Small/Entry Luxury Car Sales And Midsize Luxury Car Sales In Canada - April 2011

Arguably the three most famous small luxury nameplates, the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class were also Canada's three best-selling small luxury cars in April 2011. Though they moved around a bit from March, true change came down the line where the Infiniti G25/G37 lost hold of fourth place after the tall hatchback Benz B-Class and Cadillac CTS moved up. Infiniti G sales slid 13 units to 306. Sales of the B200 and B200 Turbo shot up 53%. Cadillac found 36 more CTS buyers than in April 2010.

Over at Volvo, sales remain low but are climbing. The gorgeous C30 hatch posted a 78% improvement. The redone S60's 167 sales more than made up for the loss of 97 sales in the S40/V50 range. Based on looks alone, we can expect the Volvo V60 to be a moderate hit when if it reaches North American shores.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW are dominant players with larger luxury sedans, as well. The E-Class (and CLS tag-along) posted slight gains in April; the BMW 5-Series was up 55%. At Audi, the usually unnoticed A6 now has a familial rival in the $68,600 2012 Audi A7. In its first month of Canadian sales, the big-grilled hatchback A7 out-sold the A6 by 15 units as A6 sales fell 47%. The new 2012 A6 could fight back, but no matter how good the A6 has been in the past, it never held much sway in North America.

The gigantic Hyundai Equus (included in the midsize Graph on pricing grounds) found seven Canadian buyers in April. Sales of the Genesis sedan plummeted 55% year-over-year.

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Hyundai Canada Releases 2012 Hyundai Accent Prices

Hyundai Canada has released prices for the highly anticipated 2012 Hyundai Accent. Rarely does a subcompact's introduction garner so much attention - not on the world wide web as a whole or, more specifically, on GoodCarBadCar.net - but the fourth-generation Accent is a giant leap forward in terms of style, sophistication, space fuel economy, and power. The outgoing Accent wasn't a bad car by any means, just nothing particularly memorable. The new Accent, a hugely popular car in Canada, will feature a lower price along with greater content.

Check Out GoodCarBadCar's 2012 Hyundai Accent GL Sedan Review

Setting aside frequent specials which took the third-generation Accent down to $9999, the new 2012 Accent sedan sees its price fall from $14,299 to $13,199. That's the 2012 Accent L sedan with a 6-speed manual transmission, power locks, and a full slate of safety gear. Move up to the $14,999 2012 Accent GL sedan and you'll receive air-con, cruise, power windows, power heated mirrors, and stereo controls on the steering wheel. Opt for the $17,999 GLS and you'll gain a sunroof, six speaker stereo, Bluetooth, heated front seats, and 16-inch alloys.

But the sedan isn't where you're leaning. For the attractive 2012 Hyundai Accent hatchback, you'll need to shell out $400 more for each trim level. Thus, the Accent 5-door hatchback in L trim is $13,599. As a GL, the Accent 5-door will cost $15,399. The on you want, the Accent GLS hatchback, starts at $17,199.

Except for the GLS sedan which comes fitted exclusively with a 6-speed automatic, you can add $1200 to the price of any model to go clutchless.

As for the latest subcompact's release date, the 2012 Hyundai Accent sedan should reach Canadian Hyundai dealers in the next couple weeks, late May or early June. Sometime in June, the 2012 Hyundai Accent hatchback will reach stores, as well. At HyundaiUSA.com, the uniquely equipped 2012 Accent GLS is currently shown in sedan form only at $12,445. Full U.S. Accent pricing can be seen here.

Loaded and lauded, the new Accent probably won't surprise us with its success. The Sonata is well-regarded as a benchmark in the midsize car category, out-selling all midsize sedans in Canada in April. The 2011 Hyundai Elantra (Driven by The Good Car Guy here) was Canada's best-selling car in January and again in February. The Santa Fe was Canada's second-best-selling SUV in 2010. Year-to-date, Hyundai Canada has sold more vehicles than any brand other than Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Dodge. 

No, Hyundai Canada sold 2406 Accents in April. It's already a popular value-oriented subcompact. In the latter half of 2011 and years to come, the Accent will simply be more popular and more appreciated, but apparently still a tremendous value.

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Small Car Sales, Midsize Car Sales, Large Car Sales In Canada - April 2011

Finally, after months of waiting for a decent supply of cars, Chrysler/Dodge dealers are finally getting the 2011 model year Chargers and 300s they know they're able to sell. Considering the Caliber's status as a rather unwanted hatchback and the Chrysler 200/Dodge Avenger duo's capacity for improvement, the new versions of Chrysler's profit-providing big sedans are more than a little useful at truck-dependent Chrysler Canada stores. 

That said, April sales of the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger were down 6.4% and 4.6%, respectively. Together, however, they were Canada's best-selling mainstream large car in April 2011.

