Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - October 2014 YTD

Canada's auto industry collectively reported 6.5% gains in October 2014. 

The biggest improvements were reported by Jeep, Chrysler, Mini, Lincoln, Acura, Mitsubishi, Infiniti, and Audi, all of which increased their October 2014 sales by more than 28% compared with October 2013.

On the flip side, there were some struggling auto brands, the worst of which – Cadillac, Scion, Land Rover, Jaguar, and Volkswagen - all slid at least 9%.

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• Canada Vehicle Sales Rankings By Model - October 2014 YTD

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The big story, however, is the close proximity of the traditional Detroit Three. Chrysler Canada led all automobile manufacturers with 22,303 October 2014 sales, but Ford Canada was just 259 sales back, a slight 1% difference. Moreover, General Motors was only 42 sales behind Ford and Lincoln. Together, they owned 42.8% of the overall market, up from 42.1% a year ago.

This certainly wasn't the only close race. Mazda finished October just 65 sales in front of Kia to end the month as Canada's tenth-best-selling auto brand. Mercedes-Benz and Smart combined to end October 11 sales back of BMW and Mini. 

Click Chart To Expand

Speaking of BMW, Audi narrowed the October sales gap to just 459 units, down from 1061 units in October 2013. Mercedes-Benz is the so-called "luxury" favourite in Canada, but the three Germans more clearly stand free from the pack as a trio of dominant premium players. They accounted for 5.8% of the overall industry's Canadian October volume, compared with 1% for Cadillac and Lincoln and 3.2% for Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus.

Don't like to see automakers arranged alphabetically? Click column headers to sort automakers by October ranking, year-to-date sales, year-over-year change, or any other order. Best seller lists for cars, trucks, and SUVs will be added in the next couple of weeks. In the coming days, GCBC will also publish a complete list of October sales for every single vehicle line, a list which includes brand results. To find out what you can expect, you can see September's version of that post here. You can always find historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any brand by clicking the brand name in the table below or by selecting a make (or model) at GCBC's Sales Stats page.

Click column headers to sort by specific categories. Using the mobile version of GoodCarBadCar? Switch to the web version at the bottom of the page, at which point columns should be sortable.
October 2015 • November 2014 • September 2014 • October 2013 • Updated at 2:40 PM AT on 11.09.2014

