CANADA AUTO SALES DATA – JUNE 2010

A Prince Edward Island vacation won’t stop The Good Car Guy from supplying you with the Sales Stats to get you through the day. Behind the Graphs and segment-by-segment breakdowns, there’s plenty of contextualizing and contemplating going on. Scroll down for a unique take on Canada’s June 2010 auto sales picture.

Hyundai Canada sales were up 13.8% in June. Of course, that means sales climbed 13.8% from June 2009 to June 2010. What you won’t hear so much about it is the drop from Hyundai’s May 2010 sales (12,620) to Hyundai’s June 2010 sales (11,501). May 2010 was Hyundai Canada’s best month of all time, after all.

Honda and Acura suffered greatly in June. Canadian sales were down 14% overall. 92% of the Acuras and Honda sold in Canada in the month of June were built in North America. Honda builds the Civic, Ridgeline, and Odyssey in Alliston, Ontario, along with Acura’s CSX, MDX, and ZDX.

An increase of 3 units helped BMW Canada to an all-time best June.

74.1% of all Mercedes-Benz vehicles (excluding smart) sold in Canada in June were equipped with 4Matic all-wheel drive.

Though not the most popular sedan to begin with, Subaru Legacy sales were up 382% in June. June 2005 had been Subaru Canada’s best-ever Legacy month, but sales of the Legacy last month beat June 2005 by 107%.

Toyota Canada kindly pointed out in their monthly press release that June 2010 sales of the Lexus IS C, the two-door convertible version of the Lexus IS sedan, represented a best-ever month for the IS C. Wait a minute, though: Toyota Canada in its June 2009 sales release that the IS C “entered the Canadian market at the end of June”. Therefore the fact that Lexus increased IS C sales by 59.3% (to 43) is nothing to write home about.

Nissan GT-R sales fell 81% in June. True, it’s a low-volume car in a low-volume country; huge percentage swings are to be expected. Yet a decline from 21 GT-Rs in June 2009 to 4 GT-Rs in June 2010 is a sign that, yes, newer is better. The Audi R8 V10, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Lotus Evora are just a handful of the newer cars which strongly desire a piece of the Nissan GT-R’s pie. GT-R sales are off 44% in Canada through the first half of 2010.

Kia has been in Canada for 11 years. June 2010 was its best-ever month. The Kia Soul, a Good 12 winner, recorded higher monthly sales than ever before: 1,140. Sales of the Nissan Cube stand at 1,530 for the first half of 2010. In fact, while Soul sales jumped significantly in June, sales of Nissan’s Cube dropped 48.6%.

An ageless wonder, the Jeep Wrangler is. Revamped and revitalized numerous times, the latest Wrangler is the best Wrangler. Canadian sales stand as terrific evidence of the Wrangler’s desirability. Up 92.2% in June, sales of the true Jeep were better than any June in history at 1,238.

Porsche Boxster sales rose from 16 in June 2009 to 22 in June 2010 thanks mainly to the Boxster Spyder, another Good 12 winner. With 10 sales across Canada, the Boxster Spyder beat the Boxster S by 1 and the base Boxster by 7. Porsche sold 12 different versions of the 911 in Canada a total of 39 times, failing to successfully market all 17 911 derivatives. Incidentally, the basic 911 Carrera proved unpopular in June, putting up a big fat 0. But Porsche sold half a dozen 911 Turbo S hardtops and half a dozen and 911 Turbo S Cabriolets. The Good Car Guy’s favourite 911, the GT3, found three homes while the hardcore GT3 RS beat that by two.

Porsche Canada’s Panamera breakdown in June 2010 is as follows: