Canada Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012

Canadians acquired nearly 107,000 new vehicles in February 2012, up 11% from 2011 levels. Through two months, the Canadian new vehicle market is up 13% compared with the first two months of 2011. According to Desrosiers, passenger cars made up 43% of the market, the other 57% of the market was made up of pickup trucks, SUVs, crossovers, and minivans.

Ford was Canada's best-selling automaker last month. Pair Dodge and Ram together, as they once were and should be, and the duo's total is strong enough to surpass Toyota, but not enough to overtake the Blue Oval. As a corporation, however, Chrysler Canada out-sold Ford Motor Company by 943 units in February. Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors finished rather closely in terms of overall volume. Together, they accounted for 43% of all sales.

Apart from the now defunct Saab, no brand fell harder in February than Lincoln. No other declining brand even came close to Lincoln's 30% drop, although Ford's numerical losses weren't pleasant. 

Hyundai beat Honda. Mazda beat Kia. GMC beat Jeep. Mercedes-Benz beat BMW to be Canada's favourite luxury brand in February. Audi ranked third among premium brands. Fiat beat Scion; Scion beat Mini. Among the 18 best-selling brands in Canada, no automaker reported greater year-over-year gains than Toyota. 23% of all Toyotas sold in Canada last month were Corollas. Camry sales jumped 250%. 

February 2012's Canadian automobile market is broken down and ranked by individual brands in the table below. The U.S. version of this table can be viewed here. Check back as the month rolls by for Canadian best seller lists and segment breakdowns. The dropdown menu at the top right of this page is the best way to access detailed sales info for any specific model currently on sale.

Rank	Automaker	February 2012	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	15,077	- 2.9%	29,698	+ 0.5%
#2	Toyota	11,165	+ 31.6%	20,730	+ 24.5%
#3	Hyundai	9266	+ 6.5%	16,726	+ 8.7%
#4	Chevrolet	8741	+ 12.0%	16,733	+ 0.2%
#5	Honda	7885	+ 14.2%	16,336	+ 57.5%
#6	Dodge	7043	- 12.6%	14,159	- 6.1%
#7	Nissan	5783	+ 16.6%	10,769	+ 20.1%
#8	Ram	5028	+ 12.1%	9966	+ 18.8%
#9	Mazda	4735	+ 13.5%	8462	+ 7.7%
#10	Kia	4644	+ 20.0%	8418	+ 21.7%
#11	GMC	4179	+ 20.5%	8001	+ 1.4%
#12	Volkswagen	3539	+ 9.3%	6648	+ 9.0%
#13	Jeep	2774	+ 24.5%	5717	+ 27.7%
#14	Mercedes-Benz	2319	+ 17.4%	4289	+ 24.1%
#15	Subaru	1902	+ 7.8%	3778	+ 7.4%
#16	BMW	1845	+ 2.3%	3489	+ 15.6%
#17	Mitsubishi	1581	+ 1.4%	3004	+ 1.1%
#18	Audi	1409	+ 16.9%	2910	+ 24.1%
#19	Chrysler	1158	+ 155%	2424	+ 178%
#20	Acura	998	+ 10.0%	1715	+ 15.8%
#21	Buick	883	+ 63.8%	1643	+ 29.1%
#22	Lexus	861	+ 2.9%	1671	+ 6.8%
#23	Infiniti	559	+ 24.2%	924	+ 18.5%
#24	Fiat	533	-----	854	-----
#25	Suzuki	457	+ 32.1%	760	+ 0.1%
#26	Cadillac	455	- 4.2%	840	- 13.0%
#27	Lincoln	377	- 30.4%	729	- 15.5%
#28	Scion	358	+ 128%	643	+ 102%
#29	Volvo	349	- 17.3%	689	- 15.9%
#30	Mini	336	+ 44.8%	537	+ 37.7%
#31	Land Rover	328	+ 52.6%	638	+ 64.4%
#32	Porsche	168	+ 5.0%	313	+ 3.3%
#33	smart	74	0%	161	+ 3.2%
#34	Jaguar	41	- 18.0%	74	- 9.8%
#35	Maserati	9	+ 50.0%	16	+ 23.1%
T36	Bentley	1	- 80.0%	5	- 37.5%
T36	Saab	1	- 50.0%	6	- 53.8%

Source: Automakers, AIAMC, Desrosiers & ANDC

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Canada Auto Sales Brand Rankings - February 2013
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - March 2012
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - January 2012
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - December 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - February 2011
Canada Auto Brand Market Share - February 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In Canada - February 2012

Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - February 2012

Though not much for excuses, we'll offer General Motors a big one in this February of gains-everywhere-else-but-at-GM-truck-central. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra aren't new. In modern truck years, they're getting up there, having not been fully revamped in more than five years. So when y'all realize that one truck - the best-selling Ford F-Series lineup - beat the Silverado and Sierra by 3670 units just a year after GM handed the Blue Oval its lunch, please do remember, the GM trucks aren't new.