Rank	Automaker	October 2014	% Change	2014 YTD	% Change	October 2014 Market Share	YTD  Market Share
#20	Acura	2179	42.2%	15,841	0.5%	1.4%	1.0%
#17	Audi	2497	28.1%	20,454	17.3%	1.6%	1.3%
#16	BMW	2956	-1.8%	27,442	5.3%	1.9%	1.7%
#22	Buick	1716	17.5%	15,960	29.9%	1.1%	1.0%
#25	Cadillac	793	-23.1%	8567	9.9%	0.5%	0.5%
#4	Chevrolet	12,590	9.1%	122,960	2.3%	8.1%	7.8%
#18	Chrysler	2460	86.8%	21,711	-7.9%	1.6%	1.4%
#9	Dodge	6897	-6.1%	81,555	-7.0%	4.4%	5.2%
#27	Fiat	473	-8.2%	7305	5.9%	0.3%	0.5%
#1	Ford	21,280	-3.8%	243,598	0.3%	13.7%	15.4%
#8	GMC	6903	6.7%	62,802	4.4%	4.5%	4.0%
#3	Honda	13,225	-4.0%	128,223	5.6%	8.5%	8.1%
#5	Hyundai	11,113	9.0%	120,498	0.6%	7.2%	7.6%
#23	Infiniti	1004	29.5%	8642	13.0%	0.6%	0.5%
#33	Jaguar	86	-9.5%	1238	15.4%	0.1%	0.1%
#12	Jeep	5561	79.2%	59,728	61.7%	3.6%	3.8%
#11	Kia	6010	8.5%	62,195	-3.0%	3.9%	3.9%
#28	Land Rover	431	-11.1%	5100	23.6%	0.3%	0.3%
#21	Lexus	1764	9.6%	14,654	9.1%	1.1%	0.9%
#26	Lincoln	764	49.2%	5544	14.7%	0.5%	0.4%
#34	Maserati	24	-33.3%	417	141%	0.1%	0.1%
#10	Mazda	6075	5.0%	62,996	2.6%	3.9%	4.0%
#15	Mercedes-Benz ^	3530	12.3%	31,278	8.4%	2.3%	2.0%
#24	Mini	802	55.1%	4320	-12.2%	0.5%	0.3%
#19	Mitsubishi	2389	31.0%	19,805	10.5%	1.5%	1.3%
#6	Nissan	8282	7.6%	89,922	28.8%	5.3%	5.7%
#30	Porsche	350	12.2%	4171	34.0%	0.2%	0.3%
#7	Ram	6912	18.2%	77,170	9.9%	4.5%	4.9%
#31	Scion	294	-25.0%	3630	-18.8%	0.2%	0.2%
#32	Smart	217	-6.5%	1942	1.8%	0.1%	0.1%
#14	Subaru	3939	10.3%	35,361	15.1%	2.5%	2.2%
#35	Suzuki	---	-100%	---	-100%	0.0%	0.0%
#2	Toyota	15,919	2.1%	155,189	3.8%	10.3%	9.8%
#13	Volkswagen	5276	-9.2%	56,443	5.0%	3.4%	3.6%
#29	Volvo	405	13.1%	3882	-5.0%	0.3%	0.2%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
	Chrysler Group	22,303	23.0%	247,469	9.8%	14.4%	15.6%
	Ford Motor Company	22,044	-2.6%	249,142	0.6%	14.2%	15.7%
	General Motors	22,002	7.3%	211,289	5.4%	14.2%	13.4%
	Toyota Motor Corporation	17,977	2.2%	173,473	3.6%	11.6%	11.0%
	Hyundai-Kia	17,123	8.8%	182,693	-0.7%	11.0%	11.5%
	Honda Motor Company	15,404	0.7%	144,064	5.0%	9.9%	9.1%
	Nissan Motor Company	9286	9.6%	98,564	27.3%	6.0%	6.2%
	Volkswagen  Group *	8123	0.7%	81,068	9.1%	5.2%	5.1%
	BMW-Mini	3758	6.5%	31,762	2.5%	2.4%	2.0%
	Daimler	3747	11.0%	33,220	8.0%	2.4%	2.1%
	Jaguar-Land Rover	517	-10.9%	6338	21.9%	0.3%	0.4%
---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
---	Total °	155,216	6.5%	1,582,490	5.6%	---	---

Source: Automakers, Desrosiers, AIAMC & ANDC 
Red font indicates declining year-over-year volume
* Does not include Lamborghini or Bentley
^ Excluding Sprinter: up 12.1% from 2882 to 3231 in October; up 7% from 25,951 to 27,767 YTD.
° Total includes estimates for a handful of niche brands

RECOMMENDED READING
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - October 2015 YTD
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - November 2014 YTD
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - September 2014 YTD
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - 2013 Year End
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings -October 2013 YTD

Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - October 2014

2015 Porsche Macan S Review - Drive It, Don't Load It

The Porsche Macan’s diving roofline severely cramps cargo capacity. The centre hump in the rearward portion of the cabin is almost as high as the seat cushion, which could force the Macan into becoming a four-seater depending on the number of legs possessed by its passengers.

The driver’s view out the back is far from expansive, and the driver must also deal with some odd layouts for cruise control, rear wipers, and centre-console mounted switches which are sometimes blocked by the shifter.

THE GOOD • Surprising ride quality • Unusual cockpit design • Plenty powerful • So agile • Near perfect seats

THE BAD • Low roof eats up cargo space • Unusual cockpit design • 8-speed auto > 7-speed PDK • Costs a pretty penny • Even on 19s it needs more wheel

The Macan is a pricey piece of kit, with options required on a (CAD) $55,415 Macan S to turn it into a car with parking sensors, a backup camera, heated rear seats, and navigation. Our tester costs $65,565 and it still doesn’t have cooled seats, auto-dimming mirrors, keyless go, blind spot monitoring, sunshades, a proper hi-lux audio system, or any of Porsche’s performance options.

Moreover, even with optional $1440 19-inch wheels, the Macan S still looks like it’s wearing base footwear.

Life’s rough. Here I had a week of load-lugging to get through, a week that was to end with a 600-kilometre journey to the wedding of my wife’s cousin in Cape Breton, and it’s warm enough in mid-October to need constant air conditioning, and the Porsche only very gradually cools its occupants. All the while, I’m accidentally turning the heated steering wheel on and off because the button is on the back of the steering wheel, and the button doesn’t have enough feel, and feel is essentially the only thing an auto writer worth his weight in press junket shrimp cares about.

And, in the context of small utility vehicles, everything else is basically perfect.

