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

The 15 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America - 2010

During previous instances in which The Good Car Guy found the Worst Selling Cars in America or Canada, even when configuring lists for Sympatico Autos, there's been a host of ground rules. Foremost among those rules was the absence of luxury-branded vehicles. Luxury cars are by their very nature intended to sell in lower volumes. Punishing them for this is petty. Next up for exclusion were SUVs, trucks, crossovers, and minivans. This time, that rule has been forgotten. Finally, defunct brands or models which had already been killed off were obvious slow sellers, so they were ignored.

Not this time, however. 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 America 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 U.S. new vehicle market any longer.

Rank	Car	2010	% Drop
#1	Pontiac Grand Prix	7	-97.4
#2	Mitsubishi Raider	9	-99.5
#3	Mazda B-Series	10	-98.3
#4	Suzuki Forenza/Reno	12	-99.7
#5	Ford Taurus X	12	-99.8
#6	Pontiac G3	14	-99.8
#7	Saturn Astra	25	-99.6
#8	Chrysler Aspen	30	-99.5
#9	Mercury Sable	37	-99.4
#10	Pontiac Torrent	68	-99.3
#11	Chevrolet Uplander	76	-95.7
#12	GMC Envoy	84	-98.3
#13	Honda S2000	85	-89.3
#14	Pontiac G5	86	-99.3
#15	Pontiac Vibe	97	-99.7

Curiously, Mazda Canada has held on to the B-Series... for now. (Its donor vehicle, the Ford Ranger, is not long for this world.) B-Series sales were up 55% in 2010 to 2545. Speaking of Ford, the Taurus X evolved from the Freestyle. Certainly different in styling, the Freestyle/Taurus X's successor, the Ford Flex, isn't totally unlike its predecessors and doesn't sell much better, either. Mercury, Pontiac, and Saturn are all inoperative. The Honda S2000 is sadly no longer a part of Honda's fleet, let's fondly remember it's sweet shifter and screaming 4-cylinder. General Motors doesn't play the minivan game, so the Uplander is gone. The GMC Acadia has been a successful replacement for the GMC Envoy. You could say the GMC Terrain has been a more-than-adequate stand-in for the Pontiac Torrent. Could the Aspen ever return? It seems unlikely, but the name of its platform-mate, Dodge Durango, is returning on an all-new platform. Does anybody even know what the Suzuki Forenza or Reno was? And the Mitsubishi Raider? Sorry Mitsu, Americans buy F-150s, Silverados, Sierras, Rams, and a few Tacomas. Not much else.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In America - 2011 Year End
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In America - March 2010
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - 2010 Year End
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - 2010 Year End
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

10 INTERESTING CARS CANADIANS DON'T BUY ANYMORE

You're not surprised when the cars you never noticed in the first place go extinct. More curious are the vehicles which capture your attention at one time or another then fail to anchor down in the Marketplace. They've long since reached their Sales Stats peak, the trend is pointing downward, their chances of regaining their old position is completely dependent on manufacturer-supplied incentives. 

Below, you'll find ten interesting vehicles which no longer interest Canadian automobile buyers. For the research-obsessed, sales figures are submitted as evidence. Then read The Good Car Guy's theories on why these ten interesting vehicles aren't selling like they once were.

Audi TT
June 2007: 70
June 2008: 71
June 2009: 55
June 2010: 36
Why? Sometimes the most beautiful cars are also successful because they are the most visually shocking cars. In the Audi TT's case, nothing else looks anything like it. Though still gorgeous in second-generation form, the 2010 Audi TT can't be visually arresting more than a decade after it was first introduced. Team apathy with the fact that two of the Audi TT's competitors (BMW Z4 and Mercedes-Benz SLK) are simultaneously coupes and convertibles and other rivals from Porsche, the Boxster and Cayman, are more dynamically impressive. There you have a recipe for falling TT sales.

Chrysler PT Cruiser
June 2007: 253
June 2008: 215
June 2009: 103
June 2010: 209
Why? Don't let June 2010's apparent recovery fool you. Half-year PT Cruiser sales are down 73% from 2007 levels. Chrysler dealers were off-loading stock with huge discounts in June because PT Cruiser production has come to an end. And why's that? Designers were doing amazing things with retro styling in the late 90s and in the early part of this century, but how does one go about replacing an older-feeling car? If the PT Cruiser went modern, it wouldn't be much of a PT Cruiser. If it remained retro, nothing would have changed and the love and passion people initially felt for the car would continue to dissipate. The PT Cruiser's been left in the lurch.

