U.S. Auto Sales vs Canada Auto Sales - Differences In 2011

As an auto Sales Stats addict, you typically read GoodCarBadCar.net's posts on both U.S. Auto Sales and Canadian Auto Sales. The differences are astounding but seem easily explained by pointing to population differences. Is that all there is to it? Is the Canadian new vehicle market just a smaller version of the American new vehicle market? Aren't Canadians just Americans without guns? Don't they buy the same vehicles even as they watch the same TV shows?

Three pertinent points must be made before we bother looking at specific automobiles. First, there are specific models available in the U.S. which aren't available in Canada, and vice versa. Second, there's a huge set of financial factors at play, from fuel prices to currency exchange and unique tariffs. Finally, Canadians buy more vehicles on a per capita basis. Through the first four months of 2011, there was one vehicle sold for every 70 people in Canada. During the same period, Americans acquired one vehicle for every 73 people. In other words, despite a population that's nine times bigger than Canada's, America's new vehicle market so far this year is only 8.5 times bigger.

With all that explained, here's a quick look at a few vehicles Americans buy with exceedingly greater frequency than their friendly neighbours to the north, along with some others that Canadians are more likely to acquire. Keep two aforementioned figures in mind: nine and 8.5, the numbers by which you'd multiply Canada's population and new vehicle market size to arrive at the American totals.

Chevrolet HHR: U.S. sales are 58.6 times stronger.
Ford Explorer: U.S. sales are 16.2 times stronger.
Honda CR-Z: U.S. sales are 21.7 times stronger.
Hyundai Equus: U.S. sales are 35.2 times stronger.
Land Rover Range Rover: U.S. sales are 26.9 times stronger.
Mini Countryman: U.S. sales are 15.6 times stronger.
Toyota Avalon: U.S. sales are 66.4 times stronger.

Dodge Grand Caravan: only 1.9 times better in the U.S. 
Fiat 500: pretty much on par in North America; 67 units stronger in the States.
Ford F-Series: just 5.9 times better in the U.S.
Hyundai Accent: just 2.8 times better in the U.S.
Mazda Tribute: 1.2 times stronger in Canada.
Mitsubishi Outlander: only 1.6 times better in the U.S.
Toyota Venza: just 2.6 times better in the U.S.

*All figures relate to year-to-date figures through the end of April 2011

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - April 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - April 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011

U.S. Auto Sales News From April 2011

In all your scanning of GoodCarBadCar.net's auto sales rundown for the United States in April, you've read The Good Car Guy's conclusions and you've formed some more of your own. Here are some others.

40% of all BMWs sold in America in April were one configuration or another of the 3-Series.

Mini's most popular bodystyle was the regular hatchback. 3367 were sold. The Cooper and Cooper S Convertible formed the least popular bodystyle, down 15.8% to 565 April sales. The Clubman fared slightly better, down just 2.9% to 805. In second spot behind the regular Cooper hatch was the new Countryman, Driven by The Good Car Guy here.

69.2% of all Chrysler Group sales were officially "light trucks". In other words, for every ten Chryslers, Dodges, Jeeps, and Fiats sold, only three were passenger cars in the traditional sense.

Ferrari sold an estimated 131 cars. Maybach, the Automotive News Data Center estimates, sold five.

The Ford Transit Connect was Ford's 14th-best-selling model in April with 2668 sales, ahead of the E-Series/Club Wagon's 2559 sales but behind the Expedition's 3214 sales.

April was all about convertibles in the now-cancelled Mitsubishi Eclipse range. 1092 buyers opted for the Eclipse Spyder, only 261 chose the hardtop.

Infiniti G sales were down overall, but don't blame the G37 Coupe, up 0.4% to 1267. G25 and G37 sales fell a combined 13.8% to 2588.

Half the Porsches sold in America in April were Good 12-winning Cayennes.

Subaru is balanced. Excluding the oft-ignored Tribeca, no model was worth less than 16.1% of the brand's overall April sales output. That's the Legacy, by the way. Even Subaru's most popular model, the Outback, was only responsible for 38.2% of all April sales. For a company with what amounts to a four-car lineup, this is healthy.

The Acura RL posted a slight sales increase in April, up to 181 from 154 in April 2010. But the RL wasn't Acura's least popular model. With just 176 sales (down from 234 in the same period of last year) the Bad 8-losing ZDX was responsible for fewer than one in every 65 Acura sales. RL volume was lower than Hyundai Equus volume in April

More than a quarter of all Audi sales were Q5 or Q7 SUVs/crossovers. Not displayed in a conventional GoodCarBadCar.net Graph, the Mercedes-Benz R-Class found 195 U.S. buyers in April, down from 519. Mercedes-Benz USA also sold a B-Class mini-minivan in April, presumably a B-Class F-Cell.