The experience is literally special from the start. A turn of the key prompts a large bellow from the quad exhaust pipes, and the rumble persists for an extended period as the twin-turbocharged 3.0L V6 (340 horsepower, 339 lb-ft of torque) warms up on a crisp morning. You won’t hear this noise every time you remove your foot from the brake at stoplights – the Macan S has an auto-stop function that can be turned off (and which Sport mode turns off on its own), but the engine comes to life smoothly and quietly in those circumstances.

2015 PORSCHE MACAN S Base Price * (CAD): $55,415 As-Tested Price * (CAD): $65,565 Engine: 3.0L DOHC 24-valve twin-turbocharged V6 Transmission: 7-speed PDK Horsepower: 340 @ 5500 rpm Torque: 339 lb-ft @ 1450 rpm Curb Weight: 4112 pounds Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Length: 184.3 inches Width: 76.1 inches Height: 63.4 inches Wheelbase: 110.5 inches Tires: Michelin Latitude Tour HP Tire Size (F): 235/55R19 Tire Size (R): 255/50R19 Cargo Volume: 500 litres Max. Cargo Volume: 1500 litres EPA City: 17 mpg EPA Highway: 23 mpg NRCAN OEE City: 13.7 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 10.3 L/100km Observed: 21.0 mpg Observed: 11.2 L/100km * includes $1115 destination charge MPG fuel economy ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency.  L/100km ratings from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's new 5-cycle testing for MY2015 vehicles.

As a follow-up to the Audi SQ5 I drove the week before, the Macan S’s powerplant felt almost imperceptibly underwhelming. Where the 354-horsepower supercharged 3.0L V6 in the SQ5 delivers its power with a brick-breaking punch at any moment, the Porsche’s engine is more characterful, happier to rev for the sake of revving, and it also makes a better noise.

The SQ5’s 8-speed automatic is also superior to the Macan’s 7-speed PDK, particularly in everyday driving where the dual-clutch Porsche unit tends to lug around in the briefest moments of confusion at low speeds. It’ll certainly snap off barking upshifts in a hurry when under heavy throttle, however. Indeed, outside of comparisons with ZF’s renowned 8-speed, the PDK would likely shine.

Yet it’s the Porsche’s manners when driven conventionally that cause the Macan to stand out. Yes, the SQ5 is a capable handler; a surprisingly adept vehicle on twisty roads. But the Audi’s always telling you how sporty it is, while the Porsche walks more walk instead of chattering more chit-chat. It rides much more serenely. It’s very, very quiet. The seats, while offering no adjustable lumbar support, are worlds ahead of most optional sport seats in terms of long-distance comfort and provide a huge range of head restraint adjustment. Nevertheless, when given an opportunity, the SQ5-related Macan shows which VAG engineers better understand suspension geometry.

The Macan S isn’t that tall, and despite some true off-road credentials, it’s more of a hatchback than an SUV. Yet viewed as a small luxury crossover contender, the Macan’s planted stance and remarkable agility and lack of body roll are a real shock to the system. Its steering isn’t full of feel, but it’s pleasantly heavy and very direct. Nothing will upset the Macan mid-corner.

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
Click Any Of These Images For A Larger Slideshow View

Setting aside its quickness and disarming agility, the Macan’s brakes may be the car’s most confidence-inspiring facet. Rotors measure 350mm at the front and 330mm out back. Their outright stopping force is modulated by a progressive pedal where the amount of pressure applied by your foot is perfectly matched by the rate of deceleration. No competitor brakes like this, and no competitor feels like this under braking, either.

Though not terribly special to look at outside, particularly without the 21-inch, $4360 Sport Classics, the Macan does have a few special exterior bits. It does look like a Porsche, and the taillights create a beautiful signature when lit up.

Inside, the Macan is certainly unusual for drivers accustomed to very upright designs. Most buttons and switches are laid out along the trajectory of your relaxed right arm. There are times when, with the shifter in drive and the armrest pushed forward, it’s awkward to access lesser-used buttons. The climate controls also bring your eyes very far down from the road. The whole system is full of touch points, unlike the flush non-buttons in a Cadillac SRX, for example, and if a week isn’t long enough to memorize placements, two should be sufficient. The rear wiper button isn’t properly positioned on the wiper stalk, thereby constantly squirting wiper juice all over the tailgate when all I called for was a solitary swipe, and cruise control functions aren’t intuitive. But the overall sensation in the Macan’s interior, even a moderately optioned one like this, isn’t of a car that is dependent on features to create the aura of luxury. Rather, it’s the low-slung seating position, plentiful glass, thick-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel, and centre-mounted tachometer that produce a driver-centric cabin.

