Automotive News Canada - March 2017 - 20

* MARCH 2017

Cheap fuel and hybrids do get along
The runaway success
of the RAV4 hybrid dovetails
with soaring utility sales

Canadian buyers are finding the switch "an
easy way to save money for their households,"
Beatty said. Hybrids are also "quieter, more
powerful and often offer more standard features than their conventional gas counterparts,
all while letting drivers reduce their carbon
By BILL MCLAUGHLAN
footprint."
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT
He also said that making the switch "meant
no lifestyle change for drivers - other than havRECORD SALES IN CANADA HAVE HELPED
ing to fuel up less often." There's also no need
pushed global Toyota hybrid sales above the
to change fueling or driving habits, no charging
10-million-unit mark at the end of January.
or worrying about making long trips.
The milestone came just nine months after
The RAV4 hybrid came to market in
total hybrid sales reached nine million at the
late 2015 and promptly became the top-sellend of April
ing hybrid
2016. Toyota
in Canada. It
now sells 34 difaccounted for
ferent hybrid
5,816 of the
models around
approximately
the world.
28,000 hybrids
When Toyota
(an increase of
launched its
about 39 per cent)
first hybrid
that Canadians
vehicle 20 years
bought in 2016
ago, "no one
(full-year figeven knew what
ures were not
a hybrid was,"
available for all
said Takeshi
The RAV4 hybrid sells for a small premium over similarly hybrids as of this
Uchiyamada,
writing).
equipped all-wheel-drive models. ( P H O TO : TO Y O TA )
known as the
But the RAV4
father of the Prius and now the company's
wasn't solely responsible for higher hybrid
chairman.
sales. Ford/Lincoln hybrids were up 22 per
Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) helped play a role
cent. Total sales of dedicated hybrid models,
in topping that 10 million mark with a record
such as the various Toyota Priuses, the Ford
19,787 hybrids in 2016, up 45 per cent over 2015
C-Max and the Chevrolet Volt, grew 25.8 per
hybrid sales.
cent in 2016 compared to 2015 and have grown
TCI accounts for more than three-quarters
nine per cent in the first two months of 2017
of all hybrids sold since 2000 in the Canadian
compared to the same period last year.
hybrid vehicle market, said Toyota Canada
Excluding RAV4, known sales of hybrid verVice-President Stephen Beatty.
sions of conventional vehicles (Toyota/Lexus
Toyota has sold more than 130,000 hybrid
and Ford/Lincoln) were up 3.4 per cent in 2016.
vehicles in Canada, led in 2016 by the RAV4
This does not include hybrid versions of vehihybrid. Despite stable gasoline prices, Toyotacles such as the Hyundai Sonata and Porsche
branded hybrid sales were up more than 50 per
Cayenne, for which full-year data was not availcent over 2015, with 17,812 vehicles sold. Lexus
able at presstime. - ANC
- With files from Jeremy Sinek
made up the balance.

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02_23_17

Visitors take in the Aston Martin AM-RB 001 exhibit at CIAS,
where 41 Canadian production and concept cars and trucks
were unveiled. ( C A N A D I A N I N T E R N AT I O N A L A U T O S H O W )

CIAS 'lifestyle'
component
spikes attendance
More high-end
displays and good
weather contributed
to robust crowds,
says market analyst
By GREY LAYSON
ONLINE EDITOR

THE 2017 CANADIAN
International AutoShow set an
attendance record, organizers
say, as 339,590 people passed
through the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre between
Feb. 17 and 26, besting the 2016
record of 320,000. Organizers
say the numbers were driven in part because CIAS is not
just a show about new cars
anymore.
Five consecutive days of
record-setting crowds to open
the show set the pace for what
officials called "one of the
strongest shows in the 44-year
history of Toronto's automotive exposition."
"The Canadian
International AutoShow has
grown into a diverse event
that is not only about the newest cars on the market, and
future automotive trends,"
AutoShow General Manager
Jason Campbell said in a news
release.
"With several unique and
exciting features as part of
our show, we have been able
to attract new and diverse
crowds, which has helped
make it both a great social and
shopping experience.
"It is truly a lifestyle show,
the largest consumer show in
Canada, exploring all facets of
the automotive world past and
present."
The record-breaking attendance doesn't surprise auto
analyst Dennis DesRosiers
of DesRosiers Automotive
Consultants Inc. He said an
increased number of luxury-car and other high-end displays helped increase attendance. "I think that drew a lot
of curiosity seekers."

DesRosiers said attendance
likely "had more to do with
the weather than people's proclivity for buying vehicles."
"I wouldn't necessarily
equate a bigger attendance
to a better sales year," he
said. "But there is still a high
interest in terms of vehicle
demand."
DesRosiers predicts total
Canadian sales will be down
30,000-40,000 units in 2017.
"But it also wouldn't surprise us at all if we were up
30,000-40,000 units," he said.
"Anything above 1.6 million
or 1.7 million units [in yearly sales] is spectacular and
we should be in the 1.9-million range. We may not get to
two million units sold, but it's
going to be a damn good year."

I wouldn't necessarily
equate a bigger
attendance to a better
sales year.
DENNIS DESROSIERS

DesRosiers Automotive
Consultants Inc.
A total of 41 Canadian production and concept cars and
trucks were unveiled at CIAS,
including the global premiere
of the 2018 Hyundai Accent
and the North American
debut of the Aston Martin
AM-RB 001 concept, for which
Canadian company Multimatic
supplies the supercar's carbon-fibre structure.
The inaugural Automotive
News Canada Congress was
held over media and industry
days, Feb. 16-17, bringing an
international roster of speakers to discuss key trends in
Canada's automotive ecosystem. Complete coverage of the
key speakers is on Automotive
News Canada's website (canada.autonews.com). - ANC

http://www.JoeVerde.com/Can http://canada.autonews.com http://canada.autonews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - March 2017