The Nissan LEAF beat the Chevrolet Volt in April. The Toyota Prius beat the Honda Insight; we'd be shocked if it hadn't. Toyota's Venza also beat the Honda Accord Crosstour. The Chevrolet Camaro's year-to-date lead on the Ford Mustang expanded in April, also.

Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - April 2011

In April of last year, Nissan Canada sold 191 Cubes. The Cube's most direct rival, the Kia Soul, found 796 buyers. It appeared as though Kia's quicker-to-market, fun-to-drive, appropriately priced and equipped Soul was walking all over the slow-to-market, distinctly comfortable, slightly overpriced Cube. Yep, that's how it appeared.

Then along came April 2011. Nissan Cube sales fell 91.1%, a large enough drop to make it the worst-selling car in Canada when such a designation is based on percentage declines. On the flip side, Kia Soul sales improved 41.7%. For the record, this isn't an April anomaly - the Nissan Cube was in the #1 spot in March, as well. Moreover, it would've been in the top three had The Good Car Guy compiled such a list in February. 

Sadly, for Nissan, Canadians seem to have had their fill of the junior supercar GT-R, too. Sales fell from 13 in April 2010 to just 3 last month. However, Nissan USA is currently listing the updated 2012 GT-R, and April sales of that car jumped 143%. Nissan Canada, on the other hand, is still showing the 2011 GT-R with a price that forces Canadians to pay 11% more than the GT-R's U.S. clients.

Forget this Nissan blast for a few moments, despite the fact that Nissan volume pushed the brand to ninth overall in Canada in April. It could be worse. Honda was 3359 sales behind Hyundai, based partially on utter failures like the partially-marketed special-order Insight hybrid. It's not as though the Toyota Prius is a runaway hit in Canada - sales fell 21% to 249 last month - but the Prius is still considered desirable by a certain subset of the populace. The Insight, desirable? Er... not so much. Not so much at all. Yet in terms of Honda failures, the Acura ZDX is worse than the Insight and remains a member of GoodCarBadCar.net's The Bad 8.

Canada's 10 Worst-Selling Vehicles from April 2011 are in the table below.

Rank	Vehicle	% Drop	April 2011
#1	Nissan Cube	-91.1	17
#2	Dodge Nitro	-81.7	28
#3	Nissan GT-R	-76.9	3
#4	Acura ZDX	-71.8	11
#5	Kia Borrego	-70.6	10
#6	Jeep Liberty	-64.8	93
#7	Lincoln MKT	-62.9	43
#8	Cadillac STS	-60.0	2
#9	Lexus GS	-59.4	13
#10	Honda Insight	-57.1	48

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - April 2012
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - May 2011
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada  - March 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - April 2011
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - April 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011

Sporty Car Sales And Premium Sporty Car Sales In Canada - April 2011

17.5% of Jaguar equals..... not very much. Although in the case of the handsome Jaguar XK, 17.5% of Jaguar's Canadian output (it equals 14 April sales, by the way) was enough to beat the BMW 6-Series in the pie chart below, in addition to the Dodge Viper and Nissan GT-R. Overall, Jaguar sales grew from 74 in April 2010 to 80 in April 2011. The XK posted growth of one unit. The XJ limo, meanwhile, was up to 30 sales from 2. Blame the XF - and the lack of a luxury crossover, I dare say - for Jaguar's inability to grab more than 0.57% of the luxury auto market in Canada last month.

In April, Mercedes-Benz Canada made its $198,000 quasi-SLR McLaren replacement twice as popular as the $96,500-$114,000 Jaguar XK. Mercedes-Benz sold nearly one SLS AMG per day last month. That's more than the whole ranges of Ferrari and Lamborghini combined. It's nearly enough to out-sell the SL-Class Benz. It's seven sales up on Audi's visceral R8 and Mercedes-Benz's own (soon-to-be-replaced) volume roadster, the SLK. 

The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is, shall we say, a roaring success. In all its years on sale here, Mercedes-Benz Canada sold only 82 editions of the admittedly wildly expensive and terribly ugly SLR McLaren. Mercedes-Benz Canada sold 111 SLS AMGs in 2010 and has already sold 54 in 2011.