Most assuredly, the Ford F-150's EcoBoost powerplant and standard V6 engine offer truck buyers something GM and Ram do not. Plus, they're new. So, are we surprised to see the Ford doing better this February than last? No, we're not surprised. At all.

Sales of the fifth-ranked Toyota Tacoma are steaming, at least when compared with other smallerish trucks like the Nissan Frontier and... ahem... Suzuki Equator. In fact, comparing the Tacoma with any other Japanese truck, even the full-size Tundra and Nissan Frontier, only proves the Tacoma's relative popularity.

These are the top five best-selling trucks in America. The truck market will be explored further with a full chart and table in a few days.

Rank	Truck	February 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Ford F-Series	47,273	+ 25.9%	85,766	+ 16.9%
#2	Chevrolet Silverado	32,297	+ 1.8%	59,147	- 1.3%
#3	Dodge Ram	22,595	+ 21.2%	40,504	+ 31.3%
#4	GMC Sierra	11,306	- 3.3%	20,823	- 6.7%
#5	Toyota Tacoma	10,662	+ 35.3%	19,560	+ 30.2%

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

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 14 Best-Selling Pickup Trucks In America - February 2013
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - March 2012
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - January 2012
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - February 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - February 2012

Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - February 2012

America's 10 favourite utility vehicles were distinctly more popular in February 2012 than they were in February 2011. SUVs and CUVs and crossovers like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue all reported significant year-over-year improvements, the kinds of increases that outpaced the American new vehicle market's 15% growth.

This isn't tremendously surprising. It's scarcely been an hour since GoodCarBadCar.net published brand-by-brand rankings which showed nearly every automaker reporting better sales this year than last. America's best-selling cars were then revealed to be, well, on a hot streak. Nevertheless, there's an impression among casual observers that so-called SUVs, even when they're softened as supposed CUVs, are the sort of gas-guzzling vehicles Americans will reject when push comes to... pump. 

Then again, effiency gains have been made with 4-cylinder vehicles like the Honda CR-V. Even the Jeep Wrangler's more powerful V6/5-speed automatic combination is a fuel saver. And new car buyers will do their best to avoid minivans, regardless of how much better a minivan will perform a given task.

By the end of February, the Super Bowl-advertised Honda CR-V was the best-selling SUV in America. Its two-month lead over the second-ranked Ford Escape is now 7794 units. In the battle of iconic, reinvigorated domestics, the Grand Cherokee finished February 2284 sales ahead of the Ford Explorer. The Jeep leads the year-to-date battle by 3001 sales. 

The top 10 best-selling SUVs in America are ranked below with detailed sales info. See how their respective brands fared here, and scroll through the dropdown menu at the top right of this page over the coming hours and days to see detailed sales info on every model on sale in North America. 

Rank	SUV	February 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Honda CR-V	24,759	+ 29.7%	43,719	+ 23.4%
#2	Ford Escape	18,666	+ 3.7%	35,925	+ 12.3%
#3	Chevrolet Equinox	17,851	+ 15.7%	31,513	+ 11.4%
#4	Nissan Rogue	13,423	+ 17.5%	23,327	+ 11.9%
#5	Jeep Grand Cherokee	12,724	+ 46.8%	23,407	+ 43.8%
#6	Toyota RAV4	12,667	+ 0.9%	22,496	- 5.3%
#7	Ford Edge	10,535	+ 3.9%	18,850	- 1.1%
#8	Ford Explorer	10,440	+ 8.1%	20,406	+ 20.0%
#9	Jeep Wrangler	9319	+ 22.0%	17,215	+ 22.3%
#10	Honda Pilot	8879	+ 8.0%	15,244	+ 2.1%

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

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs & Crossovers In America - February 2013
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - March 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - January 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling SUVs In America - February 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - February 2012

Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2012

The Toyota Camry, recently revamped, was the best-selling car in America in February 2012. 34,542 Camrys were sold. That's up 27% from February 2011 when the Camry was also America's best-selling car. Camry sales are up 39% through the first two months of 2012. The midsize Toyota's lead over its nearest rival, the Nissan Altima, is now 7527 units. Yes, it's starting to look insurmountable for the Altima, Accord, Cruze, Focus, Civic and the gang. And it's only the beginning of March.

