CANADA AUTO SALES FOR OCTOBER 2009

Updated November 17/2009 @ 9:21 AST

Early Numbers reveal a recovering automotive market south of the 49th, although "recovering" is a difficult word to use when said Numbers are compared with a period (October of 2008) of the worst auto selling environment in recent memory. Sales Stats never tanked as badly in Canada and as this Canada Auto Sales post clearly shows, many automakers are cruising towards a relatively profitable autumn. GoodCarBadCar.net hasn't yet received data capable of splitting up GM, Ford, and Chrysler Canadian sales by brand - that should come later in the month.

Overall, passenger car sales in Canada were down slightly in October, just 2.6% off last October's pace. Light truck sales were up a little less than 1%. Acura, Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, and Mercedes were the month's big winners when contrasted with each respective brand's sales for the same period of last year. Losers include Mini, General Motors, and GM's former Swedish outpost, Saab. Click here for September's Canadian Sales Stats, here for October/2008's Sales Stats, or click here for a complete look at the first three-quarters of auto sales in Canada.

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Ford: +20.3% to 17,669

Toyota: +19.4% to 17,354

Dodge: +3.2% to 10,856

Chevrolet: -23% to 10,082

Honda: -10.4% to 9,224

Hyundai: +43% to 8,415

Nissan: -2.5% to 5,912

Mazda: -8.1% to 5,612

Kia: +23.2% to 3,603

Volkswagen: -3.2% to 3,545

Subaru: +39.3% to 2,486

Jeep: -32.9% to 2,385

BMW: +5.5% to 2,310

Pontiac: -69% to 2,259

Mercedes-Benz: +27.8% to 2,199

Acura: +78.9% to 2,079

Lexus: +11.9% to 1,459

Mitsubishi: +8.5% to 1,452

Suzuki: +1.5% to 1,336

Audi: +2.3% to 1,100

Chrysler: -38.2% to 1,022

Infiniti: -3.5% to 743

Buick: -40% to 688

Cadillac: +5.4% to 550

Lincoln: +24.5% to 510

Saturn: -62.3% to 505

Volvo: -16.1% to 380

Mini: -21% to 380

smart: -15.6% to 228

Land Rover: +3.2% to 224

Porsche: +14% to 130

Jaguar: +23.6% to 68

Saab: -61% to 41

Hummer: -56.2% to 28

Bentley: +80% to 9

Mercury: -46% to 8

Ferrari: -20% to 8

Maserati: -50% to 7

Lamborghini: -18% to 5

GCBC GALLERY OF THE 2010 FORD TAURUS SEL AWD

Ford released a 2010 Taurus SEL AWD into The Good Car Guy's hands about three hours ago. A proper Driven article is yet to come; the 3 To Beat happened months ago, and young Facebook contacts have already offered up their generally negative - though uneducated - views. However, one photography session has been undertaken and you can check out the GCBC Gallery below.

Early impressions revolve around the Taurus's size: 'tis large indeed. Comfort is top-notch. Sound is terrific; and only comes from the right places (speakers and not the road). The new Taurus is miles ahead of the old Five Hundred/Taurus in terms of appearance. Even with GoodCarBadCar.net being a fan of white cars, a big white Ford does scream cop car. Until you look at the flashy wheels. Click any image for a larger view at the album's Picasa home page.

THE 2010 FORD TAURUS - AS DISCUSSED BY AN ANTI-TAURUS GENERATION

As a website committed to speaking for and to a generation of first-time new car buyers, a deep look at the Ford Taurus doesn't strike anyone as the first task of the day. Indeed, this is actually The Good Car Guy's last task of today.... right before teeth-brushing.

For a unique take on Ford's situation with the Taurus, GoodCarBadCar.net utilized Facebook (people always respond quicker that way) and a specific group of people for whom possession of preconceived notions of a car like the Taurus come naturally. I already knew that these represenatives of Generation X and Generation Y would be discinclined to love the words "Ford" and "Taurus". And while it's not the official mission of GoodCarBadCar.net to change consumer opinions in favour of Ford Motor Company - no, not at all - auto enthusiasts won't be surprised to find themselves wondering if the new Taurus can't alter well-rooted opinions. Opinions, oh Good Car Nation, that are deeply founded in a couple decades of indecent exposure.

