Scoreboard: August car sales year's worst

Video may have killed the radio star, but the demise of leasing was murder for Canadian new car sales in August with an overall 7 per cent drop paced by big declines at Chrysler and General Motors.

The numbers, as expected, were even worse south of the border. Chrysler plummeted 34 per cent, while The General took a 20 per cent drop.

Here's the scoreboard for August's Canadian Winners and Losers:            

Automaker    2008/2007/'08 to '07 change

Acura    1,301/1,728/-27.0% - Lack of compact CSX availability is hurting.
Audi    558/688/-18.9% - Refreshed A3 and all-new A4 should help in coming months.
BMW    1,902/1,856/2.5% - How long can BMW keep its residuals high?
Chrysler    15,450/20,503/-24.6%  - Bye-bye cheap leasing, bye-bye  customers.
Ford    20,725/23,093/-10.3% - This? Despite Lincoln Town Car sales increase 50% over last August?
General Motors    31,735/38,338/-17.2% - See Chrysler.
Honda 13,516/16,488/-18.0% - Having to turn away potential Fit and Civic customers.
Hyundai    7,530/7,409/1.6% - Hyundai wants you to know, they'll still lease you a car.
Infiniti    699/624/12.0% - G still leading seller for the brand.
Jaguar    83/57/45.6% - After new XF sales has been satiated, then what?
Kia    3,875/3,793/2.2% - Cheap and cheerful are winning the day.
Land Rover    184/271/-32.1% -  About the same bad news as in July.
Lexus    1,167/1,019/14.5% - Canadian-built Lexus RX 350 sales jumped 59.1% to 482.
Mazda    7,705/8,646/-10.9% - Dude, where's the new Mazda6?
Mercedes-Benz    1,653/1,196/38.2% - Recession? Best August ever with 2,038 units moved.
MINI    505/295/71.2% - I want a Mini franchise.
Mitsubishi    1,489/1,663/-10.9% - How long can Mitsu go with only Lancer and Outlander selling?
Nissan    6.784/6,264/8.3% - 71 GT-Rs sold in August. Oh, the Versa and Sentra helped keep Nissan in the green as well.
Porsche    112/188/-40.4% - Hey Buddy, want to buy a Cayenne?
Saab    178/176/1.1% - Don't get excited. Those numbers account for only a 0.1% market share.
smart    385/177/117.5% -  Like the Benz mothership,  best August ever.
Subaru    1,861/1,473/26.3% - New product being well received.
Suzuki    1,298/1,110/16.9% -  See Kia.
Toyota    22,037/16,928/30.% - Leapfrogs Chrysler into second spot in the Canadian market.
Volkswagen    3,793/3,672/3.3% - Almost identical to July.
Volvo    453/685/-33.9% - Volvo's falling off the map in Canada. Could be worse (see Saab.)

Total Light Vehicle Sales 146,978/158,384/-7.2%

[Source: DesRosiers]

Comments

[Randy]

Hey John:
The sales numbers for Saab and Volvo should worry anyone interested in wagons. The Swedish cars (V50/V70 and 9-3/9-5) aren't cheap, but they're still within reach for many families. If they abandon the North American market that would pretty much leave Subaru and VW as the only ones left to fill the void.

I've been hoping with the rise in fuel prices people would see wagons as a more practical alternative to the SUV. If that happens, hopefully we get more choice in the marketplace since more manufacturers will choose to bring mid-size wagons to North America.
Cheers,

[John LeBlanc]

Randy - As a wagon lover from way back, couldn't agree more.
I thought the need for fuel efficient cars would create a surge in wagon interest. But it's seeming hard to get people out of their "tall wagons": AKA crossovers.

-JL