Top 40 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - 2010 Year End

On the rebound in 2010, Chrysler Canada didn't quite return to pre-recession volume levels, but there were significant gains. These gains were manifested in specific models on this list of Canada's best-selling vehicles. 

Dodge Grand Caravan sales shot up 37%, the Ram truck range was up 73%, and Chrysler products also slid into position in the 15th, 39th, and 40th positions. 

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• Top 40 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - 2008 Year End
• Top 40 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - 2009 Year End

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Note, none of these Chrysler products were, in fact, passenger cars, as the company's car sales slid another 24% in 2010.

Overall, the Canadian auto industry reported 1.56 million new vehicle sales, a 7% uptick from a discouraging 2009. Sales of the best-selling Ford F-Series continued to rise in 2010 and it expanded its lead over the second-ranked Honda Civic - Canada's most popular car - to more than 40,000 units. The Civic was just one part, albeit a major one, of a passenger car market that lost more than 30,000 sales. 

The seventh-ranked Ford Escape was once again the top-selling SUV/crossover in Canada. The Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V, Dodge Journey, Toyota RAV4, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Edge, Nissan Rogue, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Wrangler, and Jeep Patriot fell in behind the Escape. Five years earlier, only four of Canada's 40 best-selling autos were utility vehicles.

These were Canada's 40 best-selling vehicles in 2010. Together, they accounted for 66% of the new vehicles sold in Canada that year.

Rank	Best-Selling Vehicle	2010	2009	%  Change
#1	Ford F-Series	97,913	81,396	20.3%
#2	Honda Civic	57,501	62,654	-8.2%
#3	Dodge Grand Caravan	55,306	40,283	37.3%
#4	Ram P/U	54,267	31,408	72.8%
#5	Mazda 3	47,740	46,943	1.7%
#6	GMC Sierra	45,457	37,316	21.8%
#7	Ford Escape	43,038	36,980	16.4%
#8	Chevrolet Silverado	41,737	36,428	14.6%
#9	Toyota Corolla	38,680	53,933	-28.3%
#10	Hyundai Elantra	34,556	30,675	12.7%
#11	Hyundai Santa Fe	27,882	24,676	13.0%
#12	Chevrolet Cobalt	25,957	14,351	80.9%
#13	Honda CR-V	24,930	18,554	34.4%
#14	Hyundai Accent	24,017	25,220	-4.8%
#15	Dodge Journey	23,785	15,390	54.5%
#16	Ford Focus	23,452	21,831	7.4%
#17	Toyota RAV4	22,810	25,784	-11.5%
#18	Ford Ranger	19,653	20,715	-5.1%
#19	Ford Fusion	19,364	16,526	17.2%
#20	Chevrolet Equinox	19,261	11,759	63.8%
#21	Toyota Matrix	19,093	22,526	-15.2%
#22	Ford Edge	17,040	12,060	41.3%
#23	Volkswagen Golf	15,951	12,725	25.4%
#24	Nissan Versa	15,743	20,097	-21.7%
#25	Volkswagen Jetta	14,758	13,970	5.6%
#26	Honda Accord	14,659	16,017	-8.5%
#27	Nissan Sentra	14,651	13,431	9.1%
#28	BMW 3-Series	14,009	12,610	11.1%
#29	Hyundai Sonata	13,856	8,975	54.4%
#30	Toyota Yaris	13,817	23,773	-41.9%
#31	Kia Forte	13,578	5,734	136.8%
#32	Nissan Altima	13,425	13,852	-3.1%
#33	Nissan Rogue	13,199	11,054	19.4%
#34	Chevrolet Malibu	13,092	12,427	5.4%
#35	Hyundai Tucson	12,923	7,278	77.6%
#36	Toyota Venza	12,468	12,375	0.8%
#37	Toyota Camry	12,251	15,524	-21.1%
#38	Chevrolet Impala	11,434	12,294	-7.0%
#39	Jeep Wrangler	11,062	7,271	52.1%
#40	Jeep Patriot	10,753	7,998	34.4%

Source: Automakers & ANDC

Americans Buy Cars In May, Not January

Completed because of a request from The Good Car Girl, the embedded spreadsheet you see here was meant to look at seasonal changes in the U.S. automotive marketplace. You, however, can look at it with whatever questions you may have and find answers. Monthly sales data (supplied by Automotive News Data Center) can be found for every month over the last ten years. Beyond that, The Good Car Guy has allowed Google Docs formulas to go to work on averages.

As you'll see, January is never a good month for selling cars, but you guessed that already. Of greater importance to new car dealerships, May is the best month for selling vehicles. In fact, in three of the last ten years May was the top-selling month. Only in 2008 was January not the lowest volume month, but that January was worse than any of the previous 84 months on the chart. Clearly the middle months of the year are better times to sell cars, but December is moderately decent, despite the Christmas shopping at Apple stores and Target.



