2012 Year End Top 25 Best-Selling Cars In Canada

For The 15th Consecutive Year, The Honda Civic
Was Canada's Best-Selling Car In 2012

With its highest volume since 2008, the Honda Civic maintained its crown as Canada's best-selling car in 2012. The Civic's nearest rival, a direct competitor in every way, was 14,012 sales behind. That car, the Hyundai Elantra, found 14% of its volume from the outgoing Touring model. 

Overall Elantra volume was up by 5980 units in 2012; 2011 volume had risen by 10,414 units. 2012 was the fourth consecutive year of improved Elantra sales in Canada.

Rounding out the podium was the Toyota Corolla, knocking last year's third-place car into fourth spot with a slim 1611-unit advantage. Mazda 3 sales rose 5.6% in 2012, but it's 11,022 sales off 2008's pace and 8445 sales off 2010's pace. 

All 262 Vehicles Ranked By 2012 Canadian Sales

Canada's #2 Car, The Hyundai Elantra

The best-selling American brand car in Canada was the Chevrolet Cruze, despite a 3.8% decline. Ford's Focus, the sixth-best-selling car in Canada, was 4692 sales behind the Cruze, having ended 2011 8164 sales back.

Canada's top-selling European car in 2012 was the Mexican-made Volkswagen Jetta. Volkswagen reported five consecutive year-over-year increases to end 2012, enough to generate a year-over-year gain of 0.6% compared with 2011. The next-best-selling European car was Volkswagen's own Golf, which includes sales of the wagon that Americans know as the Jetta SportWagen. The two next-best-selling European cars are from premium brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz: the 3-Series and the 26th-best-selling C-Class. The C-Class ranked 10th in December's standings. The 3-Series ranked 10th in September.

Canada's #3 Car, The Toyota Corolla

Canada's most popular midsize car in 2012 was the Toyota Camry, sales of which shot up 47.6% from 2011's 12,334-unit total. The Camry might have trouble hanging on to that title in 2013. Canadian sales of the Honda Accord were surging at the end of 2012 as the ninth-gen car took hold. The Accord outsold the Camry in October, November, and December. Ford's Fusion also came on strong in December - its recent Astonesque redesign is turning heads.

Join the Subaru Impreza with its XV Crosstrek offshoot and the combo's 13,217 sales would push the Subie  of the Toyota Matrix to grab the 16th position. Among cars in this top 25, only three posted worse year-over-year declines than the Matrix, which sold about half as often as it did in 2005. One was another Toyota: Venza volume dropped 14.2%. The other two were Nissans: Sentra and Versa volume fell 14.5% and 13.9%, respectively.

You can always find historical monthly and yearly sales figures for any vehicle by selecting a make and model at GCBC's Sales Stats home. GoodCarBadCar.net will post plenty more information about 2012's Canadian auto sales results in the coming days, and already has done so today: Canada's 25 best-selling SUVs and 15 best-selling trucks were published earlier; brands were ranked by 2012 volume last week.

But in the table below, you'll found what you've been looking for. These were the 25 best-selling cars in Canada in 2012.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	2012	2011	% Change
#1	Honda Civic	64,962	55,090	+ 17.9%
#2	Hyundai Elantra	50,950	44,970	+ 13.3%
#3	Toyota Corolla	40,906	36,663	+ 11.6%
#4	Mazda 3	39,295	37,224	+ 5.6%
#5	Chevrolet Cruze	32,628	33,900	- 3.8%
#6	Ford Focus	27,936	25,736	+ 8.5%
#7	Volkswagen Jetta	26,904	26,749	+ 0.6%
#8	Hyundai Accent	22,581	22,280	+ 1.4%
#9	Toyota Camry	18,203	12,334	+ 47.6%
#10	Ford Fusion	16,698	18,404	- 9.3%
#11	Kia Forte	14,856	13,984	+ 6.2%
#12	Hyundai Sonata	14,572	16,343	- 10.8%
#13	Chrysler 200	14,125	7474	+ 89.0%
#14	Kia Rio	13,949	6849	+ 104%
#15	Volkswagen Golf	13,298	13,919	- 4.5%
#16	Toyota Matrix	12,982	14,895	- 12.8%
#17	Nissan Altima	12,793	12,537	+ 2.0%
#18	Nissan Versa	12,476	14,497	- 13.9%
#19	Kia Optima	11,992	2187	+ 448%
#20	Ford Fiesta	11,817	13,064	- 9.5%
#21	Toyota Venza	11,294	13,159	- 14.2%
#22	BMW 3-Series	11,234	11,226	+ 0.1%
#23	Subaru Impreza	11,212	7664	+ 46.3%
#24	Nissan Sentra	11,008	12,880	- 14.5%
#25	Toyota Yaris	10,955	7968	+ 37.5%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC 
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

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