Small pickup trucks were the only segment to record positive sales for the first quarter of the year, up 4.8%, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC).
It’s a notable change not just because Q1 experienced a 20% decline in sales due to the novel coronavirus, but also due to the underrated nature of the segment.
“An underrepresented segment for some time, a few key new model introductions to the small pickup segment last year bore fruit with sales ramping up in the first quarter of 2020,” said DAC in its report. “Although all other segments recorded decreases, several outperformed the overall market by a fair margin including the large pickup and luxury sport segments, down 1.7% and 5.5% respectively.”
The most significant decreases can be found in the luxury (-41.7%), luxury high (-46.5%), and subcompact segments (-55.0%). The passenger car segments didn’t fare too well either (with the exception of the luxury sport segment), as they fell below the market average sales decrease.
“Light truck segments, by contrast, generally outperformed the market with light truck share climbing to 79.2% of the market,” said DAC.
See below for Canadian light vehicle sales by segment change for Q1 of 2020:
