Toyota Canada Reports Record Electrified Sales for Fourth Straight Month
October was a good month for electrified vehicle sales, particularly if you happened to be selling Toyota SUVs in Canada. For the fourth straight month, the automaker reported record electrified vehicle sales, up 30.3 percent with 4,558 units sold in October.
Thanks to rising demand for the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Highlander Hybrid, Camry Hybrid, Prius Prime (a plug-in hybrid), and Lexus UX Hybrid, the Japanese automaker’s electrified sales represented 21.6 percent of its total October sales, an impressive feat.
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Toyota Canada also reported overall sales of 21,100 vehicles in October, up 1.5 percent compared to the same period in 2019. The growing appeal of its electrified vehicles has no doubt helped Toyota recover from the spring slump caused by the coronavirus shutdown.
Other highlights for Toyota Canada included 1,111 Tundra sales and 1,020 Camry sales, up 80.1 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively. Additionally, the automaker reported its best-ever month for truck sales with 15,867 units sold, up 3.7 percent.
Truck sales were led by the RAV4, the bestselling vehicle in Canada by some margin. With 6,924 units sold, it was up 9.1 percent, an October record. The Highlander SUV was also up 13.5 percent while the Tacoma pickup truck was up 82.7 percent, all October records as well.
Just under two months ago, we analyzed how global Toyota sales had been recovering faster than expected, especially in Canada, where sales had been hit harder during the shutdown but had bounced back incredibly fast in July, and nearly stabilized in August.
Then, last month, Toyota Canada reported a sales increase of 0.4 percent for the third quarter, and 14 percent for September alone. At the time, we said that Toyota Canada could be on pace to match its 2019 performance if it kept up, but with COVID-19 cases growing substantially since the start of September, Toyota — and all other automakers — will likely have to settle for a less-than-ideal end to the sales year.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.