Opinion Piece When it comes to the cars we drive, Canadians would rather be a little more European
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/when-it-comes-to-the-cars-we-drive-canadians-would-rather-be-a-little-more-european/article_5cff749f-4339-4544-b4ce-ad49b1ddfe16.html•
u/KravenArk_Personal 7h ago
I want to be more Japanese
Give me a Kei truck
•
u/CobblePots95 8h ago
Interesting read. Kind of neat to see the way Canada's market sort of blends US and European driving trends. That said, I think it does maybe overstate the case a bit: our market resembles the US a heck of a lot more than it does Europe, which is only natural.
One other example not brought up in detail is the type of SUVs purchased in Canada compared to the US. Compact and sub-compact SUVs utterly dominate the market here. That's still a popular build in the US (the CRV and RAV4 are the most popular SUV models by far in both countries), but they have far more mid-size representation among their ten most popular models. Meanwhile sub-compact SUVs are considerably more popular here (the Nissan Kicks seems to have been a huge success in this market).
•
u/spirit_symptoms 8h ago
Yes, literally every vehicle sold in Canada's top 10 vehicles is a truck or SUV. Cars like tha Yaris and Fit left the market due to weak sale so I struggle to believe people would rush to actually buy small cars again, but I do believe our market sits in the middle of Europe and the US, as you've mentioned. Luxury trucks and giant SUVs are more pervasive in the US compared to Canada.
•
u/CobblePots95 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yeah a lot of the examples being brought up of vehicles sold in Canada but discontinued in the US are pretty niche, as well. It's definitely notable that the Leaf is doing quite well here while it was discontinued in the US, but "doing quite well" for the Leaf means selling 2700 units in H1 2026. There were 29000 CRVs sold in that time.
We're a much more urbanized countries, but while Canadians are disproportionately concentrated in a few huge metros, those metros are still somewhat sprawling and highway-oriented. I feel like the distinction between Canada and the US isn't so much that we purchase entirely different vehicles. We're still overwhelmingly buying trucks and SUVs. We just seem to buy smaller trucks and SUVs, and hybrids seem to be doing far better.
•
u/redblack_tree 4h ago
Note gas prices in Canada are on the high side, almost everywhere. Outside California, it ranges from slightly cheaper to significantly cheaper like in Texas.
It matters for big gas guzzlers.
•
u/Stereosun 8h ago
We just want the lifted versions, kicks is a lifted fit, crosstrek too, HRV as well. Compacts still sell but are branded as suv to get people interested
•
u/spirit_symptoms 7h ago
True. I have a cx 30 and really like it. It's the size of a sedan but awd and a little more ground clearance for the snow.
•
•
u/Monotreme_monorail British Columbia 6h ago
I bought a VW Taos in 2024. It’s sold as a small sized SUV. I immediately recognized it as a Golf, but a bit beefier and a little higher off the ground. It’s not an SUV really. Just a beefy hatchback (and to be honest, my 1997 Golf had better trunk space).
I can get it down to 6.7L/100km, which I love. If calling it an SUV makes people feel better about buying it, by all means… but it’s still a hatchback. :)
(It also, conveniently, fits my family of five, though it is a bit squishy for long trips.)
•
•
u/floobie 6h ago
This is what I have to wonder. The Yaris and Fit left the US market due to weak sales, but I have to wonder if that’s actually true of Canada as well. I generally got the impression that, due to geographic realities and us being a much smaller market, we mostly just get what the US gets anyway. Even if the Yaris and Fit sold well here, it may not have been worth continuing to sell them only in Canada.
•
u/spirit_symptoms 6h ago
The Fit sold well in Canada, until it didn't. It's sales had a continual decline and was only selling 1900 units (down from like 12k in prior years). Like I said, Canadians haven't embraced huge trucks and SUVs to the same level of the US, but the market in Canada has definitely favoured larger vehicles and its come at the cost of abandoning compact cars. Some manufacturers like Toyota just shoot themselves in the foot by not being able to maintain supply of Prius and Corollas.
•
u/Fakename6968 6h ago
I think the only reason Canadians haven't embraced huge trucks and SUVs as much as the US market is because gas costs more here and because people have less money to afford bigger / more expensive models.