With necessary Camry out of the way, you'll find America's best-selling small car in third spot. As much as Ford touted the Focus's massive gains in February, sales weren't strong enough to catch the Civic. In fact, Focus sales weren't nearly strong enough to catch the Civic, as sales of the Honda compact jumped 42% (in a market that made 15% gains). Take note, another American small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, wasn't too far back, but before the Cruze came Toyota's Corolla.

Back in eighth spot, Toyota Prius sales skyrocketed. Of course, the Prius is not just one car anymore. That's not unlike the Volkswagen Jetta and its rather Golf-like SportWagen. We know that 1144 of the Jetta's total were wagon-derived. Sales of the Jetta sedan were up 11%; the wagon was down 45%. 

Nine of the top 20 best-selling cars in America wear Japanese badges, among them the top three and 60% of the top ten. There are six American cars on the list, four Koreans, and the aforementioned Jetta. Combined sales of the platform-sharing Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima totalled 28,983, enough for third spot. If, that is, they were the Kyundai Sonima and not a pair of cars sold by two different companies. 

The 20 best-selling cars in America from February 2012 are ranked below. Check out last February's edition here, January's version here, and keep a close eye on the dropdown menu in the top right of this page where February 2012 data is being added for every model currently on sale, not just the most popular.

Rank	Car	February 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Toyota Camry	34,542	+ 26.9%	62,837	+ 38.5%
#2	Nissan Altima	32,953	+ 58.4%	55,310	+ 48.4%
#3	Honda Civic	27,087	+ 41.7%	48,970	+ 45.1%
#4	Ford Focus	23,350	+ 115%	37,750	+ 89.8%
#5	Toyota Corolla/Matrix	22,148	- 14.4%	40,136	- 13.6%
#6	Ford Fusion	21,773	- 5.8%	35,387	- 5.5%
#7	Honda Accord	20,702	- 2.4%	34,361	- 0.9%
#8	Toyota Prius	20,589	+ 52.1%	32,144	+ 33.0%
	* Prius Liftback	16,469	+ 21.6%	24,969	+ 3.3%
	* Prius V	4083	-----	7138	-----
	* Prius C	20	-----	20	-----
	* Prius Plug-In	21	-----	21	-----
#9	Chevrolet Cruze	20,427	+ 10.1%	35,476	+ 10.2%
#10	Chevrolet Malibu	19,987	+ 4.7%	34,663	+ 4.4%
#11	Hyundai Sonata	17,425	+ 10.8%	31,914	+ 10.1%
#12	Chevrolet Impala	15,333	- 5.9%	31,342	- 0.4%
#13	Hyundai Elantra	13,820	+ 12.5%	24,720	+ 12.6%
#14	Volkswagen Jetta	12,838	+ 2.0%	23,800	- 1.0%
#15	Kia Optima	11,558	+ 139%	20,372	+ 135%
#16	Mazda 3	11,275	+ 39.6%	20,475	+ 56.4%
#17	Kia Soul	10,876	+ 62.7%	18,967	+ 57.7%
#18	Nissan Sentra	10,605	- 15.8%	19,608	+ 1.8%
#19	Nissan Versa	10,190	- 3.7%	17,671	- 20.2%
#20	Chrysler 200	9717	+ 224%	16,724	+ 273%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC 
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales 
Chrysler 200 sales compare with Chrysler Sebring/200 sales combined.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2013
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - March 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - January 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - February 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - February 2012

U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2012

32 automobile manufacturers reported improved sales in February 2012 as the U.S. market surged forth with a massive year-over-year increase for the second consecutive month. The new vehicle market in America was up 11% in January. February sales of nearly 1.15 million produced a 15% improvement. Indeed, America's most popular automaker, Ford, was up nearly that much, accounting for more than 20,000 of the extra sales. Through the end of February, Ford sales reached 302,905 vehicles in the United States.

The greatest year-over-year gain reported in February belongs to Chrysler's 114% jump. The Chrysler brand has doubled its two-month total from early 2011. The worst drop was reported by Mitsubishi. Its 31% decline has a great deal to do with losing models, just as Cadillac's 27% slide relates to the restrictions of its current three-model-lineup. 

Overall, the lack of red font in the rankings below speaks well of the American economy, specifically the apparent unwavering desire of American consumers to own new vehicles amidst rising fuel prices and the kind of reliability that has them keeping cars longer than ever before. BMW was the best-selling premium brand with gains better than 29%. Despite the car-like qualities of the Compass and Patriot, Jeep is still an SUV brand, and sales jumped 30% to 37,312. GMC, a truck brand, sold 32,581 vehicles, a negligible increase. And sales of America's favourite vehicle, the Ford F-Series, rose 26% to 47,273. 

Consumer confidence appears to be back. The rankings for every automotive brand competing in America are below with February and year-to-date data. Over the course of the coming hours and days you'll find best seller lists in this space and, by accessing the dropdown menu in the top right of this page, updated monthly and year-to-date data for every nameplate currently on sale in America.

