CANADA AUTO SALES DATA - JUNE 2010

A Prince Edward Island vacation won't stop The Good Car Guy from supplying you with the Sales Stats to get you through the day. Behind the Graphs and segment-by-segment breakdowns, there's plenty of contextualizing and contemplating going on. Scroll down for a unique take on Canada's June 2010 auto sales picture.

Hyundai Canada sales were up 13.8% in June. Of course, that means sales climbed 13.8% from June 2009 to June 2010. What you won't hear so much about it is the drop from Hyundai's May 2010 sales (12,620) to Hyundai's June 2010 sales (11,501). May 2010 was Hyundai Canada's best month of all time, after all.

Honda and Acura suffered greatly in June. Canadian sales were down 14% overall. 92% of the Acuras and Honda sold in Canada in the month of June were built in North America. Honda builds the Civic, Ridgeline, and Odyssey in Alliston, Ontario, along with Acura's CSX, MDX, and ZDX.

An increase of 3 units helped BMW Canada to an all-time best June.

74.1% of all Mercedes-Benz vehicles (excluding smart) sold in Canada in June were equipped with 4Matic all-wheel drive.

Though not the most popular sedan to begin with, Subaru Legacy sales were up 382% in June. June 2005 had been Subaru Canada's best-ever Legacy month, but sales of the Legacy last month beat June 2005 by 107%.

Toyota Canada kindly pointed out in their monthly press release that June 2010 sales of the Lexus IS C, the two-door convertible version of the Lexus IS sedan, represented a best-ever month for the IS C. Wait a minute, though: Toyota Canada in its June 2009 sales release that the IS C "entered the Canadian market at the end of June". Therefore the fact that Lexus increased IS C sales by 59.3% (to 43) is nothing to write home about. 

Nissan GT-R sales fell 81% in June. True, it's a low-volume car in a low-volume country; huge percentage swings are to be expected. Yet a decline from 21 GT-Rs in June 2009 to 4 GT-Rs in June 2010 is a sign that, yes, newer is better. The Audi R8 V10, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Lotus Evora are just a handful of the newer cars which strongly desire a piece of the Nissan GT-R's pie. GT-R sales are off 44% in Canada through the first half of 2010.

Kia has been in Canada for 11 years. June 2010 was its best-ever month. The Kia Soul, a Good 12 winner, recorded higher monthly sales than ever before: 1,140. Sales of the Nissan Cube stand at 1,530 for the first half of 2010. In fact, while Soul sales jumped significantly in June, sales of Nissan's Cube dropped 48.6%.

An ageless wonder, the Jeep Wrangler is. Revamped and revitalized numerous times, the latest Wrangler is the best Wrangler. Canadian sales stand as terrific evidence of the Wrangler's desirability. Up 92.2% in June, sales of the true Jeep were better than any June in history at 1,238.

Porsche Boxster sales rose from 16 in June 2009 to 22 in June 2010 thanks mainly to the Boxster Spyder, another Good 12 winner. With 10 sales across Canada, the Boxster Spyder beat the Boxster S by 1 and the base Boxster by 7. Porsche sold 12 different versions of the 911 in Canada a total of 39 times, failing to successfully market all 17 911 derivatives. Incidentally, the basic 911 Carrera proved unpopular in June, putting up a big fat 0. But Porsche sold half a dozen 911 Turbo S hardtops and half a dozen and 911 Turbo S Cabriolets. The Good Car Guy's favourite 911, the GT3, found three homes while the hardcore GT3 RS beat that by two.

Porsche Canada's Panamera breakdown in June 2010 is as follows:

• Porsche Panamera: 1
• Porsche Panamera S: 3
• Porsche Panamera 4: 18
• Porsche Panamera 4S: 16
• Porsche Panamera Turbo: 2

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net

Canada Auto Sales By Brand - June 2010

Canada's Complete May 2010 Auto Sales Picture

Porsche Panamera Commercial Reveals True Ugliness

The Good 12 Supersize v2.0 Part VII - Jeep Wrangler

U.S. AUTO SALES BY BRAND YEAR TO DATE - FIRST HALF OF 2010

Positive thinkers, the glass half-full types, will say the first half of 2010 was a good six months for automakers. GHEs, Glass Half-Empties, point to 2008 as being so mean to automobile manufacturers that a moderately-sort-of-half-decent 2010 is bound to appear alright at first glance; but that doesn't mean it is alright.

One way or another, Ford is glad to be America's best-selling automaker in 2010. Check out the year-to-date Sales Stats for the Top 10 manufacturers below, then check out all 45 automakers after the jump. 2009's half-year pace for every automaker can be seen in brackets. Find the bold font and you'll find automakers with declining sales in 2010.


