Making the grade

October 1, 2024

Grading the performance of the OEMs after the midpoint of the year. Who is excelling and who is lagging behind? Find out!

Four years removed from COVID-19 closures and three years removed from the beginning of a severe supply chain crunch, Canada’s automotive dealers finally have vehicles to sell. 

It’s not a universal truth, it by no means applies across all product lines, and most OEMs aren’t yet running at historically normal inventory levels. But broadly speaking, after years of unpredictability and instability made it difficult for Canadians to quickly and easily get the car they wanted, pent-up demand in the first-half of 2024 is being somewhat satisfied.

In other words, depending on the manufacturer, the days of having more buyers than vehicles have either disappeared already or will soon do so. The anticipated consequences: increased levels of dealer-to-dealer competition, noteworthy OEM incentivization, and more cross-shopping. 

After 2024’s first-quarter sales rose 14 per cent compared with the equivalent period in 2023, Q2’s 3 per cent uptick was decidedly unimpressive. Canadians registered fewer than 490,000 vehicles between April and June – that’s 14 per cent shy of 2019’s pre-pandemic Q2 pace. Tucked within 2024’s first-half figures are widely varying results for individual automakers. 

We’ve graded all of the OEMs for a report card recap at 2024’s midway point.

Acura Integra Type S

ACURA: C

Any momentum generated by the revival of Acura’s storied Integra appears to be lost. The Integra itself suffered a 28 per cent first-half drop in sales — it now only makes up 7 per cent of Acura’s Canadian sales. Likewise, the TLX sedan is an afterthought in Canada’s anti-sedan market. Only 439 TLXs were sold in the first-half, a 34 per cent drop. The MDX and RDX are Acura’s bread and butter, generating 5,009 of Acura’s 5,866 (down 1 per cent) first-half sales.

Audi Q3

AUDI: B-

Among traditional premium marques, no brand sells more vehicles in Canada than Audi. Yet even Audi slipped 5 per cent in the first-half, basically on par with a 4 per cent slide in the premium sector overall. Audi’s 15,611-unit total represents a 775-unit drop for the brand. Offsetting significant declines from the A3, A4, A5, Q5, Q7, and Q8 was a 68 per cent uptick in Q3 sales worth nearly 1,500 additional sales.

BMW X5

BMW: C

Tucked right below Audi and Lexus in Canada’s premium brand rankings with 14,835 first-half sales, BMW volume slipped 3 per cent, year-over-year. Long gone are the days when the 3 Series carried the load at BMW — a decade ago the 3er still generated nearly one-third of the brand’s sales. 3 series sales were down 34 per cent in 2024’s first six months to 1,123 units, less than 8 per cent of BMW’s volume. The X3 now outsells the 3 Series by more than 3-to-1.

Ford F-150 preproduction model shown

FORD: DNQ

Ford Canada is sticking to its guns by skipping out on the sales reporting process throughout the calendar year, deigning to broadcast sales results only annually. Ford Motor Company’s market share in 2023 stood at 14.1 per cent, down from 15.9 per cent in 2022.

Chevrolet Trax ACTIV in Nitro Yellow Metallic

GENERAL MOTORS: A+

GM’s 10 per cent first-half gain (to 140,548 sales) secures the four-brand group’s position as Canada’s top-selling manufacturer. Moreover, while a number of automakers reported less encouraging Q2 results after a decent start to the year, GM is actually trending in the opposite direction: April-June sales rose 17 per cent on the back of booming SUV/crossover sales. Q2 utility vehicle volume at GM jumped 39 per cent to 36,640. That’s more than 10,000 extra sales over the span of just three months.

Genesis GV70

GENESIS: B

Genesis is, broadly speaking, a GV70-oriented premium brand in the Canadian market. GV70 is the brand’s No.1 model (by a wide margin) and also the brand’s lone source of momentum. In other words, with the GV70, Genesis sales are up 5 per cent to 3,362 units in 2024’s first-half, easily outpacing the premium sector. Excluding the GV70, five other Genesis models are down 25 per cent. 

