Canadian 2006 Auto Sales Wrap-Up

17 Responses to “Canadian 2006 Auto Sales Wrap-Up”

1. Patate

   Great performance for the Ram, even if it is not the newest full-size pick-up model there is.
   Sprinter still has low sales but it is encouraging, here is one model that will have it’s sales up with the oil price, that is if Ford doesn’t bring their Ford Transit from Europe and stick with their old polluting econoline.
   By the way, when did the caliber hit the dealers? I don’t think 2006 was a full year for it. No matters, 19,500 sold units is (If I remember correctly) a little more than the Toyota Matrix, which always gets first consideration from the custommers since “Toyota always make great reliable cars”.

   In my opinion, Chrysler needs to:
   -Make the Dakota smaller, so they get the sales from the non-competitive Colorado and Ranger.
   -Bring in the diesel.
   -Manual transmission for Chargers and Avengers.
   -Reduce their rebates, except on 2005-2006 models, to clear them out. Rebates decrease by a lot their profit margin. However, they could sacrifice profit by selling their cars very cheap for a few years to bring new custommers, that is if their product is reliable. They have 2 choices, not an in-between one will do.
   -Never again make stupid ads like “Ask Dr.Z” ones (actually the newest about the rams and calibers look good to me)
   -Pray that the blind faith in Toyota and Honda cars stop.
   -Caliber sedan-coupe??? Why not? Even if the car is a little heavy for it’s class.

   Canada’s auto industry is a good sign for American auto makers. I highly doubt that 2007 will be as bad for them, especially GM which I think has the best vehicle line-up between the big three. I think the American automakers have finally understood that short-term profits by having crappy service and cost-cutting measures can put you in deep financial problems, a few decades later.

   September to December were good months for the big three, and I hope it stays that way. For any men and women that work in those companies with great wages and unions.

   Opinion on this Dave?

   Comment on Jan 5th, 2007 at 12:07 am   
2. Dave

   Well, yes, I fully agree.

   Comment on Jan 5th, 2007 at 8:08 am   
3. Ex-MoPar Fan

   I generally don’t comment on Canadian sales, but post number 1 had something that stood out for me.
   “-Pray that the blind faith in Toyota and Honda cars stop”

   You know what I pray for? - I pray that the blind faith in Daimler stops. Maybe if Daimler and its fanboys would go home, things might be better for those true MoPar fans that are out there. Of course, I do find it hypocritical for people to continue to bash the Japanese (especially Honda and Toyota) and the people that buy them , and then turn around and praise a German car company. It is this unfair double standard that is driving me further and further to the Japanese car companies. Maybe people have blind faith in Toyota and Honda because it was “earned” many years ago. Maybe people “Actually” like the cars and trucks sold by Toyota and Honda. It is not like these two just placed a spell on the American consumer or something. I mean, they didn’t just come in here and take over an American company to gain further penetration into this market. Everything the Japanese have gotten has been earned by hard work and listening to the consumer.

   This backhanded slap to the Japanese is getting very old when I read it here and when I read it on the Detroit News - especially coming from people that work for Daimler in the first place. They have nothing to talk about and neither do their fans. As far as I’m concerned, Toyota and Honda has earned their keep in this country better than Daimler has.

   Comment on Jan 5th, 2007 at 8:35 pm   
4. dakota

   Maybe Ex-Mopar Fan, people actually like to drive Chrysler cars and trucks too, and aren’t driving “garbage” as so many seem to claim. Maybe it’s about time that the media actually report fairly instead of praising the imports as a “god send” for everything they do, talk about a back handed slap.

   It’s funny that Ford, DCX, and GM take the heat for fuel thirsty SUV’s. But when it comes to report facts, no one will admit that even Nissans, Toyotas, or Hondas aren’t so great either. Maybe if the import fanboys would wake up too, their machines aren’t perfect either, nice way to turn a blind eye…what next denying that asian cars don’t have recalls, and hidden “service campaigns” don’t exist….please.

   You know what I pray for, is fair media reporting, instead of writing what people want to read. How about when doing testing of cars and trucks, go by facts instead of “It’s a Honda” ect. Or how about fair reporting of problems found with cars? I remember an article in Car and Driver where they had to put duct tape over a faulty sun roof on an Acura, but the car was “teething”….rightt…if that would have been a “domestic” the car would have been blasted for it being troublesome and of poor quality.

   Comment on Jan 6th, 2007 at 5:50 am   
5. Dave

   Darn straight, Mr. Dakota.