#1 - Ford: 858,454 ..... (658,092)
#2 - Chevrolet: 781,006 ..... (593,618)
#3 - Toyota: 718,105 ..... (654,303)
#4 - Honda: 532,792 ..... (479,696)
#5 - Nissan: 393,032 ..... (309,296)
#6 - Dodge: 292,322 ..... (261,429)
#7 - Hyundai: 255,782 ..... (204,686)
#8 - Kia: 170,069 ..... (147,404)
#9 - GMC: 150,834 ..... (114,947)
#10 - Jeep: 126,771 ..... (120,448)

#11 - Volkswagen: 126,012 ..... (97,008)
#12 - Subaru: 125,960 ..... (93,306)
#13 - Mazda: 115,719 ..... (100,381)
#14 - Chrysler: 108,126 ..... (89,002)
#15 - Lexus: 107,430 ..... (90,060)
#16 - Mercedes-Benz: 107,015 ..... (84,142)
#17 - BMW: 100,632 ..... (93,563)
#18 - Buick: 70,032 ..... (47,223)
#19 - Cadillac: 64,785 ..... (48,583)
#20 - Acura: 61,117 ..... (51,082)
#21 - Audi: 48,440 ..... (37,845)
#22 - Infiniti: 47,300 ..... (38,448)
#23 - Lincoln: 43,762 ..... (40,710)
#24 - Mercury: 32,701 ...... (29,826)
#25 - Volvo: 28,206 ..... (29,746)
#26 - Mitsubishi: 26,490 ..... (26,467)
#27 - Scion: 21,007 ..... (26,084)
#28 - Mini: 20,953 ..... (20,885)
#29 - Land Rover: 14,964 ..... (12,052)
#30 - Suzuki: 11,549 ..... (22,408)
#31 - Porsche: 10,984 ..... (9,659)
#32 - Saturn: 6,480 ..... (42,776)
#33 - Jaguar: 5,851 ..... (6,134)
#34 - smart: 3,349 ..... (8,567)
#35 - Hummer: 2,929 ..... (6,191)
#36 - Pontiac: 927 ..... (88,794)
#37 - Maserati: 912 ..... (593)
#38 - Ferrari: 720 ..... (732)
#39 - Bentley: 688 ..... (657)
#40 - Aston Martin: 552 ..... (570)
#41 - Lotus: 330 ..... (360)
#42 - Saab: 1,346 ..... (5,386)
#43 - Lamborghini: 162 ..... (174)
#44 - Rolls-Royce: 156 ..... (162)
#45 - Maybach: 18 ..... (30)


Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Auto Brands In America - June 2010
Ranking U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand - 2009 Year End
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In America - June 2010
Top 5 Best-Selling Cars In America - 2009 Year End

U.S. AUTO SALES DATA - JUNE 2010

The Good Car Guy might be on vacation in Prince Edward Island, soaking up the sun and enjoying the dearth of traffic, but you're stuck in the office with a craving for more Sales Stats. Naturally, The Good Car Guy thought ahead and provided a healthy dose of interesting facts for you to enjoy. Keep on'a scrollin.

They say full-size SUVs aren't the trendy thang anymore. Well, how come Chevrolet sold 10,720 Suburbans and Tahoes in June in the USA? That's a 56.4% gain on June 2009's Suburban/Tahoe total, although a hefty drop from June 2008 when the Suburban and Tahoe combined to sell 15,975 units in America.

People have been talking about the Ford Mustang/Chevrolet Camaro sales battle. But these aren't niche products. Mustang sales in June were more than double what Mazda put up with the 6, greater than the figures of any individual Subaru model, better than the Ford Edge or Ford Expedition or Explorer or Flex or Ranger or Taurus. Chevrolet's Camaro, meanwhile, out-sold all of Cadillac's cars combined and beat Volvo - the whole brand - by 2,545 sales.

Every time Mitsubishi USA sold a Galant in June, Toyota dealers sold 71 Camrys. 

Honda USA sold 1,848 Accord Crosstours in June. Its most direct competitor, the Toyota Venza, came close to doubling that figure with 3,512 sales. (The Venza is far more popular in Canada, 1,062 were sold in June north of the 49th parallel.)

Infiniti "truck" - the EX, FX, and QX56 - are less than three times less likely to be purchased or leased than an Infiniti "car" - the G37 and M37/M56. Acura "truck" - the MDX, RDX, and ZDX - was responsible for 5,464 sales in June, more than half of Acura's 10,839 sales. Lexus "truck" sales, thanks mainly to the RX and not so much the GX or LX, totalled 9,183 in June. Overall, Lexus sold 17,332 vehicles in the States last month.

Scion sold 3,745 vehicles in June. The xB was Scion's best-seller with 1,775 sales. The tC managed 1,137; the xD pulled in 833.

Though they didn't realize it, Suzuki and Bentley have been waging a fairly serious sales war. U.S. sales of the Suzuki Equator in June reached 119, beating Bentley by 3 vehicles. Through one half of 2010, however, Bentley is ahead of the Equator by 20, 688 to 668. The Equator's donor vehicle from Nissan, the Frontier, sold 2,920 in June; 18,429 year-to-date.

