What did we learn from 2020? Well, for one thing, personal car ownership is far from being a thing of the past. While overall auto sales were down last year thanks largely to the spring lockdown measures, so many households in large urban centres bought vehicles in the last half of the year that automakers and dealerships couldn’t keep enough inventory on their North American lots. Where ride-hailing and public transit once reigned supreme, the solitude afforded by owning a car proved indispensable in the age of social distancing brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In some ways, the 2020 list of the top 10 selling vehicles in Canada isn’t entirely representative of what could have been thanks to the inventory shortages that plagued the auto industry and hampered sales across the country. On the other hand, there are some nameplates on this list that are perennial best-sellers and would likely have ended up here anyway regardless of how the year played out.
Here are the top 10 bestselling vehicles in Canada in 2020.
The Bestselling Cars in Canada in 2020
- 10. Nissan Rogue
- 9. Hyundai Kona
- 8. Toyota Corolla
- 7. Honda Civic
- 6. Honda CR-V
- 5. GMC Sierra
- 4. Chevrolet Silverado
- 3. Toyota RAV4
- 2. Ram P/U
- 1. Ford F-Series
10. Nissan Rogue: 25,998 units sold
Nissan’s bestselling nameplate in Canada posted a loss of nearly 31 percent year-over-year in 2020, largely due to the fact that a redesigned next-generation model was released early in the fourth quarter. This helped the Rogue catch up after an especially slow first half of the year to come very close to matching its fourth-quarter sales to the same period in 2019. The Nissan Rogue was selected as the Best Mid-size Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2021 by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada.
9. Hyundai Kona: 26,641 units sold
The subcompact SUV segment was a relative success story in 2020, showing an overall loss of only 4.4 percent year over year. This is thanks to the urban families who flocked to the segment in the second half of the year thanks to a smaller average size, affordable access to all-wheel drive, and attractive pricing and financing rates. The Hyundai Kona subcompact crossover performed better than the segment average, posting a year-over-year gain of 3% and becoming Hyundai’s top seller overall.
8. Toyota Corolla: 33,181 units sold
It’s no secret that passenger cars are losing significant ground to SUVs and light trucks with the latter two now making up more than 80 percent of the market. Still, two compact cars make this list, including Toyota’s second-best selling nameplate in Canada, the Corolla. Even as overall compact car sales plummeted, the Corolla managed to gain some market share within the segment despite being down 30 percent year over year.
7. Honda Civic: 42,996 units sold
The Honda Civic, built in Alliston, Ontario, remains Canada’s best-selling car for the 23rd year in a row. That said, it dropped three spots from its position on this same list from 2019, posting a 29 percent loss in sales over a 12-month period. Whether the arrival of the next-generation Honda Civic for the 2022 model year can help generate a sales rebound through the coming months remains to be seen.
6. Honda CR-V: 44,495 units sold
In a surprise result for Honda, 2020 saw its CR-V compact SUV became its best-selling model for the first time ever. This is due more to the Civic’s losses than any gains by the CR-V, which matched the Canadian market’s overall pace by posting a year-over-year loss of 20 percent. Still, it’s reflective of where the market is going and likely previews a trend that will carry forward for the foreseeable future.
5. GMC Sierra: 51,492 units sold
And now we enter the top 5, which is utterly dominated by pick-up trucks. Unsurprisingly, large pick-ups outperformed the overall market with a year-over-year loss of 9.7 percent and ended 2020 comprising 21 percent of new vehicle sales across the country. First up is the GMC Sierra, which was down 5 percent versus its 2019 sales and just a tick shy of matching its General Motors stablemate, which follows up next on this list.
4. Chevrolet Silverado: 52,767 units sold
The Chevrolet Silverado lost only 1 percent of sales volume versus 2019, and in concert with the GMC Sierra, these two trucks make up nearly half of General Motors sales in Canada. Were these figures combined, these two trucks – which are related and functionally very similar – would outsell most competition and end up in second place on this list. Broken out as they are, however, they separately finish just behind the country’s best-selling SUV.
3. Toyota RAV4: 57,972 units sold
The Toyota RAV4 compact SUV is Canada’s best-selling domestically built vehicle. RAV4 sales figures encompass the gas-powered and hybrid versions of the RAV4, which are assembled in Cambridge, Ontario, as well as the RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid that’s imported from Japan. This SUV remains so popular that buyers should still expect wait times of several months, especially for the hybrid version. That said, production shutdowns due to COVID-19 made it difficult for Toyota to keep up with demand in 2020, and the RAV4 posted a loss of 11 percent relative to 2019 as a result.
2. Ram P/U: 83,672 units sold
The Ram pickup brand continues to release models that keep attention for its line-up high. In 2020, the biggest attention-seeker was the Ram 1500 TRX, which produces 702 hp from its Hellcat V8 to go with its off-roading prowess. This is a halo model, of course, and it’s the workhorses that sell, but the overall Ram brand finished in second place in Canadian top 10 vehicle sales by staying ahead of the market and posting a 10 percent decrease year-over-year in 2020 versus calendar year 2019.
1. Ford F-Series: 128,649 units sold
Though Ford’s F-Series trucks lost slightly more ground than Ram with a year-over-year loss of 11 percent, the nameplate’s lead remains insurmountable. F-Series trucks are Canada’s best-selling vehicle line for the 12th year in a row and the best-selling truck in the country for the 55th consecutive year. Plus, early reports indicate high consumer interest for the F-150 Hybrid to be released in 2021, which should only serve to bolster the F-Series position moving forward.
Note: Images may show US models.