   That said, I do believe Toyota earned a place in America more than Daimler - notice I am not saying Chrysler! - has. I do wish that Honda would stop getting free rides - the Civic’s reliability is nothing to write home about and its performance was a joke when Dodge still made the Neon, and the Accord, sorry, is NOT “silky smooth.” Likewise VW seems to get free rides…well, anything German…

   Comment on Jan 6th, 2007 at 9:37 am   
6. Patate

   When car and driver or motortrend rate a Mercedes vehicle, they aren’t as biased as the reviews they give on Toyotas (mostly). I don’t remember who made the review but at one time, they rated the Toyota Tundra higher than the Chevy Silverado. I have no idea what kind of idiot would even rate a Toyota pick-up higher than a GM one (because no one can’t deny a GM truck is reliable and built tough, while a Toyota truck has few trim choice). Toyota cars always get higher ratings than their American counterpart, and most of the time it isn’t justified. We talk about the great interiors of the Corolla. I have been in lots of Corollas and the interior is crap. As for the new civic, it’s all eye candy. But a reviewer will lose all his credibility if he doesn’t review those cars high. However, with Nissans, it’s all different. They don’t give good reviews to them. I think it’s all about bribing. Camry won Motortrend Car of The Year award, kind of funny there were toyota and lexus ads on their website. Last year it was the Civic…. Guess waht? Acura and Honda ads. Little comments in reviews like “Typical cheap GM interiors” and “Typical toyota reliability” are the best/worst ad an automaker can get, because people suppose it’s a totally neutral review so it’s okay to trust it. It’s just just like Consummer Reports (nice article on it here on Allpar, by the way.) Tell one of my friend that his Corolla is reliable and he’ll punch you. He had to change the transmission two times and the engine once. His car isn’t that old (perhaps 97-98) and he had to sue Toyota to get his second transmission free, they rejected the warranty because they said he was badly treating his car since he was a delivery boy. Oil changes were done on time. Great reliability, sure.

   There’s the companies ads that help also. In a Toyota ad, you see lots of trees, on a clean road. It supposes a Toyota vehicle doesn’t pollute, and is the car of a clean future. They never mention they have Sequoias, Lexus LX (more polluting than an Escalade, by the way). it’s not because they don’t sell their big SUVs that they don’t make them. Nissan is even worst (with their armada). BUT, when we talk about a SUV, we see Ford or GMC, which is a misguided view in my opinion. They sell a lot of them because it’s the type of vehicle where the profit margin is high, so they prefer selling them.

   Now… Daimler. I don’t mind Daimler Benz, because their line-up doesn’t compete with CG’s. Well it mostly doesn’t, of course there are some products that do but overall they don’t. As for the management, well there’s nothing to do about it, except if you want to stop buying CG products, but I don’t think the guys from Germany will keep CG if they don’t make money. When I will buy a vehicle, it will either be a CG or a GM. As for luxury (when I’ll actually have money for it hehe), I’ll go with Cadillac and not Mercedes, but that’s a personal choice. Mercedes doesn’t get sales by exporting cars that are made the 1/10 of the cost here. They sell their cars because people wants performance, comfort, and the image it gives, even if their custommers KNOW their car will have 10 electronical problems every month (exageration).

   Blind faith towards Honda and Toyota is the real problem here. The reputation is for cars made 20 years ago while shopping for a product made a year ago.

   Comment on Jan 6th, 2007 at 9:54 am   
7. Dave

   Not to defend Toyota but —

   1) I’ve been in Corollas and Calibers, and Corolla beats Caliber hands down in my opinion. The Matrix is the one that gets the free ride - stiff ride, cheap interior - but it’s still more economical and I believe quicker than the Caliber. On the whole, Toyota manages to have better reliability.

   2) The new Tundra comes in a lot more levels than the old one. If they rated the old Tundra above the Chevy, there’s a problem. The new one, the jury’s still out. Especially with their new V8.

   3) Any Toyota is likely to have a cleaner-burning engine and a little higher gas mileage than its equivalent made by just about anyone else. The Corolla hits 41 mpg highway, for real - and that’s their #2 seller. Yes, they make wasteful overweight pigs of vehicles like the Sequoia, but even that is rated ULEV as I recall and gets better mileage than the other-brand equivalents.

   On the other hand, by no means is a Camry “a mini Lexus” as it is usually called; indeed, I think the Mitsu Galant came closer to that designation! Likewise if the Civic was sold as a Dodge, sales would be 1/4 what they are and the reviewers would call it a stiff, creaky POS.