The best month in the last decade? It wasn't Cash For Clunkers. July 2005 was rockin'. January 2009, on the other hand, was the lowest volume month of the decade. Sales had been spiralling downward, then recovered slightly in December 2008, then plummeted nearly 238,000 units in the first month of Barack Obama's presidency.

Januarys, on average, feature about 250,000 fewer sales than the average month. The months of May are almost 160,000 sales better than the average month. It's interesting to look back and see some anomalies which, only at first, seem unexplainable. Remember October 2001? After 9/11, incentives on new vehicles skyrocketed. So did sales. August 2009 presented the aforementioned Cash For Clunkers spike. In September 2008, economic crisis laid hold on the United States like that concussion has Sidney Crosby right now. Every automaker posted a decrease in sales compared with September 2007; Audi fared best with a 5.4% drop. As far as 2010's recovery, it sure wasn't as historically significant as we wish it was. December, 2010's best month, was the eighth-best December of the decade. Average monthly sales in 2010 were 96,589 up on 2008's average but the 12-month average monthly output was 305,723 units below the average month of the decade.

It's not all doom and gloom. January 2011 was up 17% over 2009's January and up 25% over January 2008.


Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
U.S. New Vehicle Market Size: 2001 - 2010
U.S. New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - January 2011
2010 Year End U.S. Auto Sales Charts & Best Sellers

Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

The Good Car Guy doesn't pretend to be an expert on the automotive marketplace in Mexico, despite 0.008% of his life having been spent there. Moreover, GoodCarBadCar.net will surely be held responsible for any errors by Mexican family members in their Chevy Suburbans. No joke.

Rather than go into detail explaining how Nissan manages to be number one in Mexico when two other North American outposts of Japan's second-largest automaker can't be among the top five, let's stick with some facts. The overall Mexican new vehicle market was worth 820,419 sales in 2010; that's up 8.7% from 2009. 54.4% of the products were imports, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Go back to 2002 and Mexico's new vehicle market was 1,768,908 units strong. In 2006, that figure grew to 2,041,213 and then gradually began shrinking. From 1,099,878 in 2007, Mexicans then acquired only 1,025,449 in 2008. Those numbers dropped again in 2009 before recovering very slightly in 2010. 

Hundreds of thousands of Canadian and American tourists are accustomed to seeing vehicles in Mexico which aren't on sale north of the Rio Grande. These vehicles aren't just available in Peugeot, Renault, and Seat stores but even from General Motors and Ford. If you can't comprehend how necessary this is, how the Mexican auto market must be catered to uniquely, then you haven't compared the various market sizes in North America. Canada, a country of 34 million people, found within itself room for another 1,558,400 new vehicles in 2010, about one new vehicle for every 22 people. Mexicans, on the other hand, only bought one vehicle for every 55 people, and that was in the strong year of 2007. Obviously automakers are dealing with a very different situation in impoverished, truck-loving Mexico.

Here then is a complete rundown of Mexican auto sales by brand for 2010. 

Rank	Automaker	2010	% Change
#1	Nissan	189,518	+21.3
#2	General Motors	155,590	+12.4
#3	Volkswagen	110,332	+13.2
#4	Ford Motor Company	89,425	-1.8
#5	Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep	78,574	-4.6
#6	Toyota	46,769	-10
#7	Honda	37,790	+7.2
#8	Mazda	25,116	+32.8
#9	Renault	18,046	+56.9
#10	Seat	13,380	-14.1
#11	Mitsubishi	12,533	-12.5
#12	Suzuki	7932	+11.8
#13	Mercedes-Benz	6205	+16.2
#14	Peugeot	6195	-14.5
#15	BMW	5732	+3.7
#16	Audi	5490	+12.7
#17	Fiat	2502	-28.7
#18	Mini	2093	+17.2
#19	Acura	1876	-3.4
#20	Isuzu	1337	+37.6
#21	Volvo	1293	+38.3
#22	smart	936	+38.1
#23	Subaru	500	-33.5
#24	Land Rover	499	+15.5
#25	Porsche	440	-17.8
#26	Jaguar	96	-39.6
#27	Bentley	8	-11.1

Source: Automotive News Data Center & Mexican Automotive Manufacturers Association

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - June 2011 Year-To-Date
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - March 2011 Year-To-Date
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
UK Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

2010 Truck Sales Figures In USA And Canada

Links to the Best-Selling Truck lists for 2010 are below. This is a new type of post for GoodCarBadCar.net, one that's long overdue and sure to continue.

On a monthly basis, Canadian and U.S. Truck Sales charts won't be displayed together. But as a preview of what's to come, it's interesting to see the strength of the Canadian truck market relative to the size of the overall new vehicle market in Canada's ten provinces and three territories. Take the Ford F-Series as an example. In the U.S. market in 2010, the F-Series formed 4.6% of all sales versus 6.3% of the overall Canadian market. Overall pickup truck sales accounted for 14.1% of all U.S. new vehicle sales in 2010 but an astounding 19.1% of all new vehicle sales in Canada. 