In other words, it feels like a Porsche. The Macan S also drives like a Porsche, and it is thus entirely authentic, like it or not. Perhaps the biggest disappointment isn’t found in the bottom corner of the Macan S’s window sticker but in the way the Porsche makes other otherwise lovely small luxury crossovers feel. How is it that the Macan S both rides more comfortably and handles more effectively and proceeds down the road with more enthusiasm?

No, the fact that the Macan tarnishes other small luxury crossovers is not its biggest disappointment. If utility is a prime concern, the Porsche Macan is a big league flop. The cargo area’s flexibility was apparent when, with seats folded, I loaded 224 diapers, four litres of juice, two litres of milk, one cucumber, one dish rack, two pounds of goat yogourt, four bags of chips, and a king size memory foam mattress (still in its box, naturally) with plenty of room to spare. That’s why a Macan driver doesn’t want an M3 sedan. (Also, we drove up a rocky path to the top of Creignish Mountain, which we wouldn't have done in any rear-drive vehicle, certainly one with less than six inches of ground clearance.) 

But with the seats up, the Macan S offers less than 500 litres of cargo capacity, less than half the space behind the seats of a Honda CR-V, which is six inches shorter than the Macan from bumper to bumper. Our Baby Jogger Summit X3 looks tiny in the back of a Subaru Outback; it eats up most of the floor space in the Macan.

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• Historical Monthly & Yearly Porsche Macan Sales Figures
• 2014 Audi SQ5 Driven Review
• 2013 Tesla Model S P85 Driven Review
• 2014 Cadillac CTS V Sport Driven Review

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That's a real-world concern, but it's an issue which may well disappear after a test drive. It certainly did for me after spending a week in this Porsche Canada car. Dynamically, the Macan is in a league of its own, and Porsche has priced it as such. And remember, this is a Macan without performance-oriented rubber, without the ceramic composite brakes, electronically controlled dampers, air suspension, torque vectoring, launch control, a Sport Plus button, or a 400-horsepower 3.6L twin-turbo.

Therefore, this may well be the least impressive Macan, and it’s ridiculously impressive.

2014 Audi SQ5 Review - It Plays Tunes

The number of double-takes was odd, I thought. In the summer, with the top down in a red Camaro ZL1, rubberneckers are a dime a dozen. But the SQ5 is a subtly enhanced version of the Audi Q5, a small crossover that’s been around for more than five years; the top-selling premium brand utility vehicle in Canada in 2014. 

Sure, this one has optional 21-inch alloy wheels, valued at $1000, but are big wheels enough to cause the majority of passersby to turn for another look?

THE GOOD • Straight-line pace • Classy cabin • Still looks good • Handles like a sporty car • 8-speed auto is a marvel

THE BAD • Small cargo area • Blanked-out switches? C'mon • Wind noise • Handles like a sporty car... • ... most of the time

Ah yes, the noise, that’s what did it. Audi’s supercharged 3.0L V6 does have the tendency to bark melodically, particularly when Audi Drive Select is used to switch engine noise (along with engine/transmission and steering) to Dynamic mode, up a notch from Comfort and Auto. Added to that was the 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, which was used extensively at wake-the-neighbours volume. How civilized.

Less civilized is the amount of understeer and the way that understeer is encountered prematurely. Yet that’s only a surprise because of the dynamics manifested by the SQ5 most of the time – it’s not a high-riding SUV that you drive like an SUV. At all. 

2014 AUDI SQ5 TECHNIK Base Price * (CDN): $61,595 As-Tested Price * (CDN): $68,695 Engine: 3.0L DOHC 24-valve supercharged V6 Transmission: 8-speed automatic Horsepower: 354 @ 6000 rpm Torque: 347 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm Curb Weight: 4409 pounds Drive Type: all-wheel-drive Length: 183.0 inches Width: 75.2 inches Height: 65.3 inches Wheelbase: 111.0 inches Tires: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT Tire Size: 255/40R21 Passenger Volume: 2860 litres Cargo Volume: 824 litres Max. Cargo Volume: 1623 litres EPA City: 16 mpg EPA Highway: 23 mpg NRCAN OEE City: 14.9 L/100km NRCAN OEE Hwy: 10.1 L/100km Observed: 18.7 mpg Observed: 12.6 L/100km * includes $1995 destination charge SQ5 Progressiv base price: $59,395 MPG fuel economy ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency. L/100km ratings from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency's new 5-cycle testing for MY2015 vehicles.