Check below for the represenatives' views before their Taurus education, and check back tomorrow for The Good Car Guy's initial views of a Taurus tester arranged with Ford of Canada's help. Do remember, these are youngerish, urbanites for the most part, car buyers who generally think smaller and cheaper, potential car buyers who also grapple with higher expectations for equipment and perceived quality. They were given two words to which they had to react with a brief comment. The words? Ford Taurus.

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Rep #1: 20-something female bureaucrat.

"Clunky car for old fogies."

Rep #2: 20-something male accountant.

"Very boring, no excitement whatsoever."

Rep #3: 20-something male artist.

"Too long, cheap-looking interior, toy-like knobs and buttons, got its overly curvaceous design in the 90s."

Rep #4: 20-something male programmer.

"Two words: no good."

Rep #5: Near-30 female EA.

"Its rattles join the sound of the pavement beneath the tires and the wind as you drive. Better than taking the bus."

Rep #6: 20-something male student.

"I would not object if my parents decided to buy one."

Rep #7: 20-something male audio-visual guru.

"We drove one for sometime. No flash, but i was able to fall asleep in it."

Rep #8: 30-something male taste-tester.

"For when you've given up your dreams."

Rep #9: Near-30 male seller of aqua.

"They've come a long way!"

PROFILING HYUNDAI CANADA'S RAPID CANADIAN SALES GROWTH - THE OCTOBER EDITION

Hyundai is a very actively discussed topic here on GoodCarBadCar.net, especially so since the beginning of 2009 when sales success in North America was nearly the exclusive domain of Korea's biggest automaker. Canada, in particular, has been a breeding ground for Hyundais this year. The full story on Hyundai's Canadian October, its best October ever, is displayed below.

If you're a disgusted automaker's PR rep wondering why Hyundai receives exceptional study, you can go right ahead and grow your sales with this kind of ferocity, too. Then GoodCarBadCar.net profiles your brand, as well.

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43 - percentage jump in Hyundai Canada's October/2009 sales compared with October/2008

8,415 - total sales of Hyundais in Canada in October, down a little more than 9% compared with the previous month

1,417 - total sales of Canada's fifth-best-selling car, the Hyundai Accent, in October

1,973 - total October sales of Canada's fourth-best-selling car, the Hyundai Elantra, making October the Elantra's best October ever, 187.6% better than October of '08

750 - total October sales of the Elantra Touring

34.7 - sales decrease for the Hyundai Sonata in October, down from 930 last October to 607 in October of '09

4 - total Hyundai Azeras sold to people who must've gotten great deals for not buying a Hyundai Genesis

97 - total sales of the Hyundai Genesis sedan, a 49.2% increase over the Genesis sedan total of 2008's October

192 - total Hyundai Genesis Coupe sales in October, down from September's total which was down from August's total of 286

790 - total sales of the Hyundai Tucson in October, way up from last October's total of 633, especially "way up" considering its status as soon-to-be-replaced

146 - total Veracruz sales in the month ending on Hallowe'en, up 17.7% year-over-year

103.3 - percentage increase in Canada's October sales of the country's third-best-selling SUV, Hyundai's Santa Fe, making the midsizer's sales total of 2,438 the best of any Hyundai for the month

3,374 - total Hyundai SUV sales in October in Canada, only 500 short of the company's total car and truck sales in January of 2008

FIVE CARS DON'T BELONG IN BW'S 50 UGLIEST CARS OF THE LAST 50 YEARS

BusinessWeek.com figures that automakers are bound to get some designs wrong given the multitude of new models released each and every year. And amongst all the ugly cars released over the last 50 years, Business Week picked out 50 it believes to be "just plain homely". Except, rather than write a design-led piece on the last half-century's mess-ups and design disasters, BusinessWeek's Damian Joseph appears to have gone out of his way to be entirely subjective.

Take Automobile's Robert Cumberford as somebody who will be subjective; but from an educated point of view. Or consider The Good Car Guy, who will be subjective; but makes very clear that GoodCarBadCar.net is a subjective soloist entity for a reason. GCBC might be inclined to announce The Good Car Guy's picks for the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years, but a publication like Business Week shouldn't publish the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years if the article is really Damian Joseph's picks for the 50 ugliest. If Business Week, of all websites, decides against utilizing true design credentials, bring in a flock of editors who can work together.