Dodge Viper
June 2007: 1
June 2008: 15
June 2009: 3
June 2010: 1

Why? Although Viper sales never shot through the roof, more refined machinery from other automakers have caught up to the Viper's performance credentials. Luxury and quality can be had with jaw-dropping acceleration and handling in cars like the BMW M3, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Nissan GT-R, and Porsche 911 Carrera S. Are they as rapid around a track as the Dodge Viper SRT-10? Probably not, but in 99% of driving situations, the other cars are far more enjoyable and just as much, if not more fun.

Honda Ridgeline
June 2007: 330
June 2008: 164
June 2009: 357
June 2010: 248
Why? From the beginning, the Honda Ridgeline was criticized for being too ugly and too soft. Yet there was something about the Ridgeline which made it desirable, even as many soft-roaders are sought after more fervently than heavy-duty body-on-frame SUVs. Comfortable seating for five people and an under-bed trunk, along with a measure of towing capacity, haven't made the Ridgeline successful in the Canadian market. Compared with the first half of 2008, sales are down 42% in 2010. Canadian sales of the Ford F-Series reached 10,765 in June.

Honda S2000
June 2007: 9
June 2008: 10
June 2009: 2
June 2010: 0
Why? Recently extinguished from Honda's North American websites, the S2000 ceased production in 2009 but continued to sell in low numbers through the beginning of 2010 because, well.... Honda just couldn't get rid of the $50,000+ roadsters. Initially a hit with enthusiasts and tuners, the S2000 gradually appeared bland in appearance and stagnant in performance. Honda refused to dramatically increase the S2000's output. Roadster buyers looking for something fresh and exciting had many other options. The S2000's been old news for a while.

Lexus IS
June 2007: 311
June 2008: 431
June 2009: 247
June 2010: 217
Why? The IS's 50% drop from June 2008 levels to June 2010 came at the same time its most successful Japanese rival, the Infiniti G, pushed sales upward by 20%. Apart from the wild Lexus ISF, the IS range is not really geared towards the automotive enthusiast. The 2010 Lexus IS250 is the sports sedan your mother would have designed for you: clean and classy but not wild or aggressive. Ranking seventh in its class in Canadian June sales, the Lexus IS isn't as handsome as the first-generation IS and is far too Lexus-like to be a true contender in its segment.

Mazda RX-8
June 2007: 99
June 2008: 78
June 2009: 16
June 2010: 20

Why? RX-8 sales actually perked up in June. May and April totals were significantly lower. Mazda does a great job of making all its cars fun to drive, but the RX-8 needs to take fun to another level. And it does. But seven or eight years on from its debut, the RX-8 is long past the date at which Mazda needed to up the ante with the rotary engine. Mazda should also have spent more time making the RX-8 less of a guzzler. Your run of the mill Chevrolet Corvette uses less fuel.

Nissan Quest
June 2007: 159
June 2008: 49
June 2009: 99
June 2010: 2
Why? Half-year sales of the Nissan Quest are down 98% from 2007. In 2002, Nissan displayed the uniquely designed Quest in Detroit. Wow, everyone thought, maybe this is what minivans are supposed to be. The Quest didn't catch on, however, even with big horsepower and a gigantic interior. News that Nissan is going back to the uniquely shaped drawing board for 2011 or 2012 is.... good, I guess; but it didn't work the first time around. Customers stayed with Chrysler and Dodge for the most part and sales of genuine minivans like the Mazda 5 and Kia Rondo took off.

Pontiac Solstice
June 2007: 225
June 2008: 138
June 2009: 63
June 2010: 11
Why? Obviously Pontiac sales have taken a tumble because, uh, Pontiac is dead. GM's axe also took out Saturn, which killed off the Sky, Saturn's Solstice twin. Although both cars were fun to drive, good-looking, and capable performers, they lacked the storage capacity and refinement Mazda Miata owners have come to expect. The Solstice wasn't a brand rescuer, and apparently the Pontiac G8 wasn't, either.

Toyota FJ Cruiser
June 2007: 395
June 2008: 145
June 2009: 62
June 2010: 54
Why? Canadian prices for the 2010 Toyota FJ Cruiser start at $31,900. It may not be a direct competitor of the Jeep Wrangler, but there aren't many other vehicles with which the FJ Cruiser would naturally be cross-shopped. Wranglers have a base price of $19,095. 4-door Wranglers start at $23,495. Wrangler sales in June climbed to 1,238. In other words, every time Toyota sold an FJ Cruiser in June, Jeep sold 23 Wranglers. Poor visibility hurts the FJ's cause, too.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - July 2010
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - June 2010
The 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - March 2010
Saturn Sky Red Line Driven

WATCH OUT CARBON E7, GM HOPS BACK INTO POLICE ARENA WITH CHEVROLET CAPRICE

From Holden, GM's Australian outpost, comes this re-worked Pontiac G8 Police Package. No, wait a second.... It seems a little longer than the G8, that's not a twin-port grille; and that's a bow-tie badge; not an upside-down arrowhead.

