Canadian Auto Sales in June 2024 grew for the 19th month in a row, registering 170,445 new sales (+4.0%). YTD figures at 900,927 are up 8.9% compared to the prior year.
Market Trend and Outlook
After three years of economic upheaval, the Canadian economy is beginning to settle down, as early estimates show strong growth in H1 2024. With inflation on a steady downward trend, the Bank of Canada has now begun to ease its policy stance, paving the way for stronger economic growth ahead.
Lower interest rates should encourage households to spend and businesses to invest. However, there are still risks to the economic outlook in the form of geopolitical tensions and the possibility that inflation and interest rates won’t fall as expected. Deloitte’s forecast projects the second half of 2024 to grow more moderately, bringing yearly GDP rate to 1.2% in 2024 and 2.6% in 2025.
Although economic performance has shown signs of recovery only in the last months, the Canadian light vehicle market in June 2024 grew for the 19th month in a row, registering 170,445 new sales (+4.0%). YTD figures at 900,927 are up 8.9% compared to the prior year.
Looking at cumulative data up to June 2024 brand-wise, the new leader Toyota increased sales by 20.3%, with 109,833 new registrations.
In 2nd place ranked Ford -down 1 spot- with 109,784 sales (+0.7%), followed in 3rd by Chevrolet with 70,105 units sold (+12.5%).
Hyundai maintained 4th position with 66,008 sales and a 18.7% growth in year-on-year performance.
Nissan grew 2 spots into 5th with 58,977 sales (+32.8%), followed by Honda at 57,401 (+9.7%), GMC -down 1 spot- at 51,819 (+6.5%), Kia with 45,147 units sold (+5.1%), Volkswagen -up 1 spot- with 40,447 new registrations (+53.9%) and Subaru -up 2 spots- in 10th place with 35,686 sales (+43.4%).
Looking at specific models, reported in the dedicated article, the Ford F-series is still the best seller despite a 1.2% decrease in year-on-year volume, followed by the Toyota RAV4 up 10.6% and 1 spot.
Medium-Term Market Trend
Following an impressive series of 8 consecutive growths, 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.
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 relies heavily 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.
Only in 2023 was the country’s vehicle market able to recover, growing in all 12 months and 1.69 million new vehicle registrations, an 11.4% increase from 2022.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands and top 10 Groups.