Why am I so hot and bothered? Mainly because of a few cars that, though possibly hated by a wide swath of the population, can by no means be graded as one of the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years. Those five cars are listed below. Do scroll. If you want to see Joseph's other picks, check out the article.

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Volvo 240

Nissan Cube

Volkswagen New Beetle

Skoda Roomster

Chrysler PT Cruiser

ASTON MARTIN RAPIDE BY THE NUMBERS

*December 6/09 Update: USD MSRP of Rapide to be $199,950*

Known most of all for its supreme design competence, Aston Martin is releasing its first 4-door in more than two decades next year in sublime style. The Good Car Guy has been known to complain about Aston's style-by-dimensions take, but it goes without saying that Aston Martin's style credentials are sky high.

The Rapide is a gorgeous 4-door (though technically a 5-door hatchback) with the sort of presence reserved for people who really know how to make an entrance. Marek Reichman, Aston Martin's design director, compares the Rapide to "a race horse standing still" with its "power and elegance" and muscular "rear haunches". He talks about the car's purity being "right from every angle". Car&Driver calls the Rapide the "world's most beautiful hatchback". Edmunds' Inside Line believes the production Rapide remains "remarkably true" to what they called a "snazzy concept". Autoblog calls the Rapide a "British beauty". And of course here at GoodCarBadCar.net it's been said that "the Aston Martin Rapide is one of the best-looking 4-doors in the history of 4-doors". Britain's CAR magazine says the Rapide is a "low-set four-door with a great stance, a beautiful silhouette and enough athletic details to get the CAR office salivating".

In other words, the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide is strong on aesthetics. But what about mathematics? That's to be discovered in the Numbers below.

2,000 - estimated total production of the Rapide at the plant in Graz, Austria

470 - horsepower generated by the Rapide's 5.9L V12

442 - lb-ft of torque produced by the V12, an engine shared with all other current production Aston Martins except for the V8 Vantage

13.97 - diameter, measured in inches, of the Aston Martin Rapide's front brake discs

15:1 - steering rack ratio in the new Rapide, a couple notches quicker than that of the DB9

10.6 - cubic feet of storage capacity in the rear hatch of the new Rapide, less than the 12 cubic feet available in the back of a smart fortwo

26.5 - total cubic feet of luggage capacity available with the Rapide's rear seats folded

645 - total Aston Martin Lagondas sold between 1976 and 1989, the last time Aston pushed a 4-door in the Marketplace

4,299 - weight of the Aston Martin Rapide in pounds

1,000 - total wattage provided by the Bang & Olufsen sound system which inludes motorized tweeters rising out of the dash

250,000 - approximate price, in U.S. dollars, of the Aston Martin Rapide when it goes on sale in the States next year

150,000 - approximate price, in British pounds sterling, of the Rapide when it goes on sale in.... Great Britain; the same as the average out-the-door price of the old Aston Martin Lagonda of the 80s

360 - total LEDs housed in each rear light

125 - Aston Martin dealers around the world in which the Rapide should compete against the future Lamborghini Estoque, Bentley Continental Flying Spur, and maybe even the Rolls-Royce Ghost

HISTORICAL RACING - MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SLR

Nearly 55 years after the fact, NetCarShow.com has compiled 80 pictures of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR and the Gallery can be seen right here, right now. Unfortunately, one-quarter of the Gallery is tainted by the hints of - or even full frontals of - the '04 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, not the prettiest car on a list of the ugliest cars of all time.

In The Good Car Guy's 100 Favourite Cars feature from early October the 300 SL Gullwing made a strong and unsurprising appearance. The corresponding racecar, the 300 SLR, was said to be as robust as it was elegant; two terms not normally applied to track cars. The inline-six-cylinder engine weighed 518 pounds, generated nearly 300 horsepower, and was once tested on a dynamometer at the equivalent of racing revs for 9,800 kilometres.... plus another 32 hours. Apparently the only part in need of changing was the oil rings at about 6K.

Names like Fangio and Moss, with races like Le Mans and the Mille Miglia and the Targa Florio, combine to make the 300 SLR's history as evocative as that of any ex-racer. In all honesty, the names of today's racers and races will never be remembered as fondly because the cars they drive will not be recognized the same way. The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR lingers as a proverbial nod to an era before racing efforts were computerized and tested digitally, a stunning retrospect of romantic motorsports.