In very few words, 2011 was a rock and roll year. The first third of the year was marked by disasters that deeply affected the car business, amongst others. The prognosis was bad but by the end of the year, most manufacturers had timid grins or large smiles on their faces.
Overall, the Canadian market grew by 1.8% in 2011 to 1,585,519 sales, compared to 1,557,121 in 2010.
Those with the largest smiles include Chrysler. Yes, the smallest of the American car manufacturers had a stellar year. Despite a timid 1.4% increase in sales in December, they jumped up 12.5% in 2011 over 2010. Their 229,624 units delivered is frighteningly close (for GM) to GM's 242,815, which slipped 1.6%.
Ford gains were a modest 3.0% in 2011, up to 275,850, but the gap between the #1 and #2 spots has grown to over 30,000 units in 2011 from 20,000 in 2010.
Perhaps the biggest story belongs to Hyundai. At 129,240 cars sold, they have surpassed Honda which, despite the Civic being once again crowned the bestselling car of the year, saw its sales drop 12.5%. In fact, Honda and Acura combined, at 123,121, fall short of Hyundai's numbers. The put these results further into perspective, Nissan, which registered a record year, sold 77,731 cars. Kia, up 20.9%, delivered 65,123 units.
Toyota, the strongest selling import brand, had a tough year as total deliveries dropped 5.6%, despite a strong December with gains of 42.5% year-over-year. At 148,896, the gap with Hyundai is shrinking. We believe, however, that Toyota will make a strong comeback in 2012.
The German brands are brawnier than ever. All garnered significant gains in 2011, with the lowest percentage being 4.8, well above the national average. That's not entirely true as smart suffered an 8.3% loss but in the grand scheme of it all, the whole of the Deutschland-based makes grew by nearly 9%.
The sob-stories belong to Suzuki (5,625), Mazda (69,186) and Infiniti (6,936), having dropped respectively 38.4%, 12% and 15.8%. Suzuki has suffered the most, watching its market share drop from near 1% to under 0.5%. There was a time when they outsold Volvo by a margin of 2 to 1. The latest numbers show that Volvo (6,815) outsold Suzuki by nearly 20% in 2011.
December, for most, was a decent month, with an increase of 2.6% in total deliveries. We suspect that 2012 will see humble increments. What is certain is that the onslaught of new products continues unabashed. The 2012 edition of the Detroit Auto Show is coming fast and the crop of new goods looks good!
Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report
Overall, the Canadian market grew by 1.8% in 2011 to 1,585,519 sales, compared to 1,557,121 in 2010.
Those with the largest smiles include Chrysler. Yes, the smallest of the American car manufacturers had a stellar year. Despite a timid 1.4% increase in sales in December, they jumped up 12.5% in 2011 over 2010. Their 229,624 units delivered is frighteningly close (for GM) to GM's 242,815, which slipped 1.6%.
Ford gains were a modest 3.0% in 2011, up to 275,850, but the gap between the #1 and #2 spots has grown to over 30,000 units in 2011 from 20,000 in 2010.
Perhaps the biggest story belongs to Hyundai. At 129,240 cars sold, they have surpassed Honda which, despite the Civic being once again crowned the bestselling car of the year, saw its sales drop 12.5%. In fact, Honda and Acura combined, at 123,121, fall short of Hyundai's numbers. The put these results further into perspective, Nissan, which registered a record year, sold 77,731 cars. Kia, up 20.9%, delivered 65,123 units.
Toyota, the strongest selling import brand, had a tough year as total deliveries dropped 5.6%, despite a strong December with gains of 42.5% year-over-year. At 148,896, the gap with Hyundai is shrinking. We believe, however, that Toyota will make a strong comeback in 2012.
The German brands are brawnier than ever. All garnered significant gains in 2011, with the lowest percentage being 4.8, well above the national average. That's not entirely true as smart suffered an 8.3% loss but in the grand scheme of it all, the whole of the Deutschland-based makes grew by nearly 9%.
The sob-stories belong to Suzuki (5,625), Mazda (69,186) and Infiniti (6,936), having dropped respectively 38.4%, 12% and 15.8%. Suzuki has suffered the most, watching its market share drop from near 1% to under 0.5%. There was a time when they outsold Volvo by a margin of 2 to 1. The latest numbers show that Volvo (6,815) outsold Suzuki by nearly 20% in 2011.
