Ford F-series continues Canadian sales dominance

A Ford F-Series truck is shown in this undated photo (Photo: Ford)

Canadian auto sales are on pace for a record year in 2014, and once again it looks like Ford F-Series will easily take home the crown as the country's top seller. The F-Series has been Canada's best-selling line of trucks for the past 48 years and 2014 is shaping up to be more of the same for Ford despite the impending arrival of a brand new generation of F-150 for 2015.

While the F-Series easily remains on top of the list of Canadian best-sellers with a healthy lead of more than 30,000 sales over the next closest competitor, the order of nameplates behind the F-Series is apt to change over the final three months of the year.

The top five best-selling vehicles in Canada are as follows:

5. Ford Escape

Sales of the Escape are up 20.6 per cent year-to-date through three quarters for Canada’s best-selling SUV (or crossover, or CUV, or utility vehicle, or whatever you choose to call it). The Escape has recorded five consecutive months with more than 5,000 Canadian sales and with some 40,584 sales through nine months, Ford Canada has already sold more Escapes than any other SUV or crossover is likely manage in the full calendar year.

4. Dodge Grand Caravan

The Grand Caravan is the epitomy of the Canadian family vehicle. Canada’s best-selling minivan generates 54 per cent of the country’s total minivan volume and 61 per cent of full-size minivan volume. Through September, 2014 sales are up 12.3 per cent to 41,220 units. If you factor in the Chrysler Town & Country, the Grand Caravan’s upmarket twin, Chrysler actually commands 73 percent of the full-size minivan market. The Windsor-built vans generate nearly a quarter of all Chrysler Group sales in Canada at 22 per cent.

3. Honda Civic

The Honda Civic has been Canada’s best-selling car in each of the last 16 years and has all-but-secured its top status as Canada’s best-selling car for 2014. With an eight per cent increase through September to 51,936 units sold, it is unlikely that any other car can attain the level of sales in twelve months that the Civic has managed in just nine months.

2. Ram pickups

2014 is shaping up to be the fifth consecutive year in which Ram pickup truck sales have increased. With 2014 sales up 5.5 per cent to 66,675 through nine months, Ram has already sold more than twice as many pickups in Canada than it did in all of 2009 when just 31,408 were sold. While Ram is still a long way from unseating the F-Series, it has managed to increase its share of the market as 27.6% of the full-size trucks sold in Canada this year have been Rams, up from 27.3% a year ago.

1. Ford F-Series

No other vehicle line operating in Canada has ever topped the 100,000-unit mark on an annual basis. With 97,223 units sold so far, 2014 is a cinch to be the vast F-Series range’s third consecutive year with more than 100,000 Canadian sales as Ford has done a good job of maintaining appropriate F-Series inventory in the lead-up to the 2015 F-150’s hugely momentous launch. The core F-150 line will be completely replaced with a new aluminum-intensive model for model year 2015 but that hasn't translated into a sales slump as the F-Series is still up for the year, albeit only slightly at 0.3 per cent.

View the complete list: 30 best-selling vehicles in Canada