Présenté par HGrégoire. 
We Canadians sure love our light trucks and SUVs. In fact, just two out of the top ten vehicles sold in Canada were sedans, namely the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.
What’s interesting is just how well the Civic continues to sell. Honda recently marked 20 years of the compact car’s reign as best-selling car in Canada. In 2017 the Civic placed third among all vehicles sold with 69,030 units – an increase of 6.9% over the previous year.
Honda Civic is a key pillar
Built in Alliston, Ontario, the Civic is a key pillar to Honda Canada’s success and accounts for nearly 40 percent of the brand’s annual sales.
“The Civic embodies the challenging spirit of Honda and our commitment to delivering innovative products of the highest quality, durability and value. We are thankful for and deeply humbled by the loyalty and trust that our customers have placed in Honda and the Civic in the past 20 years,” said Jean Marc Leclerc, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Honda Canada Inc. “The 20-year success of the Civic has led to the organic growth of a passionate and dedicated ‘Civic Nation’; a community made up of Canadians from all walks of life, connected by their common love of the Civic.”
The strong performance of the Civic is not to say that Honda can’t compete in the SUV/Crossover game either. The Honda CR-V is the second-best selling SUV in Canada, with 50,443 units sold having just been edged out by the Rav4 which sold 111 more.
Similarly, the midsize Honda accord lost to the Camry in sales by about a thousand units, ringing in 13,504 sales in 2017.
Honda Civic: built in Canada and loved by Canadians
The Honda Civic still continues to pay dividends for the brand. A high-performance Type-R variant was released last year which will do wonders to keep the performance enthusiasts hooked. Even before the Type R was available, the Civic Si served as the model’s performance version and has been widely praised.
It seems Canadians have a special affinity for the Honda Civic that shows no signs of waning. Leclerc went on to echo that in his statement:
“Being built at our Canadian manufacturing facility for 30 years and achieving this remarkable 20-year sales milestone has certainly cemented the Civic’s importance in Canada. The Honda Civic’s longstanding Canadian production history is a direct reflection of the knowledge and experience of the more than 4,000 highly-skilled manufacturing associates at HCM.”
Honda Civic Facts
- The Civic nameplate launched in Canada in 1973, selling 747 units in its first year.
- More than 1,286,000 Honda Civics were sold in Canada in the past 20 years.
- Cumulative Canadian sales of Civic since 1973 reached 2,045,169 in December 2017.
- The Honda Civic has been Canada’s best-selling passenger car for 20 consecutive years.
- Production of the Civic (three-door) began in 1988 at Honda of Canada Mfg. (HCM) in Alliston, Ontario.
- To date, more than five million Civics have been built at Honda’s manufacturing facility in Canada.
- More than 85 percent of all Civics sold in Canada in 2017 were built in Canada.
- In 2015, HCM became the global lead plant for the tenth generation Honda Civic, marking the first time a global lead plant had been located outside of Japan.