Indeed, the police package General Motors will be offering fleets come 2011 isn't a Pontiac G8 but a Chevrolet Caprice, nee Holden Statesman/Caprice. Although very similar to the defunct Pontiac G8, the Caprice police car is actually based on a larger version of GM's rear-wheel drive Zeta platform.

Holden makes use of large variations of the Zeta platform in the Land Down Under. The Commodore (like our G8) is just the start: Calais, Ute, Caprice, Statesman, and Sportwagon form half of Holden's showroom. As in the Middle East, the larger sedan version of this Holden Zeta platform will be called the Chevrolet Caprice for North America. Ah, but only for fleets; not for private customers. At least not until police auctions show '11s with 180,000 miles and a severely dented rear bumper.

Read The Good Car Guy's call for a Pontiac G8 Police Package

Sadly, not only is the Pontiac G8 dead but its spiritual successor won't be available in Chevrolet showrooms. Take solace in a few simple facts. The Caprice is gigantic. (The G8 wasn't "small", after all.) Its wheelbase is stretched almost four inches and its overall length is about a half-foot beyond that of the Pontiac G8. This brings about a couple hundred more pounds in luxurious Holden formation and should do so anyway with all the extra riot gear. So if you don't like your cars 17-feet long there's no need to complain about the Caprice's absence in Chevy dealers.

Even with all that weight, 355 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque from a 6.0L V8 should give the Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle some scoot. Cops should be comfortable with more interior capacity than the Ford Crown Victoria offers in addition to specially contoured seats to allow space for a typical cop's belt.

Check out the full GoodCarBadCar.net POLICE section

Strangely, a "street-appearance" package code-named 9C3 will be available. One would assume that a supposedly "undercover" car ain't gonna appear to undercover when NOBODY ELSE IS ALLOWED TO DRIVE THAT MODEL OF CAR. That being said, the same accusation could be applied to the upcoming Carbon Motors police car, a vehicle which, in basic garb, will still be identifiable by its core.

Nevertheless, it is the diesel-powered Carbon Motors E7 that'll provide the stiffest fleet competition to the Chevrolet Caprice, not the antiquated Ford police package. As sales to consumers drop, will anybody else want to step in and play this game?

HOLDEN DEBUTS THREE SPECIAL HSV EDITIONS

Special-edition Holdens are like special-edition Ford Mustangs: all-too frequent but oh-so-very good.

Holden is an Australian subsidiary of General Motors. Down under, they enjoy a big rear-wheel drive car with a big engine about as much as is deemed possible. HSV is Holden Special Vehicles, the Holden equivalent of Mercedes-Benz AMG or BMW's M cars. 

With that being understood, you can look at this HSV Clubsport R8 Tourer and not be surprised by its horsepower total (425) or its torque figure (406 lb-ft). There'll be just 125 of these wagons. A manual transmission is standard equipment.

20" wheels are standard on the sedan in the rear of the photo below. Holden calls it the HSV Senator Signature SV08. It's close to $15,000 more than the previously-mentioned Clubsport R8 Tourer. Only 20 can be had with a manual transmission. Another 30 will be available for those who wish the car to shift for itself.

Finally, in the foreground, you have the HSV GTS 40 Years Edition. Anniversary models are all around us. There'll be 100 of these at a slightly lower cost than the Senator Signature.

How does this pertain to you? These cars, underneath all the extra badging and two-tone paint jobs, are Pontiac G8s.  

PONTIAC OFFICIALLY UNVEILS THE G3 FOR AMERICA

Back in June AutoEnergy went ahead and discussed the fuel economy of the Pontiac G3; contrasting it with the more efficient Toyota Yaris. At that point, the Pontiac G3 was just a Wave north of the border. Now General Motors has decided that the United States wants a "sporty" and fuel efficient hatchback?

Sporty? Is the Chevrolet Aveo sporty? This, my friends, is the same car.

Sales in this segment were up 33% during the first half of 2008. Naturally, Pontiac dealers wanted in on the fun. Their most recent new car makes headlines for its Aussie-good looks and heft V8 engine, not exactly representing the kind of fuel efficiency young buyers are looking for these days.

