Small Luxury SUV Sales And Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - December 2011 And 2011 Year End

December 2011 Small Lux SUV Sales Chart
Click Any Chart For A Larger View

Little more than a decade ago, the vast majority of the luxury automakers shown in these tables and charts weren't building SUVs or crossovers. And if they were, the thought of developing multiple versions - one to compete with midsize luxury cars and another to rival their smallest sedans and wagons and maybe another to slot in between - was laughable. Fast forward to 2011 and these luxury utility vehicles were absolutely vital to the automakers' very existence. 

A simple examination of each brand reveals this to be true. With the new X1 competing for sales in Canada, BMW's SAV total ascended to 12,946 in 2011, 43.5% of BMW Canada sales, 2.5 times the total achieved by the whole Mini brand. 48.9% of BMW sales in December stemmed from the X family. The MDX and RDX are Acura's first and third-best-selling models. Acura's luxury utilities out-sold Acura cars by 1794 units in 2011. The Q5 and Q7 make up just 20% of Audi's nameplates but they accounted for 36% of Audi's sales in 2011. The Q5 was Audi's second-best-selling model. Cadillac SRX sales rose 9.6% in 2011 as Cadillac's smaller luxury SUV went from being the brand's second-ranked model to its biggest volume seller.

2011 Year End Small
Lux SUV Sales Chart

Shall we go on? Volvo's XC60 was the brand's top-selling model. Along with the XC90, the two made up 38.5% of Volvo Canada's sales total. Without even considering the GL-Class, Mercedes-Benz's GLK and M-Class, two of the wide-ranging brand's four highest-volume models, made SUVs 32% of Benz's Canadian sales total. 42.2% of Infiniti sales in Canada in 2011 were luxury utilities, though the G20/G37 represents 51.9% of Infiniti's Canadian volume and clearly remains the brand's core model.

Care to continue? Read more on the subject of luxury SUV importance, along with more tables and charts, after the jump. You can also find monthly and yearly sales figures, both Canadian and American, by accessing the dropdown menu at the top right of this screen.

Small Luxury SUV	December  2011	% Change	2011	YTD % Change
Acura RDX	352	+ 15.8%	3070	- 2.9%
Audi Q5	247	+ 65.8%	4502	+ 47.1%
BMW X1	313	-----	2980	-----
BMW X3	375	+ 421%	4671	+ 64.5%
Cadillac SRX	235	- 6.0%	3197	+ 9.6%
Infiniti EX	104	+ 35.1%	1521	- 21.0%
Land Rover LR2	33	+ 3.1%	343	- 19.5%
Land Rover Range Rover Evoque	150	-----	412	-----
Mercedes-Benz GLK	405	- 11.6%	5294	- 9.5%
Volvo XC60	174	- 2.8%	1865	+ 21.1%

Are Americans Buying Fewer Trucks? Yes, Yes, And No

Too little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Here's what you've heard: pickup truck sales are on the rise in America. You also remembering hearing that, in 2009, full-size pickup truck sales had steadily fallen year after year since 2004. 

Clicking through truck sales figures by accessing the dropdown menu at the top right of this page is certainly informative, but it can be slightly misleading, as well. Yes, U.S. Ford F-Series sales fell each year from 2004 through 2009. Yes, Ford F-Series sales have increased both in 2010 and in 2011. Does this say something about the Ford F-Series or does it simply speak to the market as a whole?

America's six core full-size models, excluding the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT and any Lincoln entry, found 2,456,656 buyers in 2004 and just 1,117,706 buyers in 2009. It's hard to believe that pickup truck popularity died off that much relative to the popularity of passenger cars or SUVs or crossovers. In fact, during that period in which sales of those six trucks collectively dropped 54.5%, America's new vehicle market plunged 38.3%. Though the full-size truck market admittedly became less popular, sales weren't simply cut in half. America's new vehicle market was a much smaller playing field. Those six trucks were fighting for a slice of shrinking pie.

Nevertheless, the second chart in this post makes very clear that when the market shrunk, the market for America's six full-size offerings caved more precipitously. Those six trucks accounted for 14.5% of the overall new vehicle market in 2004 but just 10.7% in 2004. And now that the market has started to grow again - up to 11.6 million sales in 2010 and 12.8 million sales in 2011 - trucks are playing a larger role once again. The F-Series, Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram, GMC Sierra, Nissan Titan, and Toyota Tundra accounted for 11.6% of the new vehicle market in 2010 and 11.7% in 2011.

All of this is explained by the two charts GoodCarBadCar compiled and inserted below. But it's not explained by simply scanning the sales figures for one vehicle and assuming the worst, or the best.

Click Either Chart For A Larger View

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Trucks In America - 2011 Year End
Complete U.S. Truck Sales Chart - 2011 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - 2011 Year End
Auto Brand Market Share In America - 2011 Year End

Truck Sales And Minivan Sales In Canada - December 2011 And 2011 Year End

December 2011 Minivan Sales Chart
Click Any Chart For Larger View

Last known as a model year 2009 vehicle, the Hyundai Entourage was still somehow sourced for purchasing in Canada in 2011. 49 were sold. On the pickup side of the ledger, where there are now only 15 nameplates, Mazda sold 661 B-Series pickups in Canada in 2011. That was enough to make the B-Series more popular than the Cadillac Escalade EXT.

As usual, the Dodge Grand Caravan was Canada's best-selling minivan in 2011. 56.6% of all minivan sold in Canada were Grand Caravans. In total, 61.4% of all minivans sold in Canada in 2011 were Chrysler products, or 62.3% if you include the Routan as a member of the Windsor-built Chrysler family. The Toyota Sienna's 1775-unit victory over the Honda Odyssey came as a result of the Sienna's 8.8% year-over-year increase. Odyssey sales were also up, but only by 5.2%. Canada's overall new vehicle market increased by less than 2%.

In the mini-minivan segment, a category which now includes the awkward-looking Chevrolet Orlando, the Kia Rondo finished 2011 70 sales ahead of the Mazda 5. 13,366 mini-minivans were sold in Canada in 2011, meaning one was sold for every four Grand Caravans. Dodge is currently advertising the Grand Caravan's base price as $19,995, identical to the price point of the basic Rondo and Orlando. Mazda's Canadian website has the 5 at $21,895.

Take a look after the jump at detailed December and 2011 sales info on pickup trucks in Canada. The Ford F-Series, as you might have guessed, was easily the best-selling truck line. And while Dodge's Ram was quite clearly the number two truck, GM's twins were 22,906 sales ahead. You can also see more on the pickup truck market from this Top 10 Best-Selling Trucks post for December and this one for 2011. Of course, monthly and yearly sales figures for all these models and every other nameplate currently on sale can be accessed through the dropdown menu at the top right of this page.

Minivan	December  2011	% Change	2011	YTD % Change
Chevrolet Orlando	349	-----	1128	-----
Chrysler Town & Country	240	+ 24.4%	4536	+ 8.6%
Dodge Grand Caravan	2973	- 24.0%	53,406	- 3.4%
Honda Odyssey	1027	+ 10.9%	9060	+ 5.2%
Kia Rondo	201	- 8.2%	6154	- 2.4%
Kia Sedona	49	- 52.0%	1290	- 20.1%
Mazda 5	339	- 11.0%	6084	- 19.2%
Nissan Quest	76	-----	1022	+ 5010%
Toyota Sienna	642	+ 11.3%	10,835	+ 8.8%
Volkswagen Routan	53	+ 6.0%	842	- 16.6%