   Comment on Jan 6th, 2007 at 11:47 am   
8. Anthony

   I have to admit it that Dave is mostly correct. Toyota in North America is a far more reliable vehicle than the CGs vehicle. I think the CG has not spent any real time in trying to develop fuel efficient vehicle across the board. The money that went into the Hemis MDS why was some of that not applied to the 3.5/4.0l motors which are gas pigs, for a similar fuel saving system. Why are we not looking at direct injection or more diesel cars with manual transmissions. Why scrap the Neon which here in Canada the 5spd got like 44mpg, and is like 500lbs lighter than the Caliber. To touch the Toyota issue again if memory serves me correctly outside of North America Toyota recalled somewhere around 3 or 4 million vehicles last year. Almost 2 million in July alone making them either the largest recaller or the second largest of the Year. Quality is not holding up as it would seem. I cannot stress enough that CG needs to improve its dealer network in terms of how they treat the customer(Patate Customer has one m please; not trying to be rude just noticed that you keep repeating the same mistake or typo) this will go along way toward a better reliability factor. The Japanese go overboard or at least they used to,to make things right. North American companies still haven’t learnt that a long term customer kept, is better than a 100 try mes. You tick off a try me they’re gone. A satisfied customer if treated properly will forgive and forget. I do agree that the media appears to be biased against NA OEMS Hondas new Civic which stole the cab forward design of the last gen. Chrycos has the same NVH problems they’re noisy yet i have only seen a couple reporters who have even mention it. Chrysler was killed for this. Lets hope that honesty will eventually win out. Fat Chance!!!!

   Comment on Jan 11th, 2007 at 5:52 pm   
9. Dave

   Though I hate to say it, I do have one answer - “the money that went to the Hemi MDS.” The MDS system is ideal on V8 engines due to balancing, and it was a brand new engine so it could be designed in. While the Civic copies the LH, the LH copied the Civic. No answers to the rest of your comments. Sebring is great for NVH compared to Civic!

   Comment on Jan 11th, 2007 at 7:51 pm   
10. Anthony

    How was Honda able to use cylinder deactivation on the Odyssey minivan its a V6. Chrysler redesigned the 3.5 to a now 4.0L why not go all the way. My buddy with the new Pacifica with the 4.0L says this engine is a major gas pig. Chrysler cannot afford to play, even with the competition they have to one up them or as their catch phrase used to be leap frog them. I don’t know, they could have something mind blowing down the road, but people need some incentive to tide them over for now.

    Comment on Jan 16th, 2007 at 10:28 pm   
11. Dave

    Lots of discussion on the news & rumors forum about that. In essence, Bob Sheaves believes the Honda MDS engine is an overly complicated mess. A V6 is not naturally balanced iwth half the cylinders shut down. (Now, shutting TWO cylinders is another story). In any case, I don’t know what the savings are with the Honda engine. With the Dodge, it’s about 20%.

    Comment on Jan 17th, 2007 at 8:39 am   
12. Hector

    Surfing on the Oficial Chrysler Web Site (i usually check more Allpar, i found a link with designs from since the 1940’s Untill TODAY that is if the Crossfire its considered a Today`s car, and i shocked when i found car concepts from the mid and early 90’s that are small, economical, un-polluting, and NOT PRODUCING, pardon my french but what kind of an IMBECIL is makeing a deal with CHERY when u have on the design board cars that would still look good today and designed by CG…damit

    Comment on Jan 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm   
13. Hector

    For Instance the Chrysler Pronto, Composite or even the Java which is the newest one.

    Comment on Jan 20th, 2007 at 9:44 am   
14. Mark

    I think the thing I most miss about Chrysler Corporation, is Common sense innovations, and the ability to lead the market, Even now Chrysler is not what it once was, and yet is still one the most imitated designs.
    I have a 2003 Intrepid, Running great 32+ mpg, we take in for service, And all you hear Is Why you should buy a charger or a 300C, It’s a way better car!! I think Hummm, I have an 03, that looks as modern as anything else on the road, perhaps still looks futuristic, Mine has more head and leg room, and it still gets better mileage then a new one with a comparable powertrain!
    Do you remember the PT Cruiser concept for a Pickup truck? utility and economy , wouldn’t that kind of look like an SSR That people could afford, who knows maybe even an R/T version? I read an article here on the new diesels ( Grand Cherokee) Hey I bet you could put that in a 4 door Dakota In a variety of trims, Perhaps even a “Mid size” Dually, With the ability to tow (7400 lbs) It’s not a mega cab, But It’s a truck that people could afford!( They are buying this style just to tow 4 to 6,000 lbs! A 250/350 Is overkill, But avaialable domestically as a dually) It could easily be built, and Japan, even GM & Ford Would be playing catch up for at least a year!
    I see the parts pieces and technology are all possible, just need the right combinations in the right vehicles

