Driving By Numbers: Canada's 10 best-selling auto brands in the first-half of 2021

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Canada’s auto industry in the second quarter of 2021 was much healthier than during the same period one year ago. Much healthier. Far healthier. Way healthier. Not unexpectedly healthier.

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2020’s second quarter – that April to June period at the heart of the pandemic’s first wave – was a terrifying period for Canadians, Canadian workers, Canadian auto dealerships, and the Canadian auto industry as a whole.

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Even with recovery at the tail end of the quarter, total sales volume slowed to a trickle of barely more than 300,000 units. It was only slightly better than half of 2019’s Q2 total.

2021 is an entirely different story. Dealers are open. Canadians remain seemingly flush with savings from all the travel not travelled, all the movies not watched, all the pants not bought. According to Desrosiers Automotive Reports, second-quarter sales in 2021 jumped 52 percent to just under 479,000 units.

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So, all is well? Not quite. The last three months was not the most sterling of Q2s. In the half-decade prior to 2020’s disastrous result, a typical April-to-June period produces roughly 590,000 auto sales in Canada, 111,000 more than the three-month period that just ended.

Yet after a first quarter in which the industry recovered at just a 15-percent rate, Q2’s 52-percent jump is more than welcome, especially considering the microchip-inflicted inventory challenges faced by some of Canada’s best-selling nameplates. First-half auto sales in 2021 are up by a third to 857,000 units, Desrosiers reports. But that’s not representative of demand. Dealers across the country believe that proper stock levels would have produced significantly more sales, especially for vehicles such as the No. 1-selling Ford F-Series and GM’s full-size pickup duo from Chevrolet and GMC.

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A market that’s rapidly transitioning in a variety of segments – midsize pickups, subcompact crossovers, and electric vehicles most notably – during a period of inventory instability and a pandemic does make for interesting results when it comes to ranking Canada’s 10 best-selling auto brands through 2021’s first six months. Each of this year’s top 10 were on this list one year ago, but four have changed rank.

Meanwhile, the gap at the top of the heap has narrowed very sharply. Why? You guessed it: microchips. Brands that are struggling the most to match inventory to demand simply can’t keep pace with the Canadian auto industry’s rapid recovery. While five of Canada’s 10 top-selling auto brands gained market share in 2021’s first-half, five did not, including the makers of Canada’s two top-selling vehicle lines.

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10. Mazda: 34,575, up 53 percent

With one of the smallest lineups of any high-volume brand on the market, Mazda accomplishes a lot with very little. The brand is down to two car lines: the 3 (sedan and hatch) and MX-5 (hard and soft tops). Before long, Mazda will be down to three crossover lines: CX-30, CX-5, and CX-9.

None of this is stopping Mazda from producing above-average gains during this recovery period and outselling the likes of Jeep, Volkswagen, and Subaru. Mazda’s first-half market share climbed half a point to 4 percent.

9. Kia: 41,270, up 43 percent

Kia’s hot, with an in-demand subcompact crossover (the Seltos), a new version of its high-volume three-row Sorento, and even a new people-carrier (the Carnival) that captures attention. Like most other brands, Kia dealers want more vehicles – stores couldn’t get enough Tellurides even before the pandemic, for instance. But Kia’s still picking up market share. In fact, the brand could nudge 5 percent of the Canadian market if the stars align in the second half of 2021.

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8. Ram: 41,348, up 8 percent

Follow along: Ram, which up until a decade ago was part of the Dodge brand, is the best-selling brand at Stellantis. Stellantis is the company you used to know as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, before FCA merged with PSA Group, which builds Peugeot and Citröen. Prior to FCA, Ram was part of Cerberus-owned Chrysler Group, which was previously part of Mercedes-Benz-run DaimlerChrysler, before which the Chrysler Corporation sold Ram pickups as Dodges. That’s a long way of saying Ram primarily sells pickups (and a few commercial vans) but sales of the truck line are up just 10 percent due to severe stock limitations.

7. GMC: 47,819, up 31 percent

With one-half a GM truck duo that’s now outselling Canada’s best-selling Ford F-Series by nearly 4,000 units, GMC is clearly well-positioned for a strong 2021. But the Sierra’s 33-percent year-over-year growth actually pales in comparison to the rebounds produced by most GMC models. Acadia volume in the first-half was up 64 percent, the Canyon’s up 48 percent, and Yukon/Yukon XL sales doubled.

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6. Nissan: 49,680, up 44 percent

In a market that collapsed in 2020 – Canadian volume was down by a fifth – Nissan’s 2020 collapse was, well, it was worse. Nissan sales were down by a third. In 2021’s first-half, Nissan market share is bouncing back, up nearly half-a-point to 5.8 percent through the end of June.

Brand-wide volume is up 44 percent because of hits such as the new Rogue (up 77 percent to 17,462 sales so far this year) and second-best-selling Kicks, which is up 82 percent to 9,628. The Kicks, an indirect replacement for the Micra and Versa Note, now outsells the entire Nissan car division by a 12-percent margin.

5. Hyundai: 62,300, up 43 percent

Hyundai is cruising. Easily outpacing the industry’s recovery rate for much of the last year, Hyundai’s Q2 volume was only 503 units shy of Honda, a brand Hyundai hasn’t outsold on an annual basis since 2012. The main reason for Hyundai’s current success? Small crossovers: the Venue, Kona, and top-selling Tucson accounted for 55 percent of the brand’s June volume.

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4. Honda: 64,630, up 22 percent

Hampered by a rough first quarter in which Honda Canada sales did little more than match 2020’s poor first quarter, Honda’s Q2 was much more in keeping with the market’s growth. Granted, Honda’s still losing market share: year-over-year, the brand’s Q2 share slipped from half a point to 7.9 percent.

But the arrival of the 11th-generation 2022 Civic, even in a fading car market, is big news at Honda dealers who’ve lost their Fit and haven’t had a new Civic since the 2016 model year.

3. Chevrolet: 64,966, up 30 percent

Up one spot from its fourth-place ranking one year ago, Chevrolet is basically keeping pace with the market thanks to big gains from its EV and small crossover: Bolt and Trailblazer. Bolt volume more than doubled, year-over-year, and the Trailblazer is now Chevrolet’s No. 3 seller, with 4,798 first-half sales. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Bowtie brand’s full-size truck, the Silverado, is making major headway against the Ford F-Series.

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2. Toyota: 106,088, up 55 percent

Not as sorely afflicted by the chip shortage as its two top rivals, Toyota is closer to the top spot than it’s been in years. (Toyota last claimed top spot at year’s end in 2008, albeit barely.) Toyota capped off a strong first half by nearly doubling its Q2 volume with quarterly records from the RAV4, Highlander, Tacoma, and C-HR.

1. Ford: 116,393, up 15 percent

Not since 2008 has Ford Motor Company’s namesake division failed to secure the top spot on the list of best-selling brands. But perhaps now more than ever, Ford’s destiny is controlled by the F-Series. As the F-Series struggles – now due to severe shortages – so too does the Ford brand.

Year-over-year, Ford’s market share is down from 15.7 to 13.6 percent. F-Series sales, which should be booming thanks to the winter launch of an all-new F-150, are up just 5 percent in a market that’s growing nearly seven times faster.