Honda CR-V Sport Touring

HONDA: B+

Honda’s 70 per cent Q1 increase was certainly eye-catching. Unfortunately, it was followed by a 17 per cent drop in Q2 sales, including a 19 per cent June slide. Canadian-built Civics and CR-Vs were long considered automatic sales for Honda, but sharp second-quarter declines indicate trouble in paradise. Overall, first-half Honda sales jumped 10 per cent to 57,401 units, fourth among individual brands behind Toyota, Chevrolet, and Hyundai.  

Hyundai Kona

HYUNDAI: A+

The launch of the second-generation Kona is of paramount importance to Hyundai, which has made the Kona synonymous with subcompact SUV success. And successful this launch has been, as Kona sales are up 83 per cent this year. Overall, Hyundai’s up 19 per cent to 66,008 sales in 2024 with other gains from the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, and Tucson. 

Infiniti QX60

INFINITI: D

There’s a fine line between mainstream premium success and premium oblivion. With only 3,041 first-half sales — basically 117 per week — Infiniti isn’t generating quite as many sales as upstart Genesis, let alone its two compatriots: Acura (at 5,866) and Lexus (at 14,977.) Making matters worse this year is the fact that Infiniti’s bright spot, the three-row QX60, is down 18 per cent. 

Jaguar F-Pace

JAGUAR: B

Were it not for the fact that Jaguar hardly sells any vehicles (only 734 in the first-half) its positive trajectory would earn the brand a stronger grade. Jaguar ended 2023 with 1,118 sales, a 10 per cent increase. Through the first-half of 2024, Jaguar’s up 30 per cent, albeit with only 156 sales that aren’t F-Pace SUVs.

Kia Sportage

KIA: B+

With the Rio discontinued and Forte transitioning into its K4 phase, sales at the most affordable end of the market have crumbled for Kia in early 2024. Combined, the Forte, Rio, and Soul declines resulted in 3,249 lost sales for Kia. On the plus side, Kia’s trio of core SUVs — Sorento, Sportage, Seltos — combined for a 12 per cent year-over-year jump worth 2,734 extra sales. Overall, Kia volume is up 5 per cent to 45,147 units in 2024. 

Land Rover Defender

LAND ROVER: A

Land Rover’s 15 per cent sales surge in the first-half stands out in Canada’s struggling premium market. The Defender, launched for the 2020 model year, is both Land Rover’s best-selling model and its fastest-growing. Up 115 per cent to 1,543 units, the Defender accounts for more than one-third of Land Rover’s 4,277 sales so far this year. Land Rover has sold 7,848 Defenders since the model was reborn.

Lexus GX

LEXUS: C

With 31,199 sales in calendar year 2023, last year was the best year ever for Lexus in Canada. At this rate, 2024 will not break that record. Lexus volume dropped 8 per cent in the first-half to 14,977 units, still strong by historical standards. With different corners of the Lexus lineup undergoing overhauls, the two best-selling models — NX and RX — combined for a 19 per cent decline. 

Maserati Grecale

MASERATI: D-

Maserati’s 356 first-half sales are a drop in the bucket for an industry that delivered nearly 900,000 cars between January and June. Yet the Italian luxury brand’s 33 per cent year-over-year drop isn’t insignificant; it’s an indicator of what’s going on elsewhere in the luxury sphere. Two-thirds of Maserati sales come from its smaller SUV, the Grecale, which tumbled 39 per cent in the first-half. 

Mazda CX-70

MAZDA: A+

Strong results in both the first and second quarters resulted in a 17 per cent year-over-year increase for Mazda’s first-half. The brand’s 33,005 sales are, not unpredictably, driven by its SUVs, including its two newest models. The CX-90 and CX-70 (which is essentially a two-row CX-90) combined for 3,825 sales. Sales of the Alabama-built CX-50, which is due to receive a Toyota-designed hybrid system for MY2025, are up 151 per cent this year.

Mercedes-Benz GLC 300

MERCEDES-BENZ: C

Mercedes-Benz Canada sold 16,233 vehicles in the first-half of 2024, including 3,202 commercial vans. The brand’s 4 per cent dip didn’t occur due to its stable of core SUVs — the GLE and GLC combined for a 22 per cent increase from 2023 levels. But the EQ electric Benz models fell 18 per cent, conventional cars slid 26 per cent, and even G-Wagen volume dropped 28 per cent. 