Pontiac will supply the G3 and some people will be interested. For interest's sake, do remember the Pontiac G5, a Chevrolet Cobalt sibling that actually outperforms the G3 at the pump. Here's the photo gallery.

GM DEALERSHIP MERGER ANECDOTE

What will become a more common story across the United States - in both rural and urban areas - can be seen at this link.  General Motors really, really wants its dealerships to have a broader brand base for buyers to choose from as GM attempts to individualize each of their subsidiaries.  GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab all compete in one way or another.  Bringing brands under one roof with cars that are distinct would dispose of the competition and breed a strong team approach.  

In other words, "Oh, need more truck than the Enclave? We have a Yukon Denali right over here."  In addition to that theory comes clear cost savings and greater long-term viability. 

Thus, in Albertville, a place I've never heard of in Alabama, Howard Bentley Pontiac-GMC is now Howard Bentley Buick-Pontiac-GMC.  No; that's Bentley as in the owner's last name, not the British hyper-luxury brand.  

Wayne Bentley's dealership will typically have an extra 40 cars on the lot.  Having started out with Oldsmobile and Pontiac in 1988, GMC came online and the Oldsmobile sign disappeared with... well, Oldsmobile.  

BIDS CLIMBING ON PONTIAC STREAMLINER

eBay Motors is hosting a sell-off of a Pontiac Streamliner, built around the time soldiers were found safe at home after WW2 but designed long before.

This very attractive 1947, four-door, eight-cylinder, 3-speed, Californian-based Pontiac is on sale thru February 5th but already bidders are driving up the price.  31 bids have been placed, and if you want to lay claim to highest-bidder status as of.... right now; eBay needs to see $5,200 USD or higher. Pontiac built almost 90,000 eight-cylinder Streamliners in 1947, pushing on double the production of '46 eight-cylinder Streamliners but about 36,000 less than were produced in the final year, 1948.

Pontiac's contemporary replacement is Aussie-derived, a couple hundred pounds heavier, and just started reaching the left coast.

THE GENERAL'S NEWS

Conventional thinking and official General Motors releases would lead you to believe the upcoming Corvette ZR1 will be priced like an inexpensive supercar (or a very expensive Chevy sports car), but conventional thinking is wrong this time. The first ZR1 sold for 10x the MSRP. The Barrett-Jackson produces big numbers every time this year, and a Corvette ZR1 for a cool million bucks is one of those big numbers, indeed.

Overt, startling, and distracting to the point of appreciation - the Cadillac CTS coupe concept will become a production car in 2010. Expect Cadillac to build 15,000 at the Lansing Grand River facility every year.

The port at Benicia, California is about to accept four ships full of Pontiac G8's from Down Under, mate. By launch time, Pontiac hopes to have 7,000 G8's in America. This first batch is near equally split between V6 and V8 models.

Speaking of Oz, a blue police-liveried Hummer H3 is on active duty at community events in Australia. Police hope to 'foster relationships between police and local youths.' The Australian Conservation Foundation's Phil Freeman sounds disappointed in Victoria's police. "We would much prefer to see Victoria Police encouraging kids to ride bikes both for their environment and their health."

Forget the Volt - Saturn wants to sell you a full-on plug-in hybrid in SUV form in 2010. (December 31st of 2010 is 35 months away.) The Vue plug-in would recharge at your home's electrical outlet in less than five hours and would achieve twice the fuel economy of any SUV on the road today. Well, well, well; we shall see.

As described here on GoodCarBadCar, the previously mentioned Pontiac G8 sportwagon will not be sold in North America, but the genuine Australian article, Holden's Commodore wagon, will be offered in seven versions.

AZTEK SALES - 2007

Yes, you read that correctly. Pontiac sold Azteks in 2007. Yes, you were under the correct impression that Aztek sales stopped in 2005. But, that impression was ever-so-slightly misleading.

The Aztek improved in 2002. Ever-so-slightly. The excessive cladding that coated the lower portions of the body was removed in favour of body colour continuation. Although Pontiac sought to sell 75,000 Azteks each year, that goal was never reached and production came to an end.... and not a moment to soon.

Even so, over the last twelve months leading up to the point sixteen days ago, 25 Azteks were sold. One can assume the invoice was substantially less than the listed MSRP. The 185-bhp crossover-utes sold for $21,530 (front-wheel drive) or $24,445 (all-wheel drive). It's safe to assume a typical '05 Aztek would be worth half that price.