Two familiar old foes -- Ford F-Series and Dodge Caravan -- continued to duke it out for the top spot on Canada's list of top-20 best-selling vehicles for the first four months of the year, so there's nothing new or interesting there.
But what was is new and definitely interesting from the statistics compiled by automotive consultant Dennis DesRosiers for 2005 so far is the 10 percent drop, from 71,538 units to 64,361, in the large pickup truck segment.
This decline is already starting to have an affect on the deals being offered by the car companies to move metal (GM has an aggressive lease deal on one of its popular Chevrolet Silverado models, for example) and that should continue.
Partly this decline can be explained by the ongoing general shift in Canadian consumer demand from trucks to cars, and surely it's not a surprise that the compact truck segment has grown by 31.3 percent (to 9,554 from 7,276) since many of those offerings are much bigger than their old versions but are priced at about the same level.
DesRosiers suggests that the decline may be partly ascribed to the increase in fuel prices, but also admits that ''it is harder to explain the real cause.''
Other shifts in the force are due to marketing efforts and the arrival of new models. Here, then, are the top-20 selling vehicles in Canada for the first four months of the year (i.e., until the end of April), comparing the year-to-date figures for 2005 with 2004's in brackets, and with the percentage change.
1) Ford F-Series 23,113 (24,226) -4.6%
2) Dodge Caravan 21,493 (20,252) 6.1%
3) Honda Civic 18,221 (16,821) 8.3%
4) Mazda3 14,777 (15,444) -4.3%
5) Toyota Corolla 13,909 (12,168) 14.3%
6) Chevrolet Silverado 11,951 (12,411) -3.7%
7) GMC Sierra 11,776 (12,910) -8.8%
8) Dodge Ram Pickup 11,185 (15,092) -25.9%
9) Toyota Echo 9,846 (9,766) 0.8%
10) Pontiac Grand Am 8,396 (7,497) 12.0%
11) Pontiac Sunfire 8,367 (11,223) -25.4%
12) Honda Accord 7,898 (7,093) 11.3%
13) Ford Focus 7,631 (8,121) -6.0%
14) Ford Escape 6,489 (6,378) 1.7%
15) Toyota Matrix 6,674 (5,466) 22.1%
16) Toyota Camry 6,137 (5,885) 4.3%
17) Chevrolet Uplander 5,961 (n.a.)
18) Ford Freestar 5,349 (6,029) -11.3%
19) Pontiac Montana SV6 5,156 (n.a.)
20) Honda CR-V 4,996 (4,783) 4.5%
But what was is new and definitely interesting from the statistics compiled by automotive consultant Dennis DesRosiers for 2005 so far is the 10 percent drop, from 71,538 units to 64,361, in the large pickup truck segment.
This decline is already starting to have an affect on the deals being offered by the car companies to move metal (GM has an aggressive lease deal on one of its popular Chevrolet Silverado models, for example) and that should continue.
Partly this decline can be explained by the ongoing general shift in Canadian consumer demand from trucks to cars, and surely it's not a surprise that the compact truck segment has grown by 31.3 percent (to 9,554 from 7,276) since many of those offerings are much bigger than their old versions but are priced at about the same level.
DesRosiers suggests that the decline may be partly ascribed to the increase in fuel prices, but also admits that ''it is harder to explain the real cause.''
Other shifts in the force are due to marketing efforts and the arrival of new models. Here, then, are the top-20 selling vehicles in Canada for the first four months of the year (i.e., until the end of April), comparing the year-to-date figures for 2005 with 2004's in brackets, and with the percentage change.
1) Ford F-Series 23,113 (24,226) -4.6%
2) Dodge Caravan 21,493 (20,252) 6.1%
3) Honda Civic 18,221 (16,821) 8.3%
4) Mazda3 14,777 (15,444) -4.3%
5) Toyota Corolla 13,909 (12,168) 14.3%
6) Chevrolet Silverado 11,951 (12,411) -3.7%
7) GMC Sierra 11,776 (12,910) -8.8%
8) Dodge Ram Pickup 11,185 (15,092) -25.9%
9) Toyota Echo 9,846 (9,766) 0.8%
10) Pontiac Grand Am 8,396 (7,497) 12.0%
11) Pontiac Sunfire 8,367 (11,223) -25.4%
12) Honda Accord 7,898 (7,093) 11.3%
13) Ford Focus 7,631 (8,121) -6.0%
14) Ford Escape 6,489 (6,378) 1.7%
15) Toyota Matrix 6,674 (5,466) 22.1%
16) Toyota Camry 6,137 (5,885) 4.3%
17) Chevrolet Uplander 5,961 (n.a.)
18) Ford Freestar 5,349 (6,029) -11.3%
19) Pontiac Montana SV6 5,156 (n.a.)
20) Honda CR-V 4,996 (4,783) 4.5%