We'll let the earlier SLK mention segue us into an analysis of the following Graph. Obviously this chart excludes unreported coupe sales from the BMW 3-Series and Honda Civic Si range, among others, but it remains a fairly comprehensive look at the sales impact of sports cars and sportyish cars in Canada. 46% of this market is taken up by American muscle cars. The Chevrolet Camaro led the way in April despite a narrow 1.5% decline. Dodge Challenger sales slid 34.2%, enough to take it from top spot in the category at this time last year to third in April 2011. The Ford Mustang, a Good 12 winner in efficient and affordable V6 trim, posted a 72.8% increase. 

Year-to-date, Camaro sales stand at 1164; Dodge is at 914 with the Challenger; the Mustang's at 889; and the still wildly popular Audi A5 has found 729 new owners. South of the border, the Chevrolet Camaro was America's 15th-best-selling car in April. The Mustang was 24th.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In Canada - April 2012
Sporty Car Sales & Premium Sporty Car Sales In Canada - May 2011
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In Canada - March 2011
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - April 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - April 2011
Sporty Car & Premium Sporty Car Sales In America - April 2011

Large Luxury Car Sales And Large Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - April 2011

Canadians registered 254 new full-size luxury cars in April 2010. One year later, Canadians acquired 275 new full-size luxury cars, some of them probably being the same Canadians who couldn't get over the Porsche Panamera's rear end like they thought they would. Or perhaps they switched from the $236,000 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG to the $151,500 S63 AMG so they could save on fuel. Yeah. Right. 

Sales of the S-Class - and its CL-Class coupe derivative which will, by the way, be turning into the S-Class coupe soon - rose 19% in April. 54 sales abaft was the Porsche Panamera, up 11%, the only Porsche passenger car with increased year-over-year sales in April.

The S-Class wasn't the only Benz to dominate its segment last month. The E-Class out-sold all rivals in the midsize luxury car category, and as you can see below, the jumbo GL-Class sold with just as much frequency as the Lincoln Navigator, Land Rover Range Rover, and Cadillac Escalade put together.

And still the Toyota Land Cruiser finds new Canadian owners. Check Toyota.ca and you won't find the Land Cruiser. Use Toyota.ca's search function and the only results featuring the Land Cruiser relate to the FJ Cruiser or every Toyota nameplate under the sun. Inquiries to Toyota on Twitter some months ago did not result in a response.

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Large Luxury Car & Large Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - April 2012
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Small Luxury SUV & Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - April 2011

Small Luxury SUV Sales And Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - April 2011

If the first list of luxury utility vehicles you see below was a pie chart instead, the Lexus RX's slice would fill more than half the circle. 96 of the RX's 828-unit April 2011 total were RX450h hybrids. In April, the RX 450h was down 6.8%; its down 24.4% year-to-date. It was the Lexus brand's second-best-selling hybrid last month, trailing just the hybrid-only CT200h.

Don't get the wrong impression. It isn't even as though the conservative Lexus RX350/RX450h coalition was able to form a Harper-like majority. 74% of midsize luxury SUV buyers chose something other than the RX in April. 1139 of them opted for German-designed high-riders like the Audi Q7 (up 93%) and Porsche Cayenne (up 341%), decent choices both. Then there were the British beasts from Land Rover, the LR4 and Range Rover Sport, combined sales of which climbed to 176 from 138. Meanwhile, Volvo XC90 sales climbed 18%. The XC90's very distantly-related long-lost cousin from Lincoln, the MKT, suffered a 63% decline in April and is down 56% so far this year.

In April of last year, the eight vehicles you see in the Graph below combined to find 2241 buyers. That figure fell to 2210 in the same period of 2011, a very slight 1.4% drop. Feel free to blame the Mercedes-Benz GLK's 25% decline. It equates to a 149-unit fall. The GLK's two top rivals from Audi and BMW, the Q5 and X3, 11% and 13%, respectively. Sales of the Acura RDX, Infiniti EX35, Land Rover LR2 were in decline. Cadillac sold 301 copies of the SRX, up from 237 in April 2010. 

Unmentioned in the Graph above is the BMW X1, 105 of which were sold in Canada in April.