    Comment on Jan 27th, 2007 at 9:41 pm   
15. Mark

    After reading the DR Z article, I agree with most of it. It’s kind of funny to me,(the part about chrysler corporation going publc as say, American Motors) If you think about it, What I see With Bob Lutz over at GM, Is GM starting to look alot more like Chrysler Corporation then DCX looking like Chrysler Corporation ! If he ever takes over the reigns totally you can get your Chevy version of a PT Cruiser, Your Chevy version of a neon , your chevy version of a Charger/Challenger, , the chevy version of a caravan/voyager. It looks like he can use 10 year old chrysler concepts, and do a pretty good job of selling them.
    Consider the rejected concepts of late: M-80, Hornet, ME412, Firepower, Razor, Venom (Well the Solstice kind of looks like the Venom)
    Say what if we tell all of our competitors, what we are going to build, advertise it with all the spec’s and then wait till they build thier copy of, what we said we are going to do, see how it fares in the market place, and if it does well, then maybe we will actually, really build it! Gentleman we have the technology! Lets show it off to the world, Then wait for the brains in Germany to decide, well maybe discuss it, well table it for now to be discussed later, um well lets take another look an that! Say That Mazda CX7 thingy reminds me of that SRT4 concept we had, what did we ever do with that? The other day I saw an FJ cruiser, kinda reminded me of that Kahunna thingy we were going to build,
    Say did we ever get that Challenger concept thing going? Oh yes it will be out soon With our newest diesel!

    Comment on Jan 27th, 2007 at 10:39 pm   
16. Dayman

    My opinion : Find the TYPE of car you want, go test all the different models from the different vendors and just get what YOU want. Reliability is only as good as how you treat and maintain your vehicle. I have a 1996 Chrysler Intrepid with over 410,000km on it… a car known for ”unreliable” transmissions. No one believes me when I tell them it is the original. Other than normal, common-sense maintanence, this car is not a burden to me - and my only hesitation in getting another one would be I don’t know how the last owner treated the car. Also, you ever notice how the people that boast most about reliability are the same people who lease and trade their cars in every 2-3years? In Canada most lease’s are 2-4 years, with no more than 20,000km / year… whats that, just under 12,500 miles? Should ANY car have major, deal-breaking issues 36,000 miles in? Also, if a car isn’t a sports car, or a sporty car, or a mega-buck luxo car, the good folks at Car and Driver, Road & Track and MotorTrend think its garbage anyway…. how do you compete with that? Caliber, ok so its pokey COMPARED to its competition. But maybe the best buyer for it is someone who needs utility closer to a Nitro/Lib/Escape/Tribute etc etc without the cost, both in purchase and fuel… I think we’ve just gotten to the point where we are so selfish and anything less than excellence is trash and unacceptable.

    It’s not that I don’t like the Civic or the Corolla, the Accord or the Camary… I just don’t need everything I drive to be a race car… and I certainly don’t need to pay rediculous part costs WHEN I have to repair them…

    Last point, and maybe its just a Canadian thing… but why is that something simple like an alternator, a coil pack, a control arm or heaven forbid a wiper-arm NEVER available for my sisters 2001 Civic.. they’re always back ordered, and ALWAYS overpriced when they do come in. I guess thats the cost of quality… oh wait its 6years old. Is that regular maintanence creeping up on it?

    Comment on Jan 28th, 2007 at 1:58 am   
17. Mopar 4ever

    Well Dayman:

    that is why people and marketing created this “perfection halo” among japanese brands, they hold up and look greate for about 3-5 years, and after they gave them away (traded them in) the post owners struggle more like they would do with used mopar`s, im not talking about reliability, treate good a mopar and last for decades, im talking weare-off parts like brake-pads or rubber-isolators, hard to find and at high prices, most Toyota Owners are not aware of that cuz they dont keep their cars for long, ironicly in the 80’s American Cars were liveing up by their good fame from previous decades, now the japanese cars do the same, the real Toyota Work Horses, are the old trucks 80’s early 90’s, or old corollas, take a late 90’s 4runner, damn that is a troublesome engine, and im talking by experience.

    The most important thing that DCX most recognize is that the quality of their vehicles is important to improve, but improveing the way they treat US is much more important, i bet we wouldn`t mind if our car brakes down if the dealership or manufacturer acted respectfully and FAST, not like we are trying to cheat on them.

    Comment on Jan 30th, 2007 at 4:50 pm