More fun facts: if Ford Canada can increase F-Series sales by just 2.2% they'll have a 100,000 unit vehicle. If General Motors can find 28,420 conquest sales at the expense of Ford, the Silverado and Sierra will combine to be America's best-seller in 2011. And Mazda Canada dealers can throw themselves a party for beating their Mazda USA partners (who weren't exactly competing) since they sold 254 B-Series pickups for every Mazda truck sold in America.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Truck Sales In Canada - December & 2011 Year End
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - 2010 Year End
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In Canada - 2010 Year End
2011's The Good 12 Part 5 - Ford F-150
Truck Sales In America - January 2011
Truck Sales In Canada - January 2011

Porsche Canada 2010 Sales Figures

It seems like ages since GoodCarBadCar.net did a traditional Numbers post on any subject. "Recent" editions examined One Year With A Smart Fortwo and GM's Chevrolet Infusion In Korea. For this, a brief return to GCBC Numbers styles posting, a look at Porsche Canada's 2010 sales figures sounds like fun. 2010 was a record year for Porsche Cars Canada. 2036 Porsche vehicles found owners in the year ending on New Year's Eve, up 21% from 2009 levels. Porsche Cars Canada's previous record year was 2007 when 1987 vehicles were sold. The figures below all relate to 2010 calendar year sales in Canada unless otherwise noted.

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239.5 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche Panamera sales, although Porsche didn't have a full year of selling the Panamera in 2009 so growing the previous year's 114 sales wasn't a challenge.

16.9 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche Cayenne sales, thanks in no small part to the introduction of a better-looking second-generation Cayenne partway through 2010.

6.1 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche 911 sales, with growth coming from high-end models like the 911 GT3 RS.

22.7 - percentage year-over-year decrease in Porsche Cayman sales as two special editions disappeared and sales of the base Cayman and Cayman S fell 13.8% and 20.7% respectively.

20.2 - percentage year-over-year decrease in Porsche Boxster sales despite an additional 35 sales coming from the gorgeous Boxster Spyder.

21.1 - portion of overall Porsche Boxster sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Boxster Spyder.

58 - portion of overall Porsche Cayman sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Cayman S.

2.3 - portion of overall Porsche Cayenne sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid.

21.4 - portion of overall Porsche Panamera sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Panamera Turbo.

4.4 - portion of overall Porsche 911 sales, measured in percent, made up by the basic Porsche 911 Carrera.

74.2 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales not attributed to its most famous model, the 911.

84.6 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales not attributed to its most famous model in December 2010.

173 - total Porsche 911 Cabriolet models sold in 2010, with the biggest convertible seller being the 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet. 23 Targas were also sold in 2010.

118 - total Porsche Cayenne Turbo sales in 2010, 10 of which were of the Turbo S variety.

7 - total sales of the most basic Porsche Panamera, a car with an $86,600 pricetag.

279,500 - Canadian dollar MSRP of the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, one of which was sold in Canada in 2010. Not a single non-RS 911 GT2 was sold in 2010.

308 - total 911s sold in Canada in 2010 which were fitted with all-wheel drive.

54,900 - Canadian dollar MSRP of the least-expensive Porsche available, the basic 2011 Porsche Boxster, a vehicle which made up 3.5% of all Porsche Cars Canada sales in 2010.

0.39 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales garnered by the Porsche Cayenne Transsbyeria in 2010.

330 - total sales of Porsche's best-selling specific model in 2010, the Porsche Cayenne S.

248 - total sales in Porsche Cars Canada's best month of 2010, July.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net

Canada Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

Porsche 911 Sales Data In Canada - November 2010

2011's The Good 12 Part 10 - Porsche Boxster Spyder
2011's The Good 12 Part 11 - Porsche Cayenne

The 15 Worst-Selling Vehicles In Canada In 2010

In the slightly rejigged and not-so-immortal words from GoodCarBadCar.net's list of America's 15 Worst-Selling Cars, "For the sake of humour and remembrance - and because these vehicles haven't been discussed on GoodCarBadCar.net for ages - the 15 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada in 2010 include dead or mostly dead vehicles. They are either out of production, soon to be out of production, or not a part of the Canadian new vehicle market any longer." 

Pontiac sales in Canada didn't completely disappear in 2010. In fact, sales fell "just" 86.3% to 6801, 15 of which came in December. Saturn's situation was a bit worse as total 2010 sales fell 99.9% from 2009 to 11, none of which came from the final month of the year. Hummer's sales figures were abysmal in 2009 and couldn't get much worse. Falling 66%, Hummer's total dropped to 168 and GoodCarBadCar.net skipped over the H2's two sales in this table because Worst Seller lists are intended to skip over true luxury items.  That said, the Honda S2000 was a $50K+ vehicle in Canada.

