It's that time of the month again; time to look at the winners and losers in the new car sales rat race. April is always an interesting month as the current model year is in full swing. Some dealers are flushing what's left from the previous year and the next model-year cars are already trickling into showrooms.
Spring has historically been the second-strongest period of the year behind the fall.
And fall, some manufacturers did. There is an increasing trend unfolding before our eyes and it is, and will be, a decline in deliveries of new Japanese products. We all know about the earthquake, the tsunami and ensuing nuclear situation. The ripple effect from those events will create a shortage in Japanese-make dealer lots and will obviously create negative numbers year-over-year, in many cases.
Irregardless of the recent natural disaster, Honda has been bleeding steadily for the last 18 months or so. Acura, their luxury division, lands in the top spot of biggest losers with a 20.3% reduction in sales. Suzuki takes the second spot with a 15.1% decline in deliveries. Rounding out the top/bottom 3 is Mazda, having sold 9.2% fewer cars in April 2011 compared to the same month last year.
Infiniti and Honda have also suffered losses of 8.5 and 4.2% respectively. We can't imagine that Honda's stats will improve in the near future. The arrival of the 2012 Civic could have had a positive influence on Honda's fate, but it is not to be.
Winning are the Germans and Koreans.
Porsche has once again crushed expectations with an astounding 43.6% jump in sales. The second step on the podium belongs to Kia, raking in 34.0% more new customers. They are followed by smart, selling 26.8% more units than last year.
Rounding up the other winners, we find Volkswagen (25.8%), Lexus (18.5%), Audi (16%) and 10 other manufacturers.
Overall, the industry in Canada is 6.9% ahead of where it was last year at this period.
Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report
Spring has historically been the second-strongest period of the year behind the fall.
And fall, some manufacturers did. There is an increasing trend unfolding before our eyes and it is, and will be, a decline in deliveries of new Japanese products. We all know about the earthquake, the tsunami and ensuing nuclear situation. The ripple effect from those events will create a shortage in Japanese-make dealer lots and will obviously create negative numbers year-over-year, in many cases.
Irregardless of the recent natural disaster, Honda has been bleeding steadily for the last 18 months or so. Acura, their luxury division, lands in the top spot of biggest losers with a 20.3% reduction in sales. Suzuki takes the second spot with a 15.1% decline in deliveries. Rounding out the top/bottom 3 is Mazda, having sold 9.2% fewer cars in April 2011 compared to the same month last year.
Infiniti and Honda have also suffered losses of 8.5 and 4.2% respectively. We can't imagine that Honda's stats will improve in the near future. The arrival of the 2012 Civic could have had a positive influence on Honda's fate, but it is not to be.
Winning are the Germans and Koreans.
Porsche has once again crushed expectations with an astounding 43.6% jump in sales. The second step on the podium belongs to Kia, raking in 34.0% more new customers. They are followed by smart, selling 26.8% more units than last year.
Rounding up the other winners, we find Volkswagen (25.8%), Lexus (18.5%), Audi (16%) and 10 other manufacturers.
Overall, the industry in Canada is 6.9% ahead of where it was last year at this period.
| April | Current Month | YTD | ||||
| 2011 | 2010 | 11/10 | 2011 | 2010 | 11/10 | |
| Acura | 1361 | 1708 | -20.3% | 4231 | 5106 | -17.1% |
| Audi | 2011 | 1733 | 16.0% | 5924 | 4963 | 19.4% |
| BMW | 2802 | 2681 | 4.5% | 8129 | 7597 | 7.0% |
| Chrysler | 22851 | 20576 | 11.1% | 71906 | 65795 | 9.3% |
| Fiat | 889 | - | n.a. | 1315 | - | n.a. |
| Ford | 25536 | 23430 | 9.0% | 81427 | 74876 | 8.7% |
| General Motors | 22622 | 23451 | -3.5% | 73970 | 71497 | 3.5% |
| Honda | 10908 | 11388 | -4.2% | 35081 | 37689 | -6.9% |
| Hyundai | 14267 | 12495 | 14.2% | 41319 | 38093 | 8.5% |
| Infiniti | 561 | 613 | -8.5% | 2168 | 2369 | -8.5% |
| Jaguar | 80 | 74 | 8.1% | 246 | 222 | 10.8% |
| Kia | 6777 | 5057 | 34.0% | 19090 | 14911 | 28.0% |
| Land Rover | 247 | 225 | 9.8% | 930 | 829 | 12.2% |
| Lexus | 1623 | 1370 | 18.5% | 4600 | 4528 | 1.6% |
| Mazda | 7574 | 8338 | -9.2% | 21219 | 25590 | -17.1% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 2759 | 2777 | -0.6% | 9378 | 9036 | 3.8% |
| MINI | 475 | 411 | 15.6% | 1235 | 1085 | 13.8% |
| Mitsubishi | 1826 | 1613 | 13.2% | 6692 | 6425 | 4.2% |
| Nissan | 6704 | 6576 | 1.9% | 23396 | 22858 | 2.4% |
| Porsche | 323 | 225 | 43.6% | 845 | 599 | 41.1% |
| Saab | 21 | - | n.a. | 41 | - | n.a. |
| smart | 260 | 205 | 26.8% | 542 | 642 | -15.6% |
| Subaru | 2900 | 2640 | 9.8% | 9118 | 8596 | 6.1% |
| Suzuki | 630 | 742 | -15.1% | 1966 | 2912 | -32.5% |
| Toyota | 17704 | 16303 | 8.6% | 50927 | 54829 | -7.1% |
| Volkswagen | 5526 | 4394 | 25.8% | 16160 | 13819 | 16.9% |
| Volvo | 705 | 633 | 11.4% | 2087 | 2044 | 2.1% |
| Light vehicles sales | 159942 | 149658 | 6.9% | 493942 | 476910 | 3.6% |
| Passenger car | 75680 | 70061 | 8.0% | 216409 | 219940 | -1.6% |
| Light truck | 84262 | 79597 | 5.9% | 277533 | 256970 | 8.0% |
| GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplate | 71009 | 67457 | 5.3% | 227303 | 212168 | 7.1% |
| Import nameplate | 88933 | 82201 | 8.2% | 266639 | 264742 | 0.7% |
| 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 | ||
| June | 169.2 | 159.5 | 138.5 | 154.6 | ||
| July | 142.4 | 149.5 | 139.9 | 148.8 | ||
| August | 158.4 | 147.0 | 135.4 | 136.1 | ||
| September | 131.8 | 134.1 | 129.5 | 135.1 | ||
| October | 120.9 | 122.7 | 121.5 | 123.2 | ||
| November | 117.3 | 105.2 | 102.1 | 116.0 | ||
| Décember | 119.9 | 94.4 | 111.2 | 111.0 | ||
| Full Year | 1614.7 | 1653.4 | 1636.0 | 1460.6 | 1556.5 | |
| Note: Sales figures above are in thousands. | ||||||