Mini Cooper

MINI: C

Far outside the small car mainstream, Mini sales fell 4 per cent to only 2,229 units in 2024’s first-half. Mini’s now off its pre-pandemic first-half pace from 2019 by 24 per cent. Of course, Mini was never destined to achieve in Canada what it accomplishes in its home market — Mini currently holds 2.1 per cent market share in the UK; 0.2 per cent in Canada.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

MITSUBISHI: B-

After a 2020 that was unkind to every automaker (and especially rough on Mitsubishi), Mitsubishi routinely outpaced industry growth in each of the next three years. Canadian auto sales rose 7 per cent in 2021; Mitsubishi jumped 47 per cent. The market slipped 9 per cent in 2022; Mitsubishi was down 7 per cent. Industry-wide 13 per cent growth in 2023 was outmatched by a 62 per cent Mitsubishi increase. That streak has been placed on hold, at least temporarily, with a first-half 2 per cent Mitsubishi uptick to 18,239 units in a market that’s up 8 per cent.

Nissan Kicks

NISSAN: A

In advance of the already-unveiled second-generation Kicks, Nissan’s determination to move more copies of the first-gen Kicks appears to be working. Kicks sales jumped 37 per cent to 9,782 in the first-half. Along with the Rogue’s 47 per cent jump to 18,893 units, the brand’s smallest crossover played a big role in Nissan’s 17 per cent surge to 51,984 sales in the first-half. Unfortunately for Nissan, even as the Kicks and Rogue accelerated further in Q2, Nissan fell 6 per cent overall between April and June.

Porsche 911

PORSCHE: C-

2023 was a huge year for Porsche in Canada as sales rose 16 per cent to 10,644 units during what was, for most OEMs, a particularly challenging period. It was the best year ever for Porsche. That’s something Porsche is less likely to report in 2024 after a 14 per cent drop through the first-half. Of course, the possibility remains. At 4,825 sales to date, Porsche is off last year’s pace by 777 units. 

Jeep® Wrangler Rubicon X 4xe

STELLANTIS: D-

Rare is the product in Stellantis’s Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Ram, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo lineup that generated more sales in 2024’s first-half than in the same period a year ago. Jeep reported a 40 per cent Compass increase, for example, and Chrysler Grand Caravan sales are up 88 per cent. Elsewhere, however, the situation is more than a bit gloomy, particularly with the two big brands (Ram and Jeep) losing a total of 18,118 sales in only six months. Stellantis is down 23 per cent to 68,539 sales through June. 

Subaru Crosstrek

SUBARU: A+

Subaru capped off the first-half with its best-ever June and its best-ever second-quarter, driving total first-half sales up to 35,686 units, a 43 per cent year-over-year increase. Explosive growth from the Crosstrek and Forester — incidentally, Subaru’s two best-selling models — is the main driver. The duo jumped 97 per cent compared with 2023 and now account for two-thirds of Subaru Canada sales.

Toyota Tacoma

TOYOTA: A+

No individual auto brand has reported more auto sales in Canada this year than Toyota, which jumped 20 per cent from 2023 levels to 109,833 units. It’s the best start to the year for Toyota since 2008, just prior to an economic meltdown. Although Toyota’s second-quarter growth wasn’t nearly as impressive as its first-quarter expansion — June, in particular, had some real lowlights — the improvement compared with 2023 is momentous. After all, a 20 per cent jump at Toyota is worth nearly 3,100 extra sales per month.

Volkswagen Taos

VOLKSWAGEN: A+

Hit the rewind button: Volkswagen was surging in the first-half of 2023 with growth that was twice as strong as the industry at large. Back in the present, Volkswagen Canada’s 54 per cent leap forward is nearly seven times stronger than the market’s improvement. Across the entire lineup — Golf GTI and Golf R, Jetta, Atlas, ID4, Taos, Tiguan — sales are rising.

Volvo XC60 Recharge T8

VOLVO: A

Bankrolled by growth from its three primary SUVs — XC90, XC60, XC40 — Volvo is propped up in a premium market that struggled in early 2024. Volvo’s competitors collectively slipped to the tune of a 4 per cent year-over-year slide. Volvo, meanwhile, jumped 13 per cent to 6,383 units. After a record-setting run in 2023, Volvo is tracking toward another Canadian record one year later.

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