December, for most, was a decent month, with an increase of 2.6% in total deliveries. We suspect that 2012 will see humble increments. What is certain is that the onslaught of new products continues unabashed. The 2012 edition of the Detroit Auto Show is coming fast and the crop of new goods looks good!
| December | Current Month | Year End | ||||
| 2011 | 2010 | 11/10 | 2011 | 2010 | 11/10 | |
| Acura | 1547 | 1779 | -13.0% | 15272 | 17340 | -11.9% |
| Audi | 882 | 674 | 30.9% | 16867 | 14333 | 17.7% |
| BMW | 2214 | 2252 | -1.7% | 29773 | 27202 | 9.5% |
| Chrysler | 14530 | 14324 | 1.4% | 229624 | 204074 | 12.5% |
| Ford | 19373 | 19466 | -0.5% | 273850 | 267871 | 3.0% |
| General Motors | 18282 | 20170 | -9.4% | 242815 | 246668 | -1.6% |
| Honda | 6524 | 11097 | -14.2% | 107849 | 123730 | -12.8% |
| Hyundai | 6490 | 6104 | 6.3% | 129240 | 118507 | 9.1% |
| Infiniti | 508 | 574 | -11.5% | 6936 | 8233 | -15.8% |
| Jaguar | 71 | 32 | 121.9% | 776 | 755 | 2.8% |
| Kia | 3419 | 3039 | 12.5% | 65123 | 53882 | 20.9% |
| Land Rover | 367 | 190 | 93.2% | 3228 | 2547 | 26.7% |
| Lexus | 1104 | 842 | 31.1% | 13364 | 14249 | -6.2% |
| Mazda | 4868 | 5218 | -6.7% | 69186 | 78662 | -12.0% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 2798 | 3080 | -9.2% | 31063 | 29632 | 4.8% |
| MINI | 452 | 315 | 43.5% | 5155 | 4501 | 14.5% |
| Mitsubishi | 2074 | 1749 | -18.6% | 20511 | 19504 | 5.2% |
| Nissan | 6149 | 4435 | 38.6% | 77731 | 74780 | 3.9% |
| Porsche | 61 | 163 | -62.6% | 2214 | 2036 | 8.7% |
| Saab | 6 | 2 | 200.0% | 167 | 2 | n.a. |
| smart | 179 | 144 | 24.3% | 1851 | 2019 | -8.3% |
| Subaru | 2493 | 2348 | 6.2% | 26984 | 27805 | -3.0% |
| Suzuki | 489 | 637 | -23.2% | 5625 | 9128 | -38.4% |
| Toyota | 12062 | 8842 | 42.5% | 148896 | 157723 | -5.6% |
| Volkswagen | 3565 | 3737 | -4.6% | 52604 | 45388 | 15.9% |
| Volvo | 510 | 448 | 13.8% | 6815 | 6550 | 4.0% |
| Light Vehicle Sales | 45985 | 45881 | 0.2% | 693735 | 705324 | -1.6% |
| Passenger Car | 52723 | 54937 | -4.0% | 596651 | 609094 | -2.0% |
| Light Truck | 68572 | 65780 | 4.2% | 891784 | 851797 | 4.7% |
| GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplates | 52185 | 53960 | -3.3% | 748289 | 718613 | 4.1% |
| Import Nameplates | 62372 | 57701 | 8.1% | 837230 | 838508 | -0.2% |
| Sales History | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 11/10 |
| January | 91.2 | 102.8 | 76.9 | 81.6 | 84.5 | 3.6% |
| Febuary | 97.0 | 111.0 | 80.2 | 100.2 | 96.0 | -4.2% |
| March | 150.7 | 150.0 | 127.5 | 145.4 | 153.5 | 5.5% |
| April | 169.0 | 175.2 | 143.9 | 149.7 | 159.9 | 6.9% |
| May | 185.5 | 184.5 | 154.0 | 154.3 | 149.0 | -3.8% |
| June | 169.2 | 159.5 | 138.5 | 154.6 | 164.8 | 6.6% |
| July | 142.4 | 149.5 | 139.9 | 148.8 | 141.5 | -4.9% |
| August | 158.4 | 147.0 | 135.4 | 136.1 | 140.4 | 3.2% |
| September | 131.8 | 134.1 | 129.5 | 135.1 | 134.5 | -0.4% |
| October | 120.9 | 122.7 | 121.5 | 123.2 | 125.7 | 2.1% |
| November | 117.3 | 105.2 | 102.1 | 116.0 | 121.1 | 4.4% |
| December | 119.9 | 94.4 | 111.2 | 111.0 | 114.6 | 2.6% |
| Full year | 1653.4 | 1636.0 | 1460.6 | 1557.1 | 1585.5 | |
| Note: Sales figures above are in thousands. | ||||||