Auto Events

In what can only be described as an “American Idol” style of reveal, we are slowly learning the fate of the 58 vehicles attempting to become the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada’s (AJAC) cars and utility vehicles of the year. 

It used to be a three-part process where AJAC members tested and scored the vehicles, which was followed by the reveal of the winners on the Thursday of TestFest. Then we would wait until the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto in February to find out the overall winners for Canadian Car of the Year (CCOTY). 

The reveal system has changed to four parts that saw the testing and scoring of the vehicles at TestFest; followed by the announcement of the top three in each category in November; the winners of those categories gets revealed in December; and finally the overall CCOTY winners are announced. 

Today, AJAC revealed that second part, the top three in each category and now the remaining 36 vehicles and their respective companies will have to wait until December 3rd to see if they won their respective categories.

In total, there are 12 groups that range from Small Cars (under $21K) to Sports - Performance (over $50K) to Pickup Trucks. Scoring was conducted by close to 80 AJAC members based on styling, occupant environment, performance and vehicle dynamics. Those results were tabulated by the international accounting firm KPMG through a scoring system that puts into account the price of each vehicle entered.

There were a few surprises and some nice showings by some of the manufacturers. Kia led the way with all five of their vehicles passing the first cut; while Mercedes-Benz saw four of their seven vehicles still alive. Mazda’s confidence heading into TestFest was backed-up by having all three of their entered vehicles make it through; while the Toyota/Lexus group (3), Honda/Acura group (3), Nissan/Infiniti group (2) and BMW (2) had all of their vehicles survive as well. 

It wasn’t all rosy for some as Mitsubishi, Lincoln, Buick and Land Rover were shut out of the next round. General Motors had the most vehicles entered and fared well if you take away the results of Buick vehicles. While, the Jaguar/Land Rover group are only left with the Jaguar XJ XJR in the Prestige category after entering five vehicles.

Here’s a list of all the 2014 CCOTY candidates still in contention. The category winners will be revealed on December 3rd at the Toronto Congress Centre. Stay tuned for more information as it comes and if you’re looking for more details about the whole TestFest and CCOTY process, go to www.ajac.ca.

TOP THREE FINALISTS

Small Car (under $21K)

Mazda3

Nissan Versa Note

Toyota Corolla

Small Car (over $21K)

Ford Fiesta ST

Kia Forte Sedan

Mazda3 Sport

Family Car (under $30K)

Fiat 500L

Kia Rondo

Kia Soul

Family Car (over $30K)

Chevrolet Impala 

Honda Accord Hybrid

Mazda6

Luxury Car (under $50K)

Kia Cadenza

Lexus IS 350

Mercedes-Benz CLA 250

Luxury Car (over $50K)

Acura RLX

Cadillac CTS

Infiniti Q50 Hybrid

Sports - Performance (over $50K)

BMW 4 Series Coupe

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Porsche Cayman

Prestige Car (over $75K)

Cadillac XTS

Jaguar XJ XJR

Mercedes-Benz S 550

SUV/CUV (under $35K)

Jeep Cherokee

Subaru Forester XT 

Toyota RAV4 

SUV/CUV ($35K to $60K)

Hyundai Santa Fe XL

Kia Sorento

Mercedes-Benz GLK 250 BlueTEC

SUV/CUV (over $60K)

Acura MDX

BMW X5

Mercedes-Benz GL 350 BlueTEC

Pickup

Chevrolet Silverado

GMC Sierra

Dodge Ram 1500

We recently posted a piece about the hottest girls in automotive racing, and you guys loved it! We haven’t seen traffic like that on our website in a while. So going along with that theme, we decided we’d post this little experiment about a couple of guys trying to pick up girls with a brand new Ferrari 458. Apparently, women care less about who’s behind the wheel and more about what the wheels are.

TORONTO, ON - Canadian auto and truck sales last month were up 7.4 per cent from a year ago, according to data Friday compiled from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.

Light vehicle sales totalled 145,460 for the month, up from 135,476 in October 2012 as Ford led the way with a gain of more than 10 per cent.

The U.S. automaker sold 22,635 vehicles for the month, up from 20,561 a year ago.

"We are proud to have achieved the best month of sales on record in more than 15 years," Ford Canada president and chief executive Dianne Craig said in a statement.

Canadian auto sales have set a torrid pace so far this year.

According to DesRosiers, the industry has sold 1,496,216 light vehicles through the first 10 months of the year, up 3.8 per cent from 1,441,014 a year ago.

"It may be getting a little repetitive but the Canadian automotive market once more set records last month," DesRosiers said in a commentary on the results.

"Sales of trucks have been strong all year and this trend continued in October with 81,292 units sold (up 9.6 per cent). What has really pushed the market on in the last couple of months has been a return to growth in the passenger car market."

Car sales were up 4.7 per cent in October 2013 to 64,168.

General Motors, which posted a nearly 10 per cent gain, was second in October as it said sales jumped across all four of its brands, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac for the month that included an extra selling day than last year.

The automaker sold 20,503 vehicles last month, compared with 18,651 in October 2012.

Chrysler rounded out the top 3 with sales of 18,007, up from 17,333 a year ago.

Meanwhile, Japanese automaker Toyota Canada Inc. said it saw an uptick of 3.5 per cent in sales of its cars and trucks in October, helped by its popular RAV4 sport utility vehicles.

Toyota sales totalled 15,593, while its Lexus brand climbed 5.9 per cent from a year ago to 1,609. Scion sales amounted to 392.

Honda Canada reported that last month was its best October in monthly sales since 2002.

It saw combined sales from its Honda and luxury segment Acura, climb to 15,302, a jump from 14 per cent from October 2012 sales. Honda sales were up 19 per cent over the last year, coming in at 13,770 units while Acura sales were down 19 per cent, to 1,532 units.

"Honda Canada Inc. surpassed an eleven-year-old October monthly sales record this month, which was bolstered by double digit growth of Honda Automobile Division's small cars, Fit and Civic," said Dave Gardner, vice-president of sales and marketing, Honda Canada Inc.

TOKYO - Toyota's global sales for the first nine months of the year reached 7.41 million vehicles, little changed from the previous year but outpacing General Motors to keep its lead as the world's top-selling automaker.

Detroit-based GM said earlier this month that its global sales for January through September totalled 7.25 million vehicles, up 4.6 per cent from a year earlier.

Toyota's vehicle sales for the first three quarters inched up 0.1 per cent.

Germany's Volkswagen AG sold just over 7 million vehicles worldwide during the nine months, making it a close third. Volkswagen's global sales increased almost 5 per cent during that period from last year.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday that it sold about 2.5 million cars, trucks and buses in the July-September quarter, led by overseas growth.

GM had the global sales throne for seven decades before losing the title to Toyota in 2008. GM retook the crown in 2011, when Toyota's plants were slowed by an earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan that damaged suppliers of parts.

Toyota has since recovered and was at the top again last year.

Although the maker of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models is likely to stay the top selling automaker for the whole year, competition with GM and VW remains intense.

GM and VW are growing in China, but Toyota's sales have suffered there because of anti-Japanese sentiment that flared up last year over territorial disputes.

Toyota's growth came largely from strong sales in the U.S., where its Camry, Corolla and Tundra were popular, the company said.

Toyota's nine-month sales number includes heavy trucks made by its group company Hino Motors, which sold 119,000 vehicles, up nearly 3 per cent from the previous year.

The competition gets even tighter when such models, not in GM's lineup, are excluded from Toyota's tally.