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NOT-SO-HOT SELLERS: In a record year for auto sales in Canada, these 10 vehicles sat way down on the charts
Another 12 months of record sales of new cars and trucks in Canada. As automakers trumpet their bestsellers for 2015, though, among the nearly 300 new vehicle models on sale last year there are plenty of models that sit way, way down on the sales charts. Excluding discontinued and exotic models, here are the 10 rarest new vehicles sold in Canada last year:
1st place: Cadillac ELR (25 sold)
Here’s an indication GM is having a hard time selling its $78,250 frontdrive Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid sports coupe: We’re well into the 2016 model year and the U.S. automaker is still hawking original 2014 ELR models. Albeit, not many of them. During 2014, only 44 ELRs were sold in Canada, making it the rarest new vehicle in the land. And with a drop of more than 43 per cent last year to only 25 units moved, the Cadillac hybrid coupe remained the rarest “new” vehicle sold in Canada in 2015.
2nd place: Kia K900 (36 sold)
Although it is roomy, feature-laden and comes with a well-built cabin — as well as a comfortable and quiet ride and a powerful V-8 like its Hyundai cousin — the $49,995 Kia K900 rear-wheel-drive full-sized luxury sedan, the Korean automaker’s first-ever flagship sedan, is a rare sight on Canadian roads. Only 36 examples were sold during 2015, its first full year on sale. Hot tip: Hyundai will offer all-wheel drive on its future Genesis G9. Perhaps Kia should do the same with its luxury sedan.
3rd place: Hyundai Equus (37 sold)
The $63,900 rear-wheel-drive Hyundai Equus full-sized luxury sedan — a rival to the likes of the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, but for tens of thousands of dollars less — continued to be a hard sell in Canada last year. Sales were down more than 43 per cent in 2015 from the 65 copies sold in 2014. Perhaps Hyundai’s decision to create a separate Genesis brand and replacing the Equus with the all-new G9 will spur on sales.
4th place: Honda CR-Z (55 sold)
You have to give Japan’s Honda some credit for its doggedness. Since its arrival for 2011, the frontwheel-drive, two-passenger $22,890 CR-Z hybrid has been about as popular as snow in July. Sales peaked in the CR-Z’s first full year on sale with 517 units sold in Canada, but have been dropping ever since. Yet Honda has been loyal to the gaselectric hybrid sports coupe’s few fans. Despite sales being down 45 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, the CR-Z remains on sale.
5th place: Volvo S80 (62 sold)
First seen in 2006, the Volvo S80 is not only the oldest vehicle in the Swedish automaker’s lineup (sales were down 8.8 per cent to only 62 copies sold in 2015), the frontwheeldrive, five-passenger mid-size luxury sedan was also one of the rarest new vehicles sold in Canada in 2015. But fear not Volvo fans: The S80’s replacement, the all-new S90, is expected to exponentially increase Volvo’s share in a segment led by the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
6th place: Audi R8 (89 sold)
Let’s be clear: This Top 10 list is by no means a measure of the quality or desirability of the vehicles noted. Take, for instance, Audi’s superlative R8. With fewer than 90 units sold last year in Canada, the Audi R8 won’t end up on any year-end bestseller lists. Yet with an all-new, secondgeneration model arriving for 2016, the two-seat, mid-mounted V-10 engine-powered, all-wheel-drive R8 continues to be a supercar for the masses, if a relatively rare one.
7th place: Dodge Viper (110 sold)
Since its arrival in the early 1990s, the rear-wheel-drive Dodge Viper supercar was never designed to be a big seller. That certainly was the case in 2015, when only 110 Vipers were sold in Canada — granted that’s a 2.8 per cent gain over the previous year. It will be interesting to watch sales of the Dodge supercar in 2016, though. The base price has been raised by more than $30,000, to $115,495 and future Fiat Chrysler Automobiles product plans suggest production of the 645-hp, V-10 Viper may end in 2017.
8th place: Mitsubishi i-MiEV (121 sold)
While General Motors was getting all kinds of attention at this year’s Detroit Auto Show for the debut of its new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt — a subcompact electric car priced for the masses — maybe the U.S. automaker should look at the sales figures (or lack thereof) of the $27,998 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Although sales are up 11 per cent compared to 2014, with only 121 of the Mitsubishi electric cars sold last year, the i-MiEV remains a rare commodity in Canada.
9th place: BMW Z4 (121 sold)
We’re starting to see spy shots of the next-generation BMW Z4 sports car, a vehicle that is reportedly sharing a platform developed with Toyota that will also spawn a reborn Supra, seen in concept form as the FT-1 at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. In the meantime, sales of the current second-generation, rear-wheel-drive BMW two-seater are in reverse gear. In 2015, BMW saw sales of its $56,200 roadster drop by more than 30 per cent, from 173 units moved the year before.
10th place: Alfa Romeo 4C (122 sold)
With only two units registered as sold in 2014, the $65,995 Alfa Romeo 4C sports car’s 6,000-per-cent rise in sales in 2015 looks amazing. But that still only adds up to just 122 examples finding buyers in Canada last year. Mainly because of the limited production capacity of the rearwheel-drive, two-seater’s carbonfibre chassis, we don’t expect to see a similar jump in 4C sales in 2016, keeping the sports car a rare vehicle in Canada.