Rank	Automaker	February 2012	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	171,732	+ 14.3%	302,905	+ 11.6%
#2	Chevrolet	151,197	+ 5.8%	275,061	+ 2.5%
#3	Toyota	137,807	+ 11.1%	246,538	+ 10.2%
#4	Honda	98,899	+ 13.3%	173,527	+ 11.5%
#5	Nissan	97,492	+ 17.1%	170,009	+ 15.1%
#6	Hyundai	51,151	+ 17.5%	93,845	+ 16.2%
#7	Kia	45,038	+ 37.3%	80,555	+ 32.9%
#8	Dodge	42,692	+ 27.2%	74,146	+ 28.1%
#9	Jeep	37,312	+ 30.4%	69,022	+ 33.5%
#10	GMC	32,581	+ 0.1%	57,547	- 4.4%
#11	Volkswagen	30,577	+ 42.5%	57,786	+ 45.0%
#12	Chrysler	27,008	+ 114%	44,612	+ 99.8%
#13	Mazda	25,651	+ 32.3%	49,647	+ 47.5%
#14	Subaru	25,374	+ 17.0%	48,181	+ 18.8%
#15	Ram	23,282	+ 14.7%	41,752	+ 25.3%
#16	BMW	21,204	+ 29.2%	37,609	+ 16.4%
#17	Mercedes-Benz	18,910	+ 16.9%	40,133	+ 20.0%
#18	Lexus	16,678	+ 20.7%	28,952	+ 8.5%
#19	Buick	14,023	- 11.3%	24,231	- 16.7%
#20	Cadillac	11,505	- 27.0%	20,429	- 27.9%
#21	Acura	11,258	+ 4.3%	19,639	+ 4.7%
#22	Infiniti	9239	+ 1.0%	16,035	- 3.1%
#23	Audi	8531	+ 10.0%	17,885	+ 14.9%
#24	Lincoln	6912	+ 16.2%	12,033	+ 4.6%
#25	Volvo	5263	+ 9.8%	9724	+ 7.2%
#26	Mini	4980	+ 42.2%	8314	+ 32.9%
#27	Scion	4938	+ 25.2%	8473	+ 17.4%
#28	Mitsubishi	4736	- 31.3%	9447	- 25.1%
#29	Land Rover	3255	+ 27.4%	6460	+ 33.9%
#30	Fiat	3227	-----		-----
#31	Suzuki	2425	+ 47.6%	3930	- 6.5%
#32	Porsche	2149	+ 6.4%	4699	+ 6.3%
#33	Jaguar	1022	+ 47.7%	2007	+ 23.4%
#34	smart	769	+ 58.9%	1265	+ 50.2%
#35	Maserati	191	+ 20.1%	345	+ 26.4%
#36	Bentley	126	+ 24.8%	244	+ 33.3%

Source: Automakers & ANDC 
Red font indicates declining year-over-year sales. Bold equals premium.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
U.S. Auto Sales Brand Rankings - February 2013
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - March 2012
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - January 2012
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - December 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - February 2011
U.S. Auto Brand Market Share - February 2012

February 2012 Auto Sales Recap Begins Today

Ferrari has not started selling the F12 Berlinetta yet.
It will not challenge the Toyota Camry for best seller status.

Throughout the day today, March 1, GoodCarBadCar.net will be providing a thorough rundown of all the goings-on which occurred in the U.S. and Canadian automobile markets over the course of the prior month, February 2012. This means ranking brands by total sales volume, on both sides of the 49th parallel, as this January 2012 edition shows.

Those two posts will be followed up with three key best seller articles: America's 20 best-selling cars, America's 10 best-selling SUVs, and America's 5 best-selling trucks. In the coming hours, GoodCarBadCar.net will also publish market share pie charts displaying the portions of the U.S. and Canadian markets owned by major automakers. This will come around the same time as the list of America's overall 30 best-selling vehicles is published. 

That'll be followed up by the rankings for America's 30 best-selling luxury vehicles, America's 10 worst-selling vehicles, and a specific market share pie chart just for premium brands. Then the segment breakdowns begin before, eventually, Canada's best seller lists and a couple United Kingdom posts are published. You can find more info on all article types at GoodCarBadCar's Sales Stats home.

Today, the best thing to do is follow The Good Car Guy, aka Timothy Cain, GoodCarBadCar's founder and editor-in-chief, on Twitter. @TGCG is where you'll find running updates on the American and Canadian automotive scenes as a prelude to the February 2012 posts you'll read here.

They're ready: U.S. Auto Sales By Brand and Canada Auto Sales By Brand, the February 2012 editions.