Desrosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. highlighted a positive result in its June market snapshot report, with light vehicle sales breaking the eight consecutive months with year over year declines.
Light vehicle sales for the month totalled 182 thousand units, a 1.9% increase from the 178 thousand units sold in June of 2025, although DAC notes that there was one extra selling day in June this year.
“To be sure, last month’s sales were a long way off the 204 thousand seen in June 2017 — when let’s not forget Canada’s population was 5 million people less,” said Andrew King, managing partner at DAC, in the report. “However, given the challenges facing the economy at this time, we will take any sort of market gain as positive.”
The SAAR for the month also broke the downward trend since the peak 2.08 SAAR in January, coming in at 1.84 million. While ZEV sales were well below the high sales in March, the increase of Chinese-built Tesla Model 3s sold in Canada resulted in the first strong sales month for the vehicle since December 2024.
Sales totalled 950 thousand units over a six-month period, a 2.6% decrease from the 976 thousand units sold in the same period last year. DAC’s report summarized notable year-to-date performances, including GM leading the market in the first half with almost 149 thousand units of sales.
Volkswagen also saw significant success with a 20.2% increase in new light vehicle sales compared to the first half of 2025, while Stellantis’s robust Q1 sales resulted in a strong first half of the year for the company.
Luxury brands, including Volvo and Genesis, also experienced significant growth, and Land Rover had a 39.7% sales increase in the first half. However, light truck sales decreased by 2.1% in the first half, with passenger car sales down 6.6%.
DAC hopes that progress in the CUSMA trade negotiations will produce higher sales in July.
