Driving By Numbers: Canada's 10 top-selling pickup trucks in 2021's first-half

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Pickup truck market share is in decline.

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But the segment has a lengthy list of reasonable excuses which suggest 2021’s lack of pickup truck sales growth may only be a blip on the radar.

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Driving By Numbers: Canada's 10 top-selling pickup trucks in 2021's first-half Back to video

Auto sales growth is typically measured in a year-over-year fashion. The sharp seasonal rollercoaster ride of the industry means that a six-month trend, for example, provides no pertinent info. January auto sales in Canada slow to a trickle; July’s thump along at a healthy pace. As a result, we look at the identical prior year period. Take, for instance, the second-quarter of 2021, in which Canadian auto sales leapt forward at a 52 per cent year-over-year rate. How? Well, you’ll remember the second-quarter of 2020, when lockdowns and shutdowns and slowdowns were the name of the game. Canadians bought and leased fewer than 320,000 new vehicles.

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In other words, we knew auto sales would rebound in Q2 of 2021. The problem is, pickup trucks aren’t keeping up. While SUVs, crossovers, cars, and vans combined for a gigantic 65 per cent year-over-year gain, pickups were up just 13 per cent. In the span of just one year, the hot-like-fire pickup truck market of 2020 saw its market share fall from 26.3 per cent to 19.6 per cent.

There are all sorts of reasons, but inventory constraints related to the auto industry’s shortage of microchips is the leading cause. There are smaller factors, too, including the fact Nissan pulled its full-size truck and hasn’t yet supplied dealers with any copies of the new midsize pickup. Plus, Toyota is transitioning out of one Tundra and into an already-revealed third-gen machine.

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The limited supply of four key Detroit-badged full-size trucks, however, is the overriding issue. Canada’s four top trucks account for better than eight out of every 10 trucks sold in Canada; one  out of every six  new vehicles sold overall.

In order to get an idea of how the cookie’s crumbling, including Canada’s gradually rising comfort level with smaller trucks, we’re examining the first-half sales results — not just for the 10 leaders but for every pickup truck on the market.

13. Nissan Frontier, 0, down 100 per cent

This is the definition of an inventory shortage. Nissan has truck buyers – even its ancient Frontier collected more than 4,000 Canadian sales as recently as 2018. But with the old Frontier out and dealers left clamouring for the revamped 2022 model, Nissan dealers have no trucks to sell. There were 593 Frontiers sold in the first-half of 2020.

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12. Nissan Titan: 305, down 62 per cent

Discontinued in the Canadian market (but continuing in the U.S., where first-half sales rose 46 per cent to 17,776), the second-gen Titan is finishing up its Canadian run with the last few remaining in-stock units. Will Nissan Canada stick to its guns and quit the Canadian full-size market after 2021 while persisting in the United States? It’s a quirky decision given the relative strength of the Canadian market, yet given the scarcity of Titans available to Canadian dealers since the 2020 facelift, Nissan seems serious.

11. Honda Ridgeline: 1,582, up 6 per cent

Finally fitted with truck-like styling on its front end, the Honda Ridgeline’s unique nature is about to become less distinct. Not only is Hyundai delivering a bite-size unibody Santa Cruz pickup, Ford will do the same with a bigger-than-Hyundai-smaller-than-Honda new Maverick. Both offer less outright capability than the Honda, but both will undercut the Honda in price. Sticker for the all-wheel-drive Maverick will slide in around $15,000 below the least costly Ridgeline.

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10. Jeep Gladiator: 2,075, up 10 per cent

Everything the Honda Ridgeline isn’t, the Jeep Gladiator is. Both are niche players in the Canadian midsize pickup truck segment but for entirely different reasons. The Ridgeline is pragmatic and clever; the Gladiator is over the top, in your face, and off-road focused. Gladiator sales took a severe hit in Q2, sliding 24 per cent to only 886 units. That dragged down a first-half total and caused Gladiator market share to fall below 9 per cent in the midsize sector.

9. GMC Canyon: 2,946, up 48 per cent

When General Motors decided to dip its toes back into the North American midsize truck market with the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, times were tough for small trucks. Fewer than 16,000 midsize trucks were sold in calendar year 2014, just 4.8 per cent of the overall pickup market. Was it worth it? The Canyon now fights in a category that’s virtually tripled in size since its return. Overall, midsize truck market share is now above 12 per cent.

