TIMOTHY CAIN
After Canadian sales climbed beyond two million units in a record 2017, hovered near the same level in 2018, and nearly reached that lofty peak in 2019, forecasts for 2020 were mildly positive. No, it didn’t seem like this would be a year of booming auto sales, but with strong employment figures and interest rates tolerably low, there was no reason to anticipate a meltdown.
Enter the pandemic.
By the latter half of March, auto sales across Canada slowed to such a trickle that the positive start to the year was largely erased. Automakers such as Mazda (where sales were up six per cent through the first two months of the year) and Subaru (which was up 10 per cent at February’s end) marked the end of the first-quarter down 19 and 13 per cent, respectively. Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus and Volvo all had positive starts to the year erased by the late Q-1 collapse.
Yet there were specific vehicles — not major brands, mind you, but individual vehicles — that began 2020 so strongly that even the near-shutdown of automotive sales in late March, just as the buying season is picking up steam, couldn’t leave them in negative territory.
We’re highlighting these vehicles by looking only at nameplates that produced at least 500 first-quarter units, which serves to eliminate the severe fluctuations of distinctly low-volume models. The resulting list of 10 vehicles with positive vibes is a real mix. There are cars, albeit only two. There are high-end vehicles, as well, but also some reasonably high-volume affordable vehicles.
The first-quarter of 2020 will never be looked back upon as a positive news story for, well, virtually anything. But in the midst of an auto sales downturn the likes of which we’ve never seen, there are vehicles that were far more popular than they were one year earlier. And to that bit of mildly uplifting news, we raise our glass.
Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class: 632, up 10 per cent
We can understand it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep them all straight. Mercedes-Benz’s SUV/crossover lineup now includes the small three-row GLB plus a smaller GLA; the G-Class rooted in military history; the top-selling GLC; and the GLE that launched Mercedes-Benz’s SUV campaign in the late ’90s as the M-Class (badged as the ML.)
And then there’s the GLS, a competitor for the BMW X7, Lincoln Navigator and the Lexus LX570, among others. The GLS, however, sells rather more frequently than most competitors. In fact, the X7, Navigator and LX combined for 712 sales in 2020’s first-quarter, barely more than the GLS on its own.
GMC Yukon: 746, up 10 per cent
In a market that lost 20 per cent of its volume in the first quarter of 2020, sales at GM Canada’s GMC brand were down just four per cent. That’s a victory in and of itself, and it’s a victory scored primarily because of full-size pickup truck popularity.
The GMC Sierra added more than 500 sales, year-over-year, a four per cent gain. By purely volume standards, the truck-based Yukon’s 10 per cent growth is not as consequential. Combined, the Yukon and its Yukon XL stretched sibling produced an extra 126 sales in Q1.
Subaru Crosstrek: 2,766, up 11 per cent
How important is the Crosstrek to Subaru Canada’s fortunes? Put simply, it’s the brand’s best-selling model. Since hitting the market in 2012, Crosstrek sales have done nothing but grow in Canada. In 2013, its first full year on the market, 6,120 Crosstreks were sold. Last year, the brand pumped out over 15,000 Crosstreks. Had 2020 operated in expected fashion, Q1’s growth rate suggested Subaru could nudge the 17,000 mark.
Nissan Leaf: 679, up 35 per cent
The addition of 175 Q1 Nissan Leaf sales in 2020 might seem like a suggestion that Leaf sales, pre-COVID, were booming. They weren’t. The Leaf’s presence on this list of vehicles that are, despite COVID’s late March impact, well ahead of 2019’s Q1 sales pace occurs because of how dreadful 2019 was for the all-electric Nissan.
After a record 2018, Leaf sales plunged by half in calendar year 2019. The 35-per-cent recovery in early 2020 would, in theory, drive the Leaf toward its second-best year on record. But Leaf volume is still well behind 2018’s pace.
Ford Expedition: 932, up 39 per cent
All-new for the 2018 model year, the fourth-generation Ford Expedition is still carrying plenty of full-size SUV momentum. The previous Expedition hit the market 13 years ago, and its long run during a period of increasing utility vehicle demand had two side-effects: one, it allowed GM to solidify market share; and two, it created pent-up Ford demand.
Ford Canada sold 4,260 Expeditions in 2019 and, absent the coronavirus impact, was on track to sell nearly 6,000 in 2020. The Expedition’s four main GM rivals combined for 2,414 sales in 2020’s first quarter, down drbrn per cent, year-over-year.
Chevrolet Trax: 781, up 39 per cent
Over the course of the Chevrolet Trax’s first four years on the Canadian market, GM Canada sold an average of nearly 8,200 per year. The subcompact crossover’s popularity peaked in 2016 with over 9,000 sales but then tumbled precipitously in each of the following two years, sliding to less than half of its 2016 peak by 2018.
2019 sparked a modest recovery, and the first quarter of 2020 was, at least initially, the beginning of a meaningful resurgence. A 39 per cent gain, over the course of 2020, would push the Trax beyond 7,000 annual sales.
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class: 1,597, up 39 per cent
First, the good news: Mercedes-Benz’s midsize SUV reported huge Q1 sales recovery to begin 2020. Sales increased by 451 units compared with the first quarter of 2019. Now, the bad news: GLE sales didn’t even come close to fully recovering.
See, in the first quarter of 2019, GLE sales were down 40 per cent from 2018 levels. The popular luxury SUV isn’t yet back to that mark – and Q2 isn’t going to help – but at least the GLE is tracking in the right direction after calendar-year volume tumbled 23 per cent.
Ford Explorer: 3,733, up 47 per cent
Ford was forthright about its transition from the long-running fifth-generation Explorer into the latest model. “We took on a lot more than we have before,” said Ford’s now-retired president, Joe Hinrichs. “It was too much for that plant to take on.”
The result of switching from an outdated front-wheel-drive platform to a rear-wheel-drive platform was nosediving sales in 2019. By year’s end, sales were down 47 per cent. Fortunately for Ford, 2020 began with greater health: Explorer volume grew by nearly 1,200 units. The Explorer is once again Canada’s top-selling three-row utility vehicle.
Hyundai Ioniq: 1,112, up 89 per cent
Prior to the hard-hitting impacts of COVID-19, the Hyundai Ioniq was tracking toward its third consecutive year of Canadian sales growth. In fact, Hyundai Canada was on pace to report the Ioniq’s 10,000th sale at some point in the second-quarter. The Ioniq’s corporate challenger, Kia’s front-wheel-drive-only Niro crossover, sold only half as often as the Ioniq through 2020’s first three months. That’s a big switch from last year, when the Niro outsold the Ioniq by nearly 20 per cent.
Ford Ranger: 1,703, up 126 per cent
Launched in the first quarter of 2019, the Ford Ranger returned to Canada after disappearing for nearly a decade. One year later, the Ranger has accelerated into the midsize truck segment’s No. 2 position by more than doubling its sales, year-over-year. With gains from the Ranger, top-selling Toyota Tacoma, and the Honda Ridgeline, midsize pickup truck sales grew 5 per cent in 2020’s first three months. The Ranger now owns 20 per cent of the segment.
Copyright PostMedia Network, 2020