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Small Luxury SUV & Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - April 2012
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Small SUV Sales, Midsize SUV Sales, Large SUV Sales In Canada - April 2011

As was shown last week, more than one in four Canadian new vehicle sales in April 2011 were sport-utility vehicles or crossovers of some kind. Strangely, sales of the biggest and baddest mainstream SUVs jumped from 693 in April 2010 to 748 in April 2011. One would've assumed it was the other way around, and in many ways, one would be right. Sales of the Toyota Sequoia fell 18%. The Kia Borrego was down 71%. Chevrolet Tahoe sales were cut in half. Ford Expedition sales fell 35%. But the Nissan Armada, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, and Chevrolet Suburban all posted gains.

Most notably, Suburban sales jumped 246%. Canadian volumes in this category are small enough to see huge back-and-forth swings from one month to the next, so don't go assuming Chevrolet can repeat this Suburban feat through the summer.

GM's slightly smaller, more car-like Suburban sibling, the Chevrolet Traverse, struggled to meet April 2010's standards as sales fell 35% last month. While it's always worth paying attention to the Ford Edge/Explorer/Flex trio (2426 total sales in April), the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango out-sold GM's Lambda trio (Traverse/Enclave/Acadia) over the course of April's 30 days. 

The Grand Cherokee and new 2011 Dodge Durango have an identical starting price of $37,995. Ford's Flex and Explorer each start at $29,999.The Chevrolet Traverse starts $2245 below the $38,090. The best-selling Ford Edge has a basic MSRP of $27,999. At $31,500, the Toyota's Highlander is $3320 less than the Honda Pilot. Incentives dramatically skew these pricing schemes, but these numbers give an idea of the breakdown of Canada's favourite midsize utility vehicles.

Canadians have long since figured out that there is plenty of space in smaller, less expensive utility vehicles like the $25,995 2011 Chevrolet Traverse, $24,299 2011 Hyundai Tucson GL, and now the $19,998 2011 Mitsubishi RVR, sales of which topped the handsome Kia Sportage and capable Subaru Forester in April. 69% of all SUV/CUV sales in Canada in April came from the vehicles you'll see in the Graph below. 

Yes, sales of the Mitsubishi RVR (Outlander Sport) are particularly strong in Canada. Though the overall U.S. market is a little more than seven times bigger, American sales of the RVR Outlander Sport aren't even double what Mitsubishi Canada was able to accomplish with the RVR in April. But at what expense? Sales of the regular Mitsubishi Outlander fell 47% last month. True, the grand total has improved: in April 2010, total small crossover sales at Mitsubishi reached 657. In the same period of 2011, despite 350 fewer Outlander sales, total small crossover sales at Mitsubishi reached 1115. The RVR is chewing on food from the Outlander's plate. An overall growth spurt, however, means Mitsubishi probably doesn't care.

On another note, Mitsubishi sales climbed 13.2% in Canada in April despite falling sales of every model that was on sale at this time last year. Mitsubishi was the 18th-ranked auto brand in Canada. In the United States, Mitsubishi sales were up 123.8%, the brand was ranked 22nd, and gains in the U.S. came from the Eclipse Spyder, Lancer, Endeavor, and the Outlander Sport. 

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Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - April 2011
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2012 Hyundai Accent vs 2011 Hyundai Elantra - Specs, Prices, Features

Now that the 2012 Hyundai Accent has been officially priced in Canada, a hugely welcoming market for Hyundai, it seems as though the biggest rival for the popular Hyundai Elantra is not the 2012 Honda Civic. 

With a better power-to-weight ratio, the new Accent should be quicker than the Elantra. Priced a few hundred dollars below a mid-range Elantra, a loaded 2012 Accent GLS, as shown in the spec chart after the jump, provides a few features you'd only find in an Elantra if you shelled out more moola. The Accent hatchback has significantly more cargo capacity and only slightly smaller interior dimensions. Besides, fuel efficiency goes the Accent's way, albeit barely.

There was talk late last year that if there was one new car with the ability to overtake Honda's Civic as Canada's best-selling car, it would have to be the new-for-2011 Hyundai Elantra. Then in the first two months of 2011, the Hyundai Elantra was the best-selling car in Canada. Honda is expected to have supply problems in the early part of the summer, so is this Hyundai's opportunity to strike back after two months spent succumbing to the Civic's might?

Well, yeah, maybe it is an opportunity for Hyundai... but which Hyundai are we talking about? The 2012 Accent sedan arrives at dealerships shortly; the Accent 5-door hatchback won't be far behind, as The Good Car Guy reported earlier this week when posting Canadian prices for the 2012 Accent. In April, the dying third-generation Accent was the seventh-most-popular car in Canada with 2406 sales, 2818 behind the almighty Civic and 2146 behind the Elantra. You want to say this is because of big incentives on what was already a cheap car, but Accent sales in April were actually down from April 2010 when it was the fifth-ranked car.

