CarCostCanada's September 2021 Top 10 Vehicles Sold Report

Ford’s F-Series was one of the six improvers thanks to 9,821 deliveries that resulted in a 3.8-percent MoM gain, although the full-size pickup truck’s year-over-year (YoY) difference was down by -40.0 percent. This continues a trend that shows far fewer sales in 2021 than 2020, and much less than in previous years, which has a great deal to do with the much-talked-about microchip shortage that appears to be severely impacting the automotive industry.

Back to positives, at least for Stellantis, Ram’s Pickup found its usual home in second-place last month, but at 5,023 units its sales were only slightly above the halfway mark of F-Series deliveries. Still, despite a YoY downturn of 45 percent, the full-size truck made the same 3.8-percent gain as Ford’s competitor, which is nothing to complain about in today’s market.

September’s third-best-selling vehicle was probably as much of a surprise to Toyota as it now is to the rest of us, being that the Japanese automaker’s RAV4 wasn’t occupying its usual top placement amongst non-commercial unibody vehicles; its Corolla was. The compact car pulled in 4,635 Canadian consumers last month, representing MoM growth of 8.9 percent, and YoY gains of 18.5 percent. That its main competitor, Honda’s Civic, was ranked sixth overall, and the RAV4 came in eighth, behind Honda’s CR-V for the second consecutive month, which placed fourth, is another sign that consumer preferences had little to do with the outcome, but rather chip shortages were at play.

Speaking of the CR-V, its September sales were 4,180 units, reflecting -28.4-percent and -7.1-percent MoM declines respectively, which might look bad until comparing it to its arch-rival from Toyota. In fact, the RAV4’s total of 2,954 deliveries represented a MoM plunge of -43.9 percent, plus a drop of -57.2 percent YoY.

Next on the list is Chevrolet’s Silverado that’s been beating GMC’s Sierra handily in recent months, similarly to how it regularly fares in the United States, albeit this is unusual for Canada where General Motors’ dedicated truck and SUV division normally does better in this segment. Nevertheless, the Silverado’s fifth-place showing was the result of 3,792 unit-sales for a 3.8 percent MoM gain, but its YoY difference was -32.9 percent, which at least isn’t as far into negative territory as the F-Series and Ram. Likewise, the seventh-place Sierra’s 3,340 deliveries reflected 3.8 percent MoM growth, while its YoY downturn was fractionally less ominous at -32.1 percent.

The aforementioned Civic, which as mentioned earlier managed sixth overall in September, found 3,591 Canadian buyers for a -15.6-percent decline in MoM deliveries, plus an even greater 29.8-percent drop YoY. This was the exact opposite of the previously-noted Corolla, although Hyundai’s Elantra, which returned to Canada’s top-10 after a four-month hiatus thanks to 2,698 deliveries, sold -5.5 percent fewer units since then, and -22.9 percent less YoY.

Second-to-last on this top-10 list, but hardly unpopular in Canada’s overall new vehicle market, Ford’s Escape held on to its ninth position thanks to nearly matching RAV4 sales last month at 2,871 units, which represented 3.8 percent MoM growth as well as a 10.2-percent uptick in YoY deliveries.

All in all, despite the chip shortage and other issues plaguing Canada’s new car market, it’s nice to leave September’s sales on a positive note.