December auto sales in Canada proved surprisingly strong, considering the widely imposed restrictions stemming from COVID-19’s second wave, falling just 2.6% below 2019 levels. That December strength helped keep the annual sales decline for 2020 marginally below the 20% figure that was anticipated.
Full-year 2020 sales of 1,537,388 new vehicles were down 19.7% from 2019’s 1,914,357-unit tally, based on DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) data.
Fourth-quarter sales of 392,162 vehicles were down by 5.1% from the same period last year, not far behind Q3’s 3.9% decline. December’s SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Sales Rate) of about 1.65-million, as estimated by DAC, although it may seem alarmingly low, is not far off the norm for December, which is typically the lowest month of the year.
All of which may be interpreted as the chaotic 2020 year ending with the automotive glass at least half full.
As Andrew King, Managing Partner of DAC put it: “It may be difficult to take a market decline of 19.7% in any way as a hopeful outcome — but from the depths of full dealer closures and a 75% market collapse in April — the year end performance was perhaps not as bad as many in the industry had feared in the spring.”
While the end result was far better than it might have been, 2020’s negatives cannot be overlooked. Its 1.54 million sales total was the lowest since 2009, offsetting a decade of gains, at least temporarily.
And the 19.7% annual sales decline was the second-greatest on record in percentage terms, surpassed only by a 22.7% decline in 1982, according to DAC.
It was, in countless ways, a year to be remembered. Or maybe, best forgotten.
Light truck domination continues to advance
The consistent decline of passenger car sales in favour of light trucks (pickups, vans and utility vehicles, including crossovers) was further amplified in 2020. A total of 1,228,795 “light trucks” were sold in 2020, an increase of 0.1% from 2019. But sales of just 308,593 passenger cars represented a decline of 23.3%.
“Light trucks” claimed a record of 79.9% of total market share for the year, while passenger cars accounted for just 20.1% of the market — a 4.2% further shift from the end of 2019.
Ford retains its sales crown
For the 12th consecutive year, Ford remained the best-selling auto brand in Canada in 2020. Total Ford sales of 239,368 new vehicles were down by 16.8% from 2019, in a market that was down 19.7%, so market share for the year improved by 0.6% to 15.6%.
General Motors, which saw a 7.1% sales gain in Q4, maintained its second-place ranking for the year with 218,501 sales, down just 14.9%. That smaller decline resulted in an even greater share improvement than Ford, jumping by 0.8% to 14.2% — the greatest share gain in the business.
FCA, which also achieved a positive fourth quarter (+4.7%), finished the year with a 19.9% decline to 178,752 vehicles sold, just marginally behind the market average. It was enough to retain FCA’s third-place position but with its market share reduced by 0.1% to 11.6%.
Not all that far behind in fourth, with 170,598 sales, Toyota just slightly outpaced the market with a 19.4% decline from 2019. As a result, the leading Japanese brand’s share held steady at 11.1%.
Honda continued to fill out the top five with 125,962 new vehicles sold in 2020, a decline of 25.5% that fell well below the market average. That shortfall cost Honda 0.6% of market share, down to 8.2% — the second-greatest share decline in the industry.
Korean onslaught continues
Hyundai, in sixth place, pulled closer to Honda in Q4 and finished the year with 112,358 units sold, a decline of just 15.7%. In a market down considerably more, that performance raised the Korean market leader’s share by 0.3% to 7.3%.
Nissan maintained its seventh-pace ranking for 2020 but its 82,677 sales were down 33.2% from 2019 — the greatest percentage decline of any mainstream automaker. That decline cut Nissan’s market share by 1.1% to 5.4% — the greatest share loss in the industry.
Still in eighth place but rapidly gaining, Kia’s sales were up by 12.3% in Q4 and its 72,452 total sales in 2020 were down just 5.5% from 2019 — the best performance of any mainstream brand. That achievement boosted Kia’s market share by 0.7% to 4.7% — second only to GM in share gain.
Mazda moved up one place in the rankings from 2019, finishing 2020 strong with a 7.6% increase in Q4 and a year-end total of 57,773 sales, a decline of just 13.0%. Consequently, Mazda’s market share jumped 0.3% to 3.8%.
Tenth place also found a new nameplate, as Subaru usurped that position from Volkswagen with best-ever Q4 results (6.0%) and 52,129 total sales, down just 9.4%. That relative gain increased Subaru’s market share by 0.4% to 3.4%.
VW slipped to 11th with 49,830 units sold, down by 27.9%, resulting in a 0.4% share decline to 3.2%.
Mercedes-Benz, in 12th place, continued to be the leader among luxury brands with 35,396 sales, down 22.8% from 2019, and a 0.1% share decline to 2.3% —ahead of Audi, BMW and Lexus in that order. All the luxury brands except Land Rover and Lexus lagged behind overall market performance.
Winners and losers
In terms of percent change from 2019, the big “winners” for 2020 were: Genesis (4.1%), Kia (-5.5%), Volvo (-9.3%), Subaru (-9.4%), and Mazda (-13.0%).
The greatest “losers” among active brands were: Infiniti (-47.3%), Jaguar (-41.0%), Maserati (-38.8%), Mitsubishi (-37.0%), and Nissan (-33.2%).
It should be noted that the sales figures reported here are reconciled quarterly by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) based on sales reported by manufacturers.