Speaking of room for improvement, don't cast doubt on the possibility that the newish Chrysler 200 and slightly revamped Dodge Avenger could yet sell better. Canadians get Chrysler in a way Americans don't seem to these days - it likely has a lot to do with prices - and the pair's 64.4% month-to-month jump from March and preceding 179% month-to-month jump from February to March soothsays another bump in May. Separately, the Chrysler/Dodge midsize sedans are surely a fleet force; probably a retail factor. As a single unit, the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger were out-sold by just one midsize sedan in April. Hyundai Sonata sales were up 70.4% to 2362.

Auto123.com ran a story from the Wall Street Journal yesterday that shows the true pain of supply issues generated by Japan's disaster triad is revealing itself at nerve endings across North America. A California dealer that would expect to sell 58 Toyota Corollas per month has received just one Corolla to sell in May. In other words, the small car chart you see at the bottom of this post could be radically transformed next month. The Chevrolet Cruze pumped out nearly twice the volume Chevrolet's Cobalt managed in April 2010. Though its sales improved by just 47 units year-over-year, a simple windshield survey (and hype calculation) will tell you that the 2012 Ford Focus is primed to take advantage of any lull at Honda and Toyota. 

Sales of the Honda Civic fell just 1.5% in April; Corolla sales increased 28.7%; Nissan Sentra sales climbed 9.6%; Mazda 3 sales fell 20%. From Korea-based Hyundai/Kia, Elantra sales were up 20.4% and Forte sales jumped 35.7%. By itself, the Hyundai Elantra Touring, with 1434 sales in April, would have beaten the Volkswagen Golf/GTI, Subaru Impreza, and Toyota Matrix.

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Auto Sales By Segment In The USA And Canada - April 2011

Who buys more trucks? Canadians, or Americans? You'd be forgiven for assuming it was the Texas-encapsulating United States, particularly if you hadn't read last month's version of this post, but you'd be wrong.

This is all relative, of course. In April 2011, U.S. residents, governments, and fleets of all kinds picked up 139,411 pickup trucks. In a market that's seven times smaller, Canada is now home to 26,255 more trucks than it was at the end of March. Yes, the U.S. has ten times the population, an auto market that's generally around seven times the size, but bought barely more than five trucks for every truck purchased north of the border. It's interesting, especially given the average price of fuel in Canada: near $1.40 per litre. That works out to $5.59 per gallon in the U.S. at current exchange rates, some way above the $4.00/gallon average. 

So, Americans buy trucks in greater volume, but in the context of their market dimensions, Canadians buy more trucks.

Sport-utility vehicles and crossovers pretty much made up the exact same percentage of overall vehicle sales. Minivans are certainly more of an acceptable purchase in Canada than in the United States. "Other vehicles" - commercial vans and defunct models like the Suzuki XL7 - are bit players in both nations. 

This leaves traditional passenger cars. 53% of all U.S. new vehicle sales in April were cars. Fewer than half of all new vehicle sales in Canada were cars. And there the story diverges down different paths again. In Canada, car sales are dominated by small models like the 2012 Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. Meanwhile, 60% of America's 10 best-selling cars in April were larger than small. 

According to the Automotive News Data Center, Canadian auto sales totalled 160,091 in April; U.S. sales reached 1,157,928. The Graph breaks everything down in simple slices.

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Popular Car Market Share In Canada - April 2011

While watching Fareed Zakaria GPS yesterday on CNN.com, I heard it said that iPad market share in the tablet category is currently around 80%. 

Canada's 20 best-selling vehicles are, together, about as popular as the other 230+ nameplates on sale today. Last month, Canada's 20 best-selling vehicles were more popular, so you could say there's an underlying sense of the peloton catching up to the lead pack. One might develop that sense after a bit too much analysis on the matter. More to the point, let's get back to the notion of 80% market share.

Nearly six out of every hundred vehicles sold in Canada in April were Ford F-Series pickup trucks. The F-Series is the leader, the high and lofty noble one far above the plebeians, just like the iPad. But it's a long way from eight out of every ten. Let's narrow it down to just pickup trucks. Although an April chart hasn't been posted in this category yet, I can tell you that the Ford's market share in the truck segment was 35.4% last month. Zooming in even closer, the F-Series range's market share in the full-size truck segment was 44.3%. Domestic trucks? The number shrinks. It's going to be hard to find an area in which the F-Series has iPadesque market share numbers.

So, to see its dominance, compare sales of the Ford F-Series with the combined sales of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th best-selling vehicles in Canada - not an unpopular group by any means. The F-Series out-sold the Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Sonata, Chevrolet Equinox, and Jeep Wrangler by more than 400 sales in April. We don't call it iPadesque, but in the car world, that's downright F-Series-like. 

