492 total sales in 2024’s first nine months represent a 32% increase and should result in Subaru breaking its six-year-old annual sales record by the end of November.
4. Hyundai Kona: 24,385, up 49%
Although Kona momentum slowed precipitously by the summer – Q3 sales actually declined 2% – Hyundai’s most popular model continues to be Canada’s best-selling subcompact crossover. The all-electric Kona plays a major role in the lineup’s success as one of Canada’s best-selling EVs.
3. Nissan Rogue: 26,973, up 37%
As Nissan preps hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains for the Rogue in order to stem the tide south of the border – Rogue sales are down 10% in the U.S. this year and fell 24% in Q3 – Nissan Canada’s Rogue volume appears healthy. At its current rate of growth, the Rogue is tracking toward a 35,000+ sales in 2024. But keep in mind, pre-pandemic Rogue sales repeatedly topped 40,000 units (2016, 2017, 2018), and Nissan needs a boost in order to get back to that level given the hybrid-heavy nature of its better-selling rivals.
2. Honda CR-V: 41,874, up 5%
Not surprisingly, Honda set its Canadian CR-V sales record before the pandemic, reaching 55,859 units in calendar year 2019. At the beginning of the year, it appeared as though 2024 was the year for Honda to break that record – Q1 sales jumped 114%, year-over-year, and even at the end of June Honda was tracking toward 58,000 CR-V sales. But the spring and summer weren’t terribly kind to the CR-V, and Honda now appears more likely to finish the year just short of that record pace.
1. Toyota RAV4: 57,763, up 3%
Bolstered by one of Canada’s best-selling plug-in hybrids, a hugely popular hybrid, and an expansive lineup overall, the Toyota RAV4 is tracking toward another massive sales year despite a recent downturn. Second-quarter growth was negligible; third-quarter RAV4 sales fell 13%. The RAV4 remains Canada’s best-selling non-pickup and outsells its next-best-selling rival by 38%.