Canada 2024. Vehicle Market Up In Double-Digits In February

14735

Canadian auto sales reports a double-digit growth at the start of 2024. Total sales reach 129,000 units in February (+22.2%). Volkswagen grows the most in the top 10 (+98.8%).

Market trend and Outlook

The Canadian economy hasn’t performed well in the current year. Deloitte states: “One of the biggest surprises over the past year has been the resilience of economic growth in the face of aggressive monetary tightening. We finally saw some of the negative impact in the second quarter of this year, with real GDP falling by 0.2%. Over the near term, we expect the economy to continue to struggle in the face of high household debt, soaring interest payments, and stubbornly persistent inflation.”

Despite, the Vehicle Market in February grew for the 15th month in a row, reporting 129,000 new vehicle sales (+22.2%). YTD sales reach 241,862 registrations (+17.1%).

Looking at cumulative data from 2024 brand-wise, the leader Ford increased 32.2% in sales with 38,296 new registrations.

In 2nd place ranks Toyota with 29,039 sales (+41.3%), followed in 3rd by Chevrolet with 19,329 units sold (-4.6%).

The Japanese manufacturer Honda -up 5 spots- ranks in 4th, with 16,762 sales and a 96.3% growth in year-on-year performance.

Hyundai loses 1 spot ranking in 6th with 15,697 sales (-0.2%), followed by Nissan -up 2 spots- at 14,247 (+33.3%), Volkswagen -up 3 spots at 13,490 (+23.9%), Kia -down 2 spots- with 13,265 units sold (+97.9%), Subaru -up 2 spots- with 11,277 new registrations (+76.9%) and GMC -down 5 spots- in 10th place with 9,129 sales (-32.3%).

Looking at specific models the Ford F-series is still the best seller despite a 9.5% loss in year-on year volume, followed by the Toyota RAV4  up 46.7% and 2 spots.

As one of the world’s top producers of light vehicles – 1.4 million vehicles are assembled at the Canadian plants of Stellantis, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota each year, supplied by nearly 700 parts suppliers – Canada’s automotive sector is heavily reliant on global supply chains.

Following significant losses borne by the global automotive industry in the wake of border closures, factory lockdowns and semiconductor chip shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s sector has been especially vulnerable to supply chain constraints.

Automakers have been driven to pursue leaner and more creative risk mitigation and cost-efficient strategies to bypass further disruption, including strengthening relationships or dual sourcing with suppliers to increase supply chain flexibility, diversifying markets, and building inventory.

However, these actions have not been able to fix the issues in place and the domestic market keeps decline.

Medium-Term Market Trend

Following an impressive series of 8 consecutive growth, the Canadian domestic light vehicles market in 2017 broke the 2 million units milestone, hitting the current all-time record and entering the club of the top 10 largest global vehicle industries.

However, such an outstanding level was not maintained for long. In 2019 (-3.7%) the market entered in a negative phase that has not yet come to an end. In 2022  the market maintained this downfall, losing 7.6%, reaching 1.51 million sales and reporting losses in 11 out of 12 months.

In 2023 the economic struggle hasn’t reflected yet in the country’s vehicle market, which registered 1.69 million units sold (+11.4%).

Tables with sales figures

In the tables below we report sales for all Brands and top 10 Groups.

This content is for members only.
Login Join Now