The 20 best-selling vehicles in Canada are listed in beside the market share pie chart below.

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Luxury Auto Market Share In Canada - April 2011

One in five premium-brand vehicles sold in Canada in April wore the blue and white propeller badge of BMW. In a German triad we'll call BMBenzdi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi owned more than 54% of the Canadian luxury auto brand market last month. That's the sort of market share that makes other automakers feel like packing it in and heading home. Fortunately, they've hung around to supply us with compelling alternatives like the Cadillac CTS (338 sales in April) and Volvo S60 (167 sales in April). 

South of the border, BMBenzdi's market share last month was closer to 40%. That left a lot of room for other automakers to make healthy profits. Even a niche automaker like Saab managed to sell 696 cars in America. In Canada, where the overall market size was seven times smaller, Saab sales totalled just 21 cars, 33 times fewer than the company's U.S. tally. How'zat happen? Thus, Saab's Canadian luxury auto brand market share was 0.15%, barely distinguishable on the Graph below.

It's not as though small auto manufacturers can't run through the BMBenzdi gauntlet to find buyers. Porsche Canada sales skyrocketed 43.6% in April as the Zuffenhausen gang's luxury auto market share grew from 1.6% in March to 2.31% in April.

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Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - April 2011

One month off did very little to dent the BMW 3-Series' sales force in Canada in April 2011. Leading the Mercedes-Benz C-Class by 515 units going into May, the greater 3-Series challengers last month were the Audi A4, and indirectly, the Lexus RX. 

While we're on the topic of the Lexus RX, 96 of its 828 sales were generated by the RX450h, the other 732 were garden-variety RX350s. Enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that 58 of the Lexus IS's 228 sales were ISF super-sedans, but not so pleased to hear that Lexus sold 58 ISCs. Ick.

In terms of model splits, that's exactly what we do with the Hyundai Genesis for Canadian auto sales figures; split it up. Hyundai provides the data; and the Genesis Coupe isn't what most people would define as a "luxury car". If, as in the United States, the Genesis was just one model, its 375 sales would place it ahead of the Cadillac CTS. Instead, the very premium Hyundai Genesis sedan's 57 sales (down 55% in April) don't merit consideration for this table. Hyundai sold seven editions of its $62,999-$69,999 Equus sedan, not a bad figure given Hyundai's limited efforts. The only other non-premium vehicles given qualifications for this best-selling luxury table are the Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Nissan GT-R, and Volkswagen Touareg, none of which found enough Canadian buyers in April.

There are 15 German vehicles in this month's post. The Volvo S60 and XC60, of course, are Swedish. Four of the entrants are built by Cadillac and Lincoln, Detroit brands. The remainder are Japanese. 17 of the Top 30 are passenger cars. 12 of the Top 30 posted declining year-over-year sales in April. If you don't like seeing the $31,650 2011 Mercedes-Benz B200 or the $24,290 2011 Honda Acura CSX in this list of luxury cars, the next two candidates are the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen/GL-Class tandem with 151 sales and the Audi A3 and Volkswagen Touareg, both at 135 sales. You now have permission to scroll down to The Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada In April.

Rank	Car	Status	April 2011	Last Month	April 2010
#1	BMW 3-Series	↑	1191	957	1218
#2	Lexus RX	↑	828	682	635
#3	Audi A4	↑	820	572	623
#4	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	↓	692	1082	772
#5	Acura MDX	↑	477	521	619
#6	BMW X3	↑	469	348	414
#7	Mercedes-Benz GLK	↔	455	483	604
#8	Audi Q5	↔	402	479	363
#9	Mercedes-Benz E & CLS-Class	↑	401	399	392
#10	Mercedes-Benz B-Class	↑	398	271	260
#11	Cadillac CTS	↔	338	397	302
#12	BMW X5	↑	330	295	436
#13	Infiniti G	↓	306	476	319
#14	Lincoln MKX	↓	302	597	302
#15	Cadillac SRX	↔	301	297	237
#16	Acura TL	↑	296	293	306
#17	BMW 5-Series	↓	289	381	186
#18	Acura RDX	↑	261	236	321
#19	Audi A5	↑	255	200	324
#20	Lexus ES	↑	252	179	286
#21	Lexus IS	↑	228	188	242
#22	BMW 1-Series	↑	217	161	217
T23	Acura CSX	↔	202	188	185
T23	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	↓	202	354	320
#25	Audi Q7	↑	201	115	104
#26	Lexus CT200h	↓	185	221	-----
#27	Volvo XC60	↓	184	200	119
#28	Porsche Cayenne	↑	181	104	41
#29	Lincoln MKZ	↓	167	166	161
#30	Volvo S60	↑	167	113	0

Source: Manufacturers And Automotive News Data Center

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