Canada’s five biggest auto segments — and their leaders

Internal change in the automotive industry has caused a gradual shift in demand that has decimated Canada’s passenger car market and elevated crossovers of every type.

But minivan sales didn’t fall off a cliff in one night, small pickups didn’t disappear one morning, and mid-size pickups didn’t bounce back in an afternoon. Change takes time.

External change, on the other hand, has the tendency of causing seismic activity. Take, for instance, a pandemic that has at times shut down nearly every aspect of the automotive industry.

The consequences are grave. Two years ago, the Hyundai Accent was Canada’s top-selling subcompact car, three years ago it was still selling more than 1,000 copies a month, and four years ago it still ranked as one of Canada’s 10 best-selling cars.

Now, Hyundai Canada is calling it quits with the

Accent. Sales of subcompact cars have slowed to a trickle: only 1,600 per month for the entire segment. Year over year, subcompact car sales are falling nearly twice as fast as the market overall.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, to discover that the subcompact car segment is not on this list of 2020’s five best-selling vehicle segments in Canada.

These are Canada’s five biggest vehicular segments during 2020’s first half.

5 MID-SIZE SUVS

Though often overshadowed in the automotive press by more established nameplates such as Explorer, Pathfinder, and Pilot, a slightly lower rung on the Canadian SUV/crossover ledger actually proves more popular.

In part, that’s thanks to new options in the segment that compete with stalwarts such as Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Subaru Outback. Consider

the Chevrolet Blazer and Honda Passport, which account for eight per cent of the mid-size SUV/crossover category’s 35,827 year-to-date sales. That’s down 37 per cent, year over year.

Leader: Jeep Grand Cherokee

Grand Cherokee sales are down this year — very few vehicles aren’t. But in a segment that’s off by 37 per cent, Grand Cherokee volume declined only 29 per cent, to 6,839 units, in 2020’s first six months.

4 SUBCOMPACT SUVS

Relative to the market at large, Canadian sales of subcompact utility vehicles have dropped only slightly in the COVID-19 era, falling 17 per cent, to 61,095 units, in 2020’s first half. It’s now a ballooning category that’s subdivided by numerous automakers. Hyundai, Buick, Chevrolet, Nissan, Mazda, and Kia all field multiple competitors with the slimmest of size differences, often playing to the crowded SUV arena with vehicles that don’t even offer all-wheel drive.

Leader: Hyundai Kona Kona benefits from a broad model range with multiple powertrain options, high levels of standard equipment, and a built-in buyer base from two Hyundai cars that have proven popular for more than a decade: Accent and Elantra. Kona sales are down 28 per cent, to 9,408 units, in 2020’s first half.

3 COMPACT CARS

Some 52 per cent of the passenger cars sold in Canada are either Honda Civics or its direct competitors. Some 72,078 compact cars were sold in 2020’s first six months, a 46 per cent year-over-year decrease.

Leader: Honda Civic

In a segment that was already beginning to collapse before the pandemic struck, the Honda Civic has been gaining market share for years. It has been Canada’s top-selling car overall for 22 consecutive years, but the Civic’s competitors are disappearing from the shelves.

Civic sales are down 44 per cent, to 18,193 units, 23 per cent stronger than sales of its closest competitor, the Toyota Corolla.

2 COMPACT SUVS

Canada’s sprawling compact SUV/crossover category incorporates nearly 20 models and generated nearly 120,000 sales in 2020’s pandemic-stricken first half, a 41 per cent year-over-year drop. That’s before you factor in a very significant premium-brand compact-SUV sector, which produced more than 22,000 sales of its own in 2020’s first six months.

Leader: Toyota RAV4 Toyota’s No. 1 seller took over its segment in 2016 and hasn’t looked back. Granted, sales are down sharply in 2020: by 36 per cent, to 20,596 units. No other non-pickup truck sells in greater numbers in Canada.

1 FULL-SIZE PICKUPS

From the No 2-selling segment in 2019’s first half to the top of the podium in 2020, full-size pickup sales are falling just like every other category, but not nearly as harshly. Canada’s auto market is down 34 per cent through six months; full-size trucks are down just 20 per cent.

Leader: Ford F-Series The F-Series is the alpha dog in the world of full-size pickup trucks, generating 56 per cent more sales than the Ram P/U, and 17 per cent more than GM’s truck duo combined.

Sales are down 25 per cent, to 56,466 units, so far this year, which means the F-Series is losing a bit of market share. But the newest F-150 has already been revealed, which suggests 2021 could be a big year of recovery for Ford’s all-important truck.