ARE PEOPLE STILL BUYING ‘REAL’ SUVS?
In days long past, a station wagon with a modicum of black plastic surrounding its wheel arches wasn’t considered a sport-utility vehicle.
The term SUV was applied to what were essentially fully enclosed trucks with four-wheel drive, low-range gearing, and ample ground clearance. Decades passed during which this rough definition held strong. There were Jeep Wagoneers and Ford Broncos and Toyota Land Cruisers, for example. By the late 1990s, however, the term had broadened to include vehicles we often now call crossovers: car-based unibody vehicles with optional all-wheel drive and limited off-road potential.
That crop of vehicles — everything from the Lexus RX and Honda CR-V to later arrivals such as the BMW X1 and Subaru Crosstrek — quickly took over the sales leaderboards. Following fuel crises such as the post-Katrina shock in 2005, traditional SUVs have intermittently been destined for doom. But these body-on-frame utility vehicles always come sailing back on a wave of strong profit margins, unending desirability, a strong whiff of nostalgia, and the promise of outright capability.
The Canadian marketplace’s growing anti-car sentiment has done the overall SUV/crossover sector huge favours. And within that sector resides a small group of important SUVs. They’re not “cute utes.” Nobody calls them soft-roaders, crossovers, or CUVs. They stay true to the original formula.
There are only 16 such vehicles. Many are prodigiously expensive; all but a handful are priced well out of each of the typical car buyer. Yet they combined for more than 5,000 sales per month during the first three-quarters of 2019, on par with figures from the prior year despite a shrinking market.
A familiar favourite nevertheless dominates the body-on-frame SUV sales charts, generating nearly half of this subsector’s volume. How has that iconic off-roader fared in Canada during 2019’s first three quarters, and how do like-minded vehicles perform in a market where utility vehicles produce 47 per cent of all sales? With figures from Global Automakers of Canada, we have the answers.
LEXUS GX
208, DOWN 22 PER CENT
It appears the number of Canadians who want a distinctly less attractive and wildly more costly Toyota 4Runner are few and far between. To be fair, the Lexus GX460 isn’t merely a 4Runner. It offers a V8 engine and is styled to be visibly unrelated. Yet while 4Runner sales set records year after year, the aging GX460 has long since fallen out of favour.
TOYOTA SEQUOIA 457, DOWN 17 PER CENT
Perhaps inspired by fine wine, or perhaps by corporate conservatism, Toyota likes its body-onframe platforms to age. Consider the year this Sequoia was unveiled. It was 2007, and George W. Bush had another 14 months remaining in his presidency. The Sequoia persists, though in relative obscurity. Only 3,512 have been sold in Canada over the past half-decade.
NISSAN ARMADA 499, DOWN 56 PER CENT
Nissan’s first Armada was a fullsized SUV based on the first-generation Nissan Titan pickup. For attempt No. 2, Nissan tried something a bit different. The second-generation Armada is a Nissan Patrol, the automaker’s long-running answer to the Toyota Land Cruiser. The second Armada was a much more successful venture, at least until 2019 volume plunged 56 per cent. Nonetheless, Nissan Canada sold more Armadas during the second-generation’s first 18 months than during the previous 30 months combined.
CADILLAC ESCALADE ESV 622, DOWN 15 PER CENT
One half of Cadillac’s full-sized SUV lineup, the Escalade ESV is a large, high-margin luxury SUV. Slipping demand in the latter portion of this fourth-generation Escalade’s life cycle notwithstanding, the ESV remains Cadillac’s flagship in a market that has largely rejected the brand’s cars. Across four model lines, only 862 Cadillac cars were sold during 2019’s first nine months, a 64 per cent drop. Five SUV/crossover nameplates responded with a 17 per cent uptick, to 8,041 sales during the same period.
LEXUS LX
761, DOWN FOUR PER CENT
In many markets, the Lexus LX570 hits dealers not as a Lexus at all, but rather as a Toyota Land Cruiser. (Land Cruisers in Canada are exclusively mining-oriented vehicles, not sold for on-road purposes.) That’s not to say the $111,300 LX570 would be distinctly more affordable if offered as a Toyota. South of the border, the Land Cruiser is priced from US$85,315. Price doesn’t seem to bother LX570 buyers. Lexus reliably sells more than 900 per year.
INFINITI QX80
744, DOWN 13 PER CENT
Japanese upstarts stole the passenger car market from Detroit and earned more than their fair share of the overall utility-vehicle market as well. But in two key segments — pickups and full-sized SUVs — the battle hasn’t been so easy. The Nissan Patrol-based Infiniti QX80 is by no means an unsuccessful answer to the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator, but even with a more attractive entry price, the QX80 can’t generate the kind of volume achieved by those two rivals. After a record 2018, QX80 volume has fallen by the equivalent of roughly 12 sales per month in 2019.
MERCEDES-BENZ G-CLASS 1,002, UP 302 PER CENT
According to GoodCarBadCar, the launch of the first all-new Geländewagen in decades has resulted in a huge surge in demand. By quadrupling its volume, yearover-year, the G-Class proves once and for all that it has come a long way from its days as an unrefined military vehicle.
CADILLAC ESCALADE 1,201, DOWN 15 PER CENT
The Escalade was initially the result of a rapid-response effort. Ford unveiled an Expedition-based Lincoln Navigator in the first half of 1997, and suddenly the perennial No. 2 U.S. luxury brand was No. 1 on its home turf. A year later, General Motors rushed a GMC Yukon Denali to market with little more than badge alteration. If at first it seemed underwhelming, Cadillac quickly stole the Navigator’s crown. While sales of the Navigator now appear stronger in Canada than its late-to-the-party Cadillac rival, remember that Lincoln’s tally combines long and short-wheelbase variants. Combined, Cadillac produced 37 per cent more sales with its full-sized SUV than Lincoln did in 2019’s first three-quarters.
LINCOLN NAVIGATOR 1,335, UP 40 PER CENT
In an era that sees Lexus selling sub-$40K small crossovers, “luxury” seems too weak a word to describe the fourth-generation Lincoln Navigator. Opulent? Hedonistic? Palatial? Whatever the word, it fits. The latest Navigator moved to a whole new level, and so have Navigator sales. Lincoln was averaging fewer than 500 Navigator sales annually, leading up to the latest Navi’s launch. Now the brand can generate that level of activity in three to four months.
JEEP WRANGLER 20,454, DOWN FOUR PER CENT
Fiat Chrysler’s all-important Jeep brand isn’t selling quite as many copies of the JL Wrangler in 2019 as the company did during the first nine months of 2018. But that doesn’t mean the platform isn’t contributing at a high level. The Wrangler’s sales figures include the four-door Wrangler Unlimited, which is by far the brand’s most popular model in Canada. Plus, while Wrangler sales dipped by 855 units, year-over-year, the brand added 1,180 sales of the new Gladiator, which is essentially a Wrangler pickup.