Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to All Our Content

Ask GCBC: What Are The Best-Selling Import Cars In Canada?

2016 Mazda CX-5

In this latest addition to the ever-growing list of content made available by GCBC, we’re allowing you to ask us to sort the sales data the way you want it. In fact, you can ask anything, and we might just choose to answer your question even if you ask, “Should I buy a Mitsubishi Mirage G4?” If you want to ask a question, email [email protected]

This week, GCBC’s own founder and analyst wanted to know the following: “After answering a reader’s question about the best-selling import autos in America – and discovering that GCBC readers were very interested in that list – which vehicles built outside North America are most popular in Canada?” 

Again, we’ve excluded import brand vehicles such as the Honda Civic, Canada’s best-selling car in each of the last 18 years, a Japanese-branded car that’s assembled in Alliston, Ontario. But vehicles such as the Jeep Renegade – a “domestic-branded” product that’s built in Italy, are eligible for this list of the most popular import autos in Canada.

To be precise, vehicles which are assembled outside of the U.S, Canada, and Mexico – the NAFTA zone – are eligible for this list of Canada’s 15 most popular import vehicles in the first two months of 2016. 

Though the Subaru Forester topped the U.S. version of this list, the Forester ranks fifth in Canada. The Hiroshima, Japan-built Mazda CX-5 is Canada’s best-selling import vehicle. Only eight of the 15 cars on Canada’s best-selling import autos list also appear on the U.S. list, though some of the disparities come down to product sourcing, not necessarily differences in popularity. 

Rank
Best-Selling Import Autos
Feb.
2016 YTD
Feb.
2015 YTD

Change
#1
Mazda CX-5
2653 2329 13.9%
#2
Hyundai Tucson
2539 1917 32.4%
#3
Hyundai Elantra °
1563 2414 -35.3%
#4
Hyundai Accent
1559 1603 -2.7%
#5
Subaru Forester
1493 1362 9.6%
#6
Kia Forte
1421 897 58.4%
#7
Volkswagen Tiguan
1419 1415 0.3%
#8
Kia Soul
1198 1341 -10.7%
#9
Mazda CX-3
1166
#10
Subaru Crosstrek
1041 848 22.8%
#11
Mitsubishi Lancer
1035 654 58.3%
#12
Kia Rio
980 1085 -9.7%
#13
BMW 3-Series
936 1277 -26.7%
#14
Toyota 4Runner
905 589 53.7%
#15
Kia Sportage
829 606 36.8%

° Total Elantra volume is up 11.8% to 5,886 units in 2016’s first two months, including 4323 Elantras (up 51.7%) built in Montgomery, Alabama.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.