Ford leads Canadian auto sales through three quarters

The Ford logo is seen on cars for sale at a Ford dealership in Springfield, Ill. on July 1, 2012. (AP / Seth Perlman)

Nine months in to 2014, Ford Motor Company is once again Canada’s leading automaker.

Ford actually trailed a surging Chrysler Group by more than 7,700 sales at the end of 2014’s first quarter, but has slowly made their way back to the top over the last six months.

Ford Canada, now operating just the Ford and Lincoln brands, outsold Chrysler Canada’s five brands – Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Ram – in  each of April, May, June, July, August, and September. The year-to-date sales gap now favours Ford Canada to the tune of 1,932 units - a narrow gap which presents the possibility that Chrysler could still steal back the number one ranking.

Perhaps a sales race among Canada’s leading manufacturers is of little consequence to consumers themselves, but automakers love to grade themselves against one another.

Consider Honda Canada’s commercials which laud the Civic for completing a 16th consecutive year as Canada’s best-selling car, or Ford.ca’s F-150 homepage which shouts in big, bold text that the F-Series has been, “Canada’s Best-Selling Line Of Trucks 48 Years Running.”

The aurot business is a competition and winning sales races, though not always a clear sign of which company is making the most money, is still thought to be better than losing.

Ford’s victory, if indeed this new-found lead holds until New Year’s Eve, won’t be a hollow one, but it may not prompt the popping of champagne corks, either. Ford Canada volume, Lincoln included, is up less than one per cent through the first nine months of 2014 even as the overall new vehicle market grew 5.5 per cent to a record-setting 1.4 million units. Ford Canada’s market share has fallen from 16.6 per cent through three-quarters of 2013 to 15.9 per cent in 2014.

You can’t blame the oft-maligned Lincoln either. The new MKC has helped push Lincoln volume up by 11 per cent through the end of September. The Escape-related MKC was Lincoln’s best-selling model in both August and September.

Ford has also done a decent job of maintaining appropriate F-Series inventory in the lead-up to the 2015 F-150’s hugely momentous launch. F-Series sales are up slightly in 2014, rising 0.3 per cent, or a scant 292 units, through nine months. Sales of utility vehicles like the Escape, Edge, and Explorer are all up as well, accounting for 29.1 per cent of Ford brand sales this year. Last year at this time, that segment made up 25.2 per cent of the company's overall sales.

Commercial vans are something of a trouble spot with sales down 11 per cent this year. However, Ford is switching over from the E-Series to the Transit and the Transit Connect’s second-gen launch was a gradual one, so the trouble in this segment may not last.

Where the Ford brand is really struggling though is with passenger cars. Most recently, September sales of the C-Max, Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Mustang, and Taurus slid 14 per cent. Three-quarter volume has tumbled 12 per cent overall as the C-Max’s narrow improvements have been more than overshadowed by declines from the brand's higher-volume models.

The Fiesta, Focus, and Fusion are collectively down 13 per cent. After generating 24.9 per cent of Ford brand volume in the first nine months of 2013, Ford’s car lineup is now responsible for only 21.6 per cent of Ford vehicle sales in Canada. The Fusion, Canada’s best-selling midsize car, has been conquered by the Hyundai Sonata in each of the last three months.

A decreased strength from cars is something the Chrysler Group understands as well. According to Chrysler Canada, car sales at Chrysler, Dodge, and Fiat are down 31 per cent to just 27,760 units in 2014. This makes up only 12.4 per cent of the automaker’s total volume.

Back on our leaderboard, there was another resurgent player in September. Not only was Chrysler Canada knocked off the top perch in spite of their 20 per cent improvement, General Motors took over the month's number two spot thanks to a 34 per cent year-over-year improvement.

For the year, GM Canada still trails the Chrysler Group by nearly 36,000 units through nine months though. Still, things are looking up for GM. After a rough first half in which sales slid two per cent, a strong third quarter means GM Canada is up five per cent through September’s end.