Anyway, this list is no means an official rundown of anything meaningful, but it does give us an opportunity to see how the 2011 Dodge Durango's percentage change numbers will be wonderfully flattering.

Rank	Car	2010	% Drop
#1	Pontiac G8	1	-93.8
#2	Saturn Outlook	1	-99.9
#3	Saturn Astra	2	-99.9
#4	Hyundai Tiburon	2	-99.8
#5	Hyundai Azera	3	-98.3
#6	Dodge Durango	6	-93.8
#7	Chevrolet TrailBlazer	7	-97.2
#8	Ford Taurus X	8	-99.1
#9	Saturn Vue	8	-99.7
#10	GMC Envoy	13	-94.2
#11	Chrysler Aspen	15	-96.4
#12	Pontiac Torrent	16	-99.7
#13	Nissan Quest	20	-95
#14	Honda S2000	21	-57
#15	Chevrolet Uplander	30	-99.7

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - 2011 Year End
The 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - March 2010
Top 15 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America - 2010 Year End
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - 2010 Year End

Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - 2010 Year End

For a list such as this to be meaningful, certain qualifications must be installed beforehand. "Luxury vehicle" can mean just about anything in marketing literature, but for an aware readership, GoodCarBadCar.net has slightly higher standards than simply any car available with leather-lined seats. Premium badges, therefore, are mandatory.... with a handful of exceptions. Because of the Chevrolet Corvette's premium pricing, it could be considered a luxury vehicle. (Before you check, it's not among Canada's 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles.) 

Can the opposite be true? Is a rebadged, up-contented Honda Civic like the Acura CSX, a $24,290 car, really a luxury vehicle? It's hard to say. So, for those who disagree with its inclusion as Canada's 25th best-selling luxury vehicle, or for those who don't like the Hyundai Genesis's presence here, there are a couple of stand-ins you should be aware of. The taxi squad, as it'll be called, includes the Audi A3 (1322 sales in 2010, up 6.2%), Volvo XC90 (1194, down 18%), Volvo's XC70/V70 pair (1220, down 14.5%), and the Audi Q7 (1247, up 8.8%). How 'bout we add the Cadillac Escalade to the rundown (1181, up 47.4%) and the Land Rover Range Rover Sport (1168, up 39.5%) as honourable mentions? That way, consumers who refuse to consider the Mercedes-Benz B-Class a luxury vehicle can see which cars would take its place.

Speaking of the Hyundai Genesis, Hyundai Canada says 3113 of its overall Genesis sales tally can be attributed to the Genesis Coupe, leaving just 811 of the truly luxurious Genesis sedans. Strange bed-brothers: BMW Canada lists the 323i's base price at $37,650; the Hyundai Genesis 3.8 is priced from $38,999. Could the C-Class Benz be numero uno? There's a coupe coming, but the C-Class goes to bat with just one bodystyle - BMW's 3-Series has four. Is bigger better? Not quite, 13 of the country's 30 most popular luxury vehicles are SUV/crossover/CUVs. Of the 30 vehicles listed below, 14 are German-derived. One is Korean, one is Swedish, four are American, the other ten are Japanese.

Rank	Luxury Vehicle	2010	2009
#1	BMW 3-Series	14,009	12,610
#2	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	8090	7317
#3	Lexus RX	7383	8828
#4	Acura MDX	5994	5994
#5	Mercedes-Benz GLK	5852	5012
#6	Audi A4	5211	4224
#7	Lincoln MKX	4458	2471
#8	Infiniti G	4408	3998
#9	BMW X5	4012	3410
#10	Hyundai Genesis	3924	3438
#11	Mercedes-Benz E & CLS-Class	3914	2819
#12	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3871	3146
#13	Acura RDX	3163	2869
#14	Audi Q5	3060	1942
#15	Mercedes-Benz B-Class	2994	2865
#16	Cadillac CTS	2974	2488
#17	Cadillac SRX	2918	990
#18	Acura TL	2895	3577
#19	BMW X3	2840	2236
#20	Lexus ES	2688	2999
#21	BMW 5-Series	2382	1619
#22	Audi A5	2309	1520
#23	Acura TSX	2297	2020
#24	Lexus IS	2233	2617
#25	Acura CSX	2064	2526
#26	Infiniti EX	1925	1785
#27	BMW 1-Series	1764	2533
#28	Volvo XC60	1540	1211
#29	Lincoln MKZ	1493	1508
#30	Mercedes-Benz G & GL-Class	1437	1143

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - 2011 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - January 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - 2010 Year End
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - 2010 Year End
Canada New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - 2010 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - 2010 Year End