The GCBC Analysis
Despite the fact that most of the commercial vans on sale in Canada saw a sales decline in the month of May, the segment was only actually down by 50 units. YTD the segment is actually up by about 800 sales.
The reason the segment didn’t see a larger drop overall mostly depends on Ford and Nissan’s models. All models sold by both companies managed to see sales gains and some of them were significant. The Ford E-Series and Nissan NV both saw sales increases in the 60 percentages. The Nissan NV200 saw a roughly 45 percent increase, and the Ford Transit saw sales increase by about 22 percent. Finally, the Ford Transit Connect managed to squeeze out a three percent sales increase.
All other models on sale saw double-digit percentage declines in sales. The Ram ProMaster City and GMC Savana actually saw sales drop by over 30 percent.
When you look YTD, you’ll notice Ram’s models have been performing well so far this year. May might have just been a fluke for the company, but it might be a signal. It’ll be interesting to see if Ram and any of the other brands can turn things around in the coming months.
Commercial Van Rankings
Commercial Van Sales Figures – This Month
| Model | Month | Month LY | Change | YTD | YTD LY | YTD Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford E-Series | 543 | 326 | 66.56 | 2,409 | 2,078 | 15.93 |
| Chevrolet Express | 465 | 520 | -10.58 | 1,785 | 2,151 | -17.02 |
| Mercedes-Benz Metris | 93 | 121 | -23.14 | 517 | 652 | -20.71 |
| Nissan NV | 128 | 76 | 68.42 | 374 | 358 | 4.47 |
| Nissan NV200 | 237 | 164 | 44.51 | 748 | 690 | 8.41 |
| Ram ProMaster | 455 | 507 | -10.26 | 2,209 | 1,892 | 16.75 |
| Ram ProMaster City | 47 | 78 | -39.74 | 418 | 245 | 70.61 |
| GMC Savana | 633 | 988 | -35.93 | 2,430 | 2,967 | -18.10 |
| Mercedes-Benz Sprinter | 342 | 515 | -33.59 | 1,649 | 2,157 | -23.55 |
| Ford Transit | 1,595 | 1,304 | 22.32 | 6,791 | 5,542 | 22.54 |
| Ford Transit Connect | 340 | 329 | 3.34 | 1,458 | 1,279 | 14.00 |
| ∑ = 4,878 | ∑ = 4,928 | ∑ = 20,788 | ∑ = 20,011 |
| Segment | Month | Month LY | Change | YTD | YTD LY | YTD Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Size Commercial Van | 4,161 | 4,236 | -1.77 | 17,647 | 17,145 | 2.93 |
| Small Commercial Van | 717 | 692 | 3.61 | 3,141 | 2,866 | 9.60 |
| Total | 4,878 | 4,928 | -1.01 | 20,788 | 20,011 | 3.88 |
Commercial Van Sales by Quarter
Important note: Both Ford and GM have switched to quarterly reporting, making it more difficult to accurately gauge crossover sales. We won’t have results to report for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Ford or Lincoln until the end of each quarter.