By Gerry Malloy
As has been widely predicted and expected, new vehicle sales in Canada through the first quarter of 2019 were down from the record pace of the same period last year.
As reported by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC), March’s 181,800 sales were off 2.5% from a year ago and cumulative first quarter sales of 411,465 units declined by 4.1%. That said, they still made Q1 2019 the third-best first quarter ever and March sales were well above the five-year average for the month.
In addition, based on the SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Sales Rate), the market seems remarkably stable. It has remained steady right around 2.0-million for the past three months, according to DAC.
Reinforcing that positive view, overall consumer confidence continued to rise in March despite increased interest rates, according to David Adams, President of the Global Automakers of Canada.
The results of the next few months will be more telling for, until now, monthly year-over-year comparisons have been against record-setting figures. From here on they’ll be against numbers already in decline, as the current downturn began last March and has now extended to 13 months.
As has become the norm, all of this March’s decline can be attributed to losses in passenger car sales, which were off by 10.1%. Slightly moderating that decline, light truck sales, including vans and utility vehicles, improved by 0.6%. For the year-to-date, light trucks accounted for 74.3% market share, an increase of 2.8% from a year ago, leaving just 25.7% for passenger cars.
Ford reclaims top spot
After giving up the number-one sales ranking to FCA in February, Ford regained the top spot in March, for both the month and the year-to-date. The Blue Oval was the only one of the Detroit Three to show a gain for the month, with 27,915 sales, up 7.2% from a year ago. Through the first quarter, Ford’s 62,319 sales were up by 2.1%, bumping market share by 0.9% to 15.1%.
General Motors’ 24,610 sales ranked second for the month but they were down 18.4% from 2018, perhaps reflecting some public backlash to the announced cessation of vehicle production in Oshawa. Through the first quarter, GM sold 55,260 vehicles — enough to maintain second-place ahead of declining FCA sales but down 14.9% from last year, cutting market share by 1.7% to 13.4%.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which claimed the top sales ranking in February, fell to third in March with 21,684 units sold — an 11.5% decline. As a result, FCA’s cumulative 54,331 Q1 sales were down by 11.0% and market share fell by 1.0% to 13.2%.
Fourth-place Toyota, too, suffered a March decline with 18,185 sales, down by 4.1% from 2018. Still, cumulative sales of 42,934 units through Q1 were up by 1.7%, supporting a 0.6% increase in market share to 10.4%.
Just 345 units behind with 17,840 vehicles sold, Honda’s sales were up 12.0% in March. That improvement brought previously sagging year-to-date sales of 38,602 vehicles back on par with last year, improving market share by 0.4% to 9.4% in the smaller overall market.
Continued strength from Korean brands
Nissan remained well clear of its pursuers in sixth-place, with 13,606 sales in March, down 2.7%, and 28.655 through Q1 — a 7.5% decline. As a result, Nissan has lost 0.2% of market share, down to 7.0%.
Hyundai continued its recent strong showing with 10,994 March sales, up 8.8% from a year ago. Year-to-date, its 24,263 sales are 13.8% ahead of 2018, bumping market share by 0.9% to 5.9%. That’s the greatest share increase in the industry, tied with Ford.
Consolidating its claim on eighth place, for both the month and the year-to-date, Kia sold 7,084 vehicles in March, an increase of 4.1%. Cumulative sales of 14,860 units through Q1, up 7.0%, increased Kia’s market share by 0.4% to 3.6%.
Mazda ranked ninth for the month with 6,250 sales, a decline of 11.3%, but remained 10th for the year-to-date. Q1 sales of 13,819 vehicles were down 14.0%, cutting market share by 0.3% to 3.4%.
Volkswagen fell to tenth in March, in spite of a 4.8% sales increase to 5,768 units, but clung, barely, to ninth-place for the first quarter, with 13,906 units sold — a decline of 0.2%. In spite of that overall decline, VW gained 0.2% of market share, to 3.4%, given the reduced size of the market.
After losing the spot in February, Subaru regained 11th place in March, although the AWD brand’s sales again declined, by 0.1% to 4,780 units.
Mercedes-Benz held fast in 12th place for the month and the quarter, ahead of a surging Mitsubishi and well clear of its BMW and Audi luxury-class competitors.
Winners and losers
On a percentage basis, the biggest winners in February were Genesis (+82.5%), Mitsubishi (+42.4%), Infiniti (+14.1%) and Honda (+12.0%).
The biggest losers, in percentage terms, were Smart (-68.6%), Maserati (-33.3%), GM (-18.4%), Audi (-17.3%) and Jaguar (-13.1%).
It was a bad month for some individual automakers, however, especially the European luxury brands, all of which, except for Land Rover and Porsche, suffered double-digit percentage declines. So, too, did FCA, Mazda and Nissan. On the flip side, both Hyundai and Kia made at least double-digit gains, as did Lexus and the lower-volume Genesis and Smart brands.
