Industry Report Part 1: Canada's Compact Class Critical for Driving New Car Sales

The 5-door trend doesn't seem to be going away, with the Mazda3 Sport continuing the tradition started by its Protegé5 predecessor.

Pontiac's new Pursuit, an excellent entry based on Chevy's new Cobalt, relies on the Vibe to take care of 5-door buyers. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

Mazda competes with an attractive 4-door 3 as well, which gives them an advantage over brands that only sell one type of compact car.

But there are few of these anymore. Toyota only offers a 4-door Corolla, answering the 5-door question with its Matrix. Likewise Pontiac's new Pursuit, an excellent entry based on Chevy's new Cobalt, relies on the Vibe to take care of 5-door buyers.

Honda's popular Civic comes in a variety of body styles, but for reasons that escape most anyone in the business, the 3-door hatchback that made the model, and for that matter, the automaker as popular as it is today

Honda will thoroughly update its Civic lineup shortly, with new styling and more performance. (Photo: Honda Canada)

can't be had. A coupe can, however, which is unique in the C-segment. Honda will thoroughly update its Civic lineup shortly, with new styling and more performance.

On that note, pretty well every rival brand beats up on the once sporty Civic when it comes to performance. Even humble Kia offers a new Spectra and Spectra5 that bests it in pretty well every category, less expected resale value. Its many attributes helped it to earn the Automobile Journalist's Association of Canada's best new compact award. Kia's parent Hyundai will receive an update to its popular Elantra shortly, so expect something at least as good as the Spectra.