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8. Toyota Tundra: 3,285, down 25 per cent

If you were born at any point since 2007, you’d be forgiven for thinking Toyota doesn’t update its full-size pickup truck, the Tundra. Ever. Toyota unveiled the current Tundra in February 2006. Paul Martin had ended his term as Canada’s prime minister just days prior. Yet for the first time since the Oilers played for the Cup, lo and behold, Toyota has prepared an all-new Tundra. We don’t know much about it besides its prototypically modern truck face. But we can expect sales of the current Tundra to tank as Toyota readies the changeover.

7. Chevrolet Colorado: 3,295, up 8 per cent

It’s GM’s decision to market two separate midsize pickups, so we rank them that way. But it’s also fair to look at the midsize truck market with a broader perspective. Rather than two trucks that individually own 14 per cent and 13 per cent of the sector, respectively, pair the twins together. It’s only natural: after all, they’re virtually identical and are typically sold out of the same showrooms. With 6,241 combined sales, the Colorado/Canyon tandem becomes Canada’s No.2 midsize truck line. Barely .

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6. Ford Ranger: 6,223, up 57 per cent

Outsold by its GM archenemies by a scant 18 units in 2021’s first half, the Ford Ranger is picking up huge chunks of market share in Canada’s midsize truck sector. In a segment that’s up 21 per cent so far this year, the Ranger is progressing nearly three times faster. In 2020’s first-half, the Ranger produced 20.5 per cent of the segment’s volume. In 2021, the Ranger’s share has grown to 26.5 per cent.

5. Toyota Tacoma: 7,349, up 25 per cent

Toyota’s dominance in Canada’s midsize truck sector isn’t threatened (yet) by the steady climb of the Ford Ranger. But the gap is narrowing. Two years ago, the Tacoma was outselling the Ranger by nearly 4,000 units at the end of the first-half. Last year, the lead was cut to fewer than 2,000 units. Now the Tacoma’s lead is barely stronger than 1,100 units. The story one year from now is likely to be determined simply by which of the two automakers can build the most trucks.

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4. Chevrolet Silverado: 30,399, up 29 per cent

Half a decade ago, only 13 per cent of the full-size pickups sold in Canada were Chevrolet Silverados. Silverado market share has improved by more than 40 per cent since then. Now nearly one out of every five new full-size trucks sold is a Silverado. Silverado supply certainly isn’t what GM Canada wants it to be, but there have at least been enough trucks for the big Bowtie truck to easily outpace the segment’s growth in 2021’s first-half.

3. GMC Sierra: 32,866, up 33 per cent

Which automaker sells the most pickup trucks in Canada? You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s Ford. Last year it was Ford. The year before that it was Ford. The year before that, too. With the new F-150 scarcely available, GM is taking advantage of every opportunity, provided it can supply dealers with enough trucks. Combined, the Sierra and its Silverado twin outsold the F-Series by 3,944 units in 2021’s first-half. The entire four-pronged GM team outsold the F-Series/Ranger family by an almost identical margin.

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2. Ram P/U: 39,784, up 10 per cent

Canada’s No.2 truck line, actually still a combination of old and new-style Rams, has seen its market share decrease thanks to GM’s early 2021 onslaught. 2019’s remarkable success for the Ram, in which nearly 100,000 were sold, suggested 2020 could mark the truck’s first six-digit sales year. That was before we knew what COVID-19 was; before Ram sales in 2020 decreased by more than 13,000 units. Quite clearly still a powerhouse, Ram’s truck shortage has caused sales to rise just 10 per cent despite the overall market’s 33 per cent rebound.

1. Ford F-Series: 59,321, up 5 per cent

Although a dearth of microchips has created a scenario in which largely finished F-150s sit outside factories waiting for the last bits and pieces rather than sitting in the driveways of new owners, the Ford F-Series remains Canada’s No.1 selling vehicle line. Granted, GM is now selling more full-size trucks, something that hasn’t happened on an annual basis since 2008. But Ford needs little more than stock to re-assert its dominance. It certainly sounds more simple than it is.