So is the 2012 Hyundai Accent going to be the best-selling car in Canada by autumn? GoodCarBadCar.net isn't going to put a bet on that (or anything else). Are Hyundai sales consultants about to start taking a lot of customers on two test drives, one in the Elantra and one in the Accent? Go ahead and place that bet. 

Take a look at 34 objective categories in the spec chart to see the new Accent's competitive advantage over the Elantra. Then see if you're still tempted by the Elantra's flowing bodywork.

HYUNDAI SPECS	2011 Hyundai Elantra  GL Sedan	2012 Hyundai Accent  GLS 5-door Hatchback
Price (Canada)	$17,999	$17,199
Horsepower	148 @ 6500 rpm	138 @ 6300 rpm
Lb-Ft Torque	131 @ 4700 rpm	123 @4850 rpm
Curb Weight (pounds)	2661-2820	2430-2588
Pounds Per Horsepower	2661-2820	2430-2588
Engine	1.8L 4-cylinder	1.6L 4-cylinder
Transmission	6-speed manual	6-speed manual
EPA City/Highway  Fuel Economy	29/40 mpg	30/40 mpg
NRCAN City/Highway  Fuel Economy	6.8/4.9 L/100 km	6.7/4.8 L/100 km
Fuel Tank Capacity (litres)	48	43
Theoretical Range - EPA (kilometres)	816	733
Height (inches)	56.5	57.1
Length (inches)	178.3	162
Width (inches)	69.9	66.9
Wheelbase (inches)	106.3	101.2
Cargo Capacity  (cubic feet)	14.8	21.2
Cargo Capacity Seats Folded (cubic feet)	n/a	47.5
Passenger Compartment  (cubic feet)	96	90
Front Leg Room (inches)	43.6	41.8
Rear Leg Room (inches)	33.1	33.3
Front Hip Room (inches)	53.5	51.3
Rear Hip Room (inches)	52.7	47.2
Airbags	6	6
Safety  Abbreviations	ABS, EBD, VSM,  ESC, TSC	ABS, EBD, VSM,  ESC, TSC
4-Wheel  Disc Brakes	11-inch ventilated front/10.3-inch  sold rear	10.1-inch ventilated front/10.3 inch  solid rear
Stereo	AM/FM/CD/MP3  6 Speakers	AM/FM/CD/MP3  6 Speakers
Air Conditioning	Yes	Yes
Cruise Control	Yes	Yes
Heated Front Seats	Yes	Yes
Sunroof	No	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes	Yes
Telescopic Steering Wheel	Yes	No
Power Windows/Locks/Mirrors	Yes	Yes
Alloy Wheels	No	Yes

Specifications For Canadian Accent GLS Hatch and Elantra GL Sedan, U.S. trimlines are unique.

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Truck Sales And Minivan Sales In Canada - April 2011

58% of the minivans sold in Canada in April were Dodge Grand Caravans. Sounds great? Sure, of course it does, but Grand Caravan sales dropped 23% from April 2010's 5917-unit total. Sales of the Grand Caravan's platform-mate, the Chrysler Town & Country, were up 15%, but the T&C was still only Canada's fifth-best-selling minivan. On its own, the Grand Caravan was Canada's fifth-best-selling vehicle overall, down from fourth in March.

5.7% of all Canadian new vehicle sales last month were minivans. That's a significantly higher percentage than minivans muster in the United States. Yet it mostly comes down to the one previously discussed model. Though the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey's overall share of the new vehicle market is slightly lower in Canada, the Dodge Grand Caravan's market share grows from 0.76% in the United States to 2.9% in Canada. That about explains it.

If you're coming to the conclusion that Canadians choose minivans instead of SUVs and crossovers for fuel efficiency reasons, well, you'd be wrong there. SUVs and crossovers make up an equal part of the market north and south of the border. Indeed, pickup truck sales are higher in Canada than in the U.S - its car sales that are lower. The Ford F-150, believed by Americans to be an epically omnipresent nameplate, is even more forceful in Canada. The F-Series range accounts for nearly six out of every hundred Canadian new vehicle sales but less than four per hundred in the U.S. F-Series sales were up 5% in April in Canada.

Overall, Canadians acquired 26,255 new trucks from April 1st to the 30th. Only 2489 of those sales - fewer than 10% - were from import brands. The six full-size rivals from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Nissan, and Toyota were allotted 85% of all truck sales.

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