THE 10 MOST POPULAR CANADIAN-MADE VEHICLES
There’s an awkward silence at the summer family reunion. You know your great uncle could fill the void with conspiracy theories. That is, if your second cousin doesn’t start talking about common maladies in feral cat colonies.
What does one talk about in these scenarios? Tavares and Twitter? Or Trump, Trudeau and trade?
In the summer of 2018, if politics wends its way into casual conversation, the discussion is bound to circle around to tariffs.
It’s unclear how NAFTA renegotiations, a 25 per cent increase in steel costs and the sudden drop-off in Kentucky bourbon exports will impact the North American economy.
But the possibility of sharp increases in the price of new vehicle imports draws immense attention to the status of Canada’s own auto industry.
Many of the most popular vehicles in Canada are assembled right here in the country. Southern Ontario is home to production facilities for Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Still, Canadian production declined seven per cent in 2017, to roughly 2.2 million vehicles, the result of a modest slowdown in U.S. demand and production reallocations.
If the cost of Canadian-made vehicles were to increase by 10, 15 or 25 per cent in the United States — as has been suggested — a theoretical response to the tariff may well involve the inverse: a Canadian tariff on vehicles imported from the United States.
Perhaps the subject will forever remain theoretical. In the meantime, an examination of the Canadian sales of Canadianmade vehicles, provided by Global Automakers of Canada, is a worthy exercise. Keep in mind, some of these vehicle sales totals include a portion of imported vehicles.
Automakers report total nameplate volume and do not break down the vehicle origin.
10. Dodge Charger: 3,442, down eight per cent Assembled in Brampton, Ont., alongside the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Challenger, the Dodge Charger is the trio’s leader on the Canadian sales charts. The Charger competes in the fullsized sedan segment from which buyers have fled, yet Charger volume did rise to a nine-year high in 2017 before the current slide. And even with that decline, the Charger remains the category’s top seller.
9. Chrysler Pacifica: 4,340, up 30 per cent As Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Canadian dealers watch Dodge Grand Caravan volume rapidly decline, the Chrysler Pacifica continues to rise. In Canada, the Windsor-built Pacifica remains a low-volume minivan in comparison with the Grand Caravan and Toyota Sienna. In the United States, on the other hand, the Pacifica owns a quarter of the minivan market.
8. Lexus RX: 5,342, down three per cent With a modest decline in the first half of 2018 and surges from chief rivals at Audi and Mercedes-Benz, the Lexus RX is now Canada’s third-ranked premium brand utility vehicle. (It’s the clear leader of all premium vehicles south of the border.) Lexus is launching an extended version of the Cambridge, Ont.-built RX this year, which will provide Lexus with a true Acura MDX/ Infiniti QX60 alternative.
7. Ford Edge: 10,104, down six per cent The Ford Edge has shared its Oakville, Ont., assembly plant with the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT, two futureless low-volume vehicles, as well as the Edge’s twin, the Lincoln MKX. The Edge successfully navigates difficult terrain between its popular smaller sibling, the Ford Escape, and the larger, threerow Ford Explorer by competing with vehicles such as the Nissan Murano. Edge volume peaked at more than 20,000 units in 2016 but declined slightly in 2017 and has continued to slide in early 2018.
6. Chevrolet Equinox: 11,719, down 13 per cent Although production of its corporate sibling, the GMC Terrain, has moved south of the Rio Grande, General Motors continues to assemble the thirdgeneration Chevrolet Equinox in Ingersoll, Ont. Equinox sales soared to record levels as Chevrolet cleared out previous-gen models and welcomed the new Equinox last year. Chevrolet has not matched that scorching pace in the first half of 2018.
5. Dodge Grand Caravan: 20,633, down 22 per cent Canada’s top-selling minivan is a family favourite thanks to its attractive value proposition. But while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles updated its Chrysler sibling, the fifth-gen Grand Caravan is now in its 11th model year and hasn’t been meaningfully updated since 2011. Dodge is on track to sell about 40,000 Grand Caravans in Canada in 2018, down from more than 60,000 per year at the end of the fourth-gen’s tenure.
4. Toyota Corolla: 25,166, down 11 per cent The first Toyota to roll off the company’s first Canadian plant 30 years ago was a Corolla. By 2016, a Corolla was the eight-millionth Toyota assembled in Canada. It’s Canada’s second-best-selling car, with a little help from the Japanbuilt Corolla iM, a hatchback formerly known as the Scion iM. A thousand Corollas are assembled each day in Toyota’s Cambridge North facility.
3. Toyota RAV4: 26,606, up five per cent The Toyota RAV4 was Canada’s top-selling utility vehicle in 2016 and 2017, in part because of the boost provided by the RAV4 Hybrid, which isn’t built in Canada but accounted for 14 per cent of total RAV4 sales in June. With the next-generation RAV4, however, RAV4 Hybrid production will join the conventional RAV4 in Woodstock, Ont. RAV4 production in Woodstock more than tripled between 2009 and 2016.
2. Honda CR-V: 28,022, up 18 per cent Like its longer-running sibling, the Honda CR-V is a hugely popular vehicle across North America. While Civic demand peaked in 2008 and then rose to a nine-year high in 2017, CR-V growth continues unabated. CR-V sales in Canada have grown in each of the last eight years and are on track to hit a record high of nearly 60,000 units in 2018.
1. Honda Civic: 35,536, down four per cent Built in Alliston, Ont., the Honda Civic is routinely Canada’s bestselling car and ranks third overall in terms of total Canadian vehicle sales through 2018’s first six months. In terms of popularity in relation to other Canadian-made products, only another Honda comes remotely close. While the current Civic hatchback hails from Swindon, England, Honda of Canada Manufacturing has been building Civics since 1988.