The Transit Connect is proving relatively popular for Ford. 2,136 sales is nothing to sneeze at, but it doesn't compare with total E-Series sales of 10,192 in June.

General Motors sold 112 Pontiacs in June 2010, down 99.5% from June 2009. Pontiac sold 33,683 vehicles in June 2007. Saab had nothin' doin' in June 2010. 

Vehicles inducted into The Bad 8 v3.0 and The Bad 8 Supersize v2.0 average 1,283 sales in June in the USA. This figure doesn't take into account sales of certain vehicles which are specific models inside a nameplate: BMW 5-Series GT, Dodge Challenger SE, Hummer H2 SUT, Ford Explorer SportTrac, Nissan Versa sedan, and the Chrysler Sebring convertible. Although we can't include the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor or Ford Flex EcoBoost or two specific variations of the Mercedes-Benz GL-Class or diesel versions of the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen or the V8-powered Hyundai Genesis or Ford's Fusion Hybrid or the Sport Wagon edition of Cadillac's CTS or the base version of the Mini Cooper or Porsche's Boxster Spyder (unless you have that info)...... Good 12 winners averaged 3,669 U.S. sales in June. Clearly The Good Car Guy is responsible for GoodCarBadCar.net's picks selling at a faster rate than those which were berated publicly on GoodCarBadCar.net.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In America - June 2010
Top 10 Best-Selling Auto Brands In America - June 2010
Top 10 Best-Selling Luxury Auto Brands In America
Low Volume Automaker Sales In America - June 2010

JUST HOW BIG IS THE 2011 MINI COUNTRYMAN?

Some would say - perhaps even I have said - that the term, "SUV" doesn't make any sense in the context of BMW's Mini brand. Mini, as in "miniature", is renowned for its ability to build fun-to-drive small cars; small cars which are, in modern times at least, a cut above similarly-sized vehicles. Though Mini might stand for many things, from retro British style to performance to premium positioning, the brand stands for small above all else. Thus, a sport-utility vehicle, or Sports Activity Vehicle as BMW calls them, shouldn't fit.

But what if the Mini Countryman is the Mini of SUVs? Among regular vehicles, few cars are shorter or narrower or lighter than the Mini Cooper, particularly in the North American market. Couldn't Mini fulfill an identical mission in the SUV sector? Or does this theory lead down a dangerous path, the end of which is marked by a itty-bitty Ford F-150 competitor with round headlights and a Union Jack on the roof?

Arguments were also made against BMW's first SAV, the X5. Mercedes-Benz aficionados weren't quite as frightened by the first M-Class, even if it did look like a minivan. Of course, Porsche was castigated for introducing the Cayenne. Yet by the time Audi delivered the Q7, the reaction wasn't negative, it was more, "Hurry it up, will'ya." Very, very, very few automotive brands are without some sort of SUV/SAV/CUV/crossover in their showrooms in 2010: Chrysler, Jaguar, Lotus, and smart being the only non-exoticar manufacturers found lacking. Mini debuting the Countryman is as obvious a next step as Jeep revamping the Grand Cherokee.

Still, the voices of naysayers will persist. Their voices likely won't be as loud as the soccer moms who want to cram a 7-year-old in the back of a stylish alternative to their.... ahem.... Honda CR-V. What do potential Mini Countryman owners have to look forward to? Well, get this, they can expect to find a really small trucklet - a Mini SUV, if you will. Shocker. Read on after the jump for an in-depth look at the Mini Countryman's dimensions.

At 161.3 inches long, the 2011 Mini Countryman is 15.7 inches longer than a regular Mini Cooper and 13 inches shorter than a Volkswagen Tiguan.

At 70.4 inches wide, the 2011 Mini Countryman is 4.1 inches wider than a Mini Clubman and 5.7 inches narrower than a BMW X5.

At 61.5 inches tall, the 2011 Mini Countryman is 6.1 inches higher than a Mini Cooper 6.3 inches lower than a Ford Escape

With 5.86 inches of ground clearance, the 2011 Mini Countryman is an inch closer to the dirt than a Volkswagen Tiguan, even 1.4 millimetres closer to the ground than a Honda Fit.

On a wheelbase of 102.2 inches, the 2011 Mini Countryman has 5.1 inches more space between the wheels than a Mini Cooper and 1.8 inches less space between the wheels than a Chevrolet HHR.

With a turning circle of 38 feet, the 2011 Mini Countryman requires almost 2 more feet to do a 360-degree turn than a Mini Clubman but a foot less than a Volvo XC60.

With 41.3 cubic feet of maximum cargo capacity, the 2011 Mini Countryman has 17.3 cubic feet more storage space than a Mini Cooper and 31.6 fewer available cubic feet than a Honda CR-V.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Arguments For And Against The 2011 Mini Countryman - With Gallery
2011 Mini Countryman In Motion
The Good 12 Supersize v2.0 Part XI - Subaru Forester
Mr. Bean Tries To Leave The Parking Garage