Naturally, when taking corners like the TTS you forgot it wasn’t, the SQ5 plows sooner and with more disconcerting pressure on the outside front tire than you expected. After all, you forgot you were driving a 4400-pound, 65.3-inch tall utility vehicle, not a 3858-pound, 55.4-inch tall S4.

That you could forget something so obvious is a testament to the SQ5’s overall balance. Of greater interest to those who prefer the SQ5 over conventional Q5s like the 220-horsepower 2.0T and 240-horsepower 3.0L TDI because of the SQ5’s rate of acceleration, ride quality is firm but compliant over the worst roads, if slightly busy in routine driving.

But what acceleration it is. The SQ5 is less expensive than other hyper-quick SUVs, the AMGs and M-badged BMWs, less costly than the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, as well. Audi’s supercharged 3.0L, with 354 horsepower and 346 lb-ft of torque, is mated here to an 8-speed automatic, not the 7-speed dual-clutch from the similarly-engined S4.

Not at any moment do you feel as though the meat of the power band is located elsewhere, although Comfort mode does seem to use very economy-minded programming for the 8-speed auto, refusing to drop down a gear without a real kick in the pants. 

Audi’s famed Quattro all-wheel-drive means firm prods of the throttle always result in instantaneous forward motion almost regardless of surface. (We’d strongly recommend something other than 255/40R/21 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GTs if you’ll be driving in snow. Nothing kills the benefits of all-wheel-drive quite like skipping out on winter tires.)

The true brute force of the supercharged V6 is felt not from rest but at speed, however. Squirting around traffic to get to an off-ramp ahead, rather than behind, of a line of slow-moving CR-Vs and RAV4s is a task completed with shocking quickness.

All Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©www.GoodCarBadCar.net
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All the while, SQ5 pilots are ensconced in a typically classy Audi interior. There are letdowns. For starters, the interior doesn’t feel fresh, perhaps because of the overarching darkness. Even the optional aluminum inlays ($1100) don’t spice up the ambience. I wouldn’t say the SQ5 offers luxury-like silence, either, with wind noise being rather prevalent. 

There are a number of blanked-out switches in prominent locations, too, which always causes you to wonder what you’re missing out on after spending $68,695. Audi’s MMI is simple, though, with shortcut buttons spread around a central control knob, and everything feels so very expensive. As it ought to.

Rear seat space does not stand out, not for its snugness or its abundance of space. Yet cargo dimensions are a letdown. The Q5 is 183 inches long from bumper to bumper and 75.2 inches wide. That’s nearly five inches longer and nearly four inches wider than the Honda CR-V, but the CR-V offers 24% more seats-folded cargo capacity and 28% more space behind the rear seats. The SQ5 remains a flexible cargo carrier, but the sloping roof which helps to make all Q5s so handsome reduces the SQ5’s ability to take a young family away on vacation.

The SQ5 is not alone in this luxury crossover cargo conundrum: GLKs and X3s are also down on luggage capacity compared with America’s similarly-sized top-selling utility vehicles.

The Audi SQ5 is the fast Q5, an older and popular vehicle, and thus a common vehicle. It’s also tiny in the back and, not unexpectedly, quite a guzzler. We averaged 12.6 L/100km during the week Audi Canada allowed the SQ5 to visit our driveway, in keeping with its ratings, and appropriate if it were a pickup truck. Fortunately, Audi adds a healthy dose of standard equipment to the SQ5’s performance credentials, the kind of stuff we often see on premium brand option sheets: panoramic sunroof, power tailgate, three-zone automatic climate control, keyless access, twelve-way power seats with driver memory.

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• Historical Monthly & Yearly Audi Q5 Sales Figures
• 2015 Porsche Macan S Driven Review
• 2014 Audi S4 Driven Review
• 2013 Tesla Model S P85 Driven Review
• 2014 Cadillac SRX AWD Driven Review

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One could make an argument that with this amount of power, unavailable in the Q5’s direct rivals, and this level of equipment, the SQ5 is making an overture to the value-conscious corners of our brains. Meanwhile, the SQ5 is also playing another tune, courtesy of Bang & Olufsen and a supercharged 3.0L, in order to tug on our heartstrings.