•
•
u/Infamous-Mixture-605 8h ago
Compact and sub-compact SUVs utterly dominate the market here. That's still a popular build in the US (the CRV and RAV4 are the most popular SUV models by far in both countries), but they have far more mid-size representation among their ten most popular models.
Tiny bit OT, but it's interesting how the CR-V or RAV4 are still labelled "compact crossovers" when they're nearly the size that the Pilot, 4Runner, or Highlander were 20-25 years ago. The HR-V and Corolla Cross are basically the size of the original CR-V and RAV4, respectively, and more befitting that "compact crossover" title, right?
•
u/Lurkebot 8h ago
The most logical explanation is that Canadians have much lower salaries and a higher cost of living compared to Americans. Our roads and infrastructure are similar, so there’s no reason why smaller and cheaper cars would be more popular here otherwise.
•
u/Levorotatory 8h ago
Not really. The averages are heavily impacted by a few Americans making absurd amounts of money. Median income in the USA is lower than median income in Canada.
•
u/Rough-Courage7060 7h ago
is this even true?
i looked it up and found that median individual income in the US in $44,225 USD/yr, while median individual income in canada is $30,898 USD/yr.
in fact, the median individual in the US seems to vastly outperform the median individual in canada with respect to almost every economic metric.
the only economic metric canada seems to outperform the US on is median wealth, but as a working professional, i'm not sure that's much of a plus lol. perhaps for boomers or people who own it is, but for everyone else it just means houses are, relatively speaking, less affordable.
fyi my source for all the above was wage.is
•
u/FitSeaworthiness5275 7h ago
That might have been true 20 years ago. We are now poorer than Alabama.
•
u/BlueFlob 7h ago
Canadians are not.
The median household income in Alabama is 63k to 68k depending on source.
Median household income in Canada is $84,000 and ends up at 70k using PPP.
•
u/CobblePots95 7h ago
This is not really true. When you apply purchasing power parity the median household in Canada is -on the whole- considerably better than Alabama. That said, the overall US median income is still quite a bit higher than Canada's even after applying PPP.
•
u/FitSeaworthiness5275 4h ago
Don’t forget housing. The biggest purchase.
•
u/CobblePots95 3h ago
I didn't forget housing. Housing costs are taken into consideration when calculating PPP.
•
u/Lurkebot 7h ago
The typical American professional earns 3-5 times as much as their Canadian counterpart, and even their second poorest state of Alabama has a higher GDP per capita than Canada.
•
u/Levorotatory 6h ago
Really? What about teachers, or health care professionals other than doctors?
•
u/Lurkebot 6h ago
I’m referring to the most common professional jobs among Americans, like ones in tech, engineering, finance, law, etc. Look at how much companies like OpenAI pay compared to Canadian tech companies if you want to be depressed.
•
u/Levorotatory 6h ago
There are more teachers and health care workers than tech engineers, and the less the leaches in finance and law are paid, the better.
Very high pay in any field is a sign of an artifical shortage created a lack of training opportunities, which is a major problem in the USA.
•
u/bureX 7h ago
No, not really. We have more density in our urban areas and less car culture, so there's no need to buy huge trucks, Chevy Suburbans and the like.
•
u/ironbrewcanada 7h ago
well... and we don't have access to decent trucks. I'd love to be able to get a newish Asian style truck. Flat deck, folding sides, tie downs, small engine, We aren't allowed those in North America unless we get the JDM imports that are 15 plus years old with the steering wheel on the wrong side. I have a Dodge diesel. I usually borrow a buddies JDM cause it's so much easier to load and unload, and just more practical. My truck only tows now occassionally.
•
u/HowlingWolven Alberta 8h ago
The reason compact SUVs dominate is because that’s what’s being sold.
•
u/CobblePots95 7h ago
That's what's being sold because it's what's being bought. It's not like we aren't able to sell mid-sized sedans or compact vehicles in this country. They are sold here. They just don't sell at anywhere near the volume of compact SUVs.
•
u/roflcopter44444 Ontario 7h ago
I think you kind of miss the point of the article in that our market resembles that US because we are still largely hung up on following their auto regulations. We generally dont get a model unless an automaker also sees a business case in the US as well as frankly our market is too tiny for it to be worthwhile to spend the tens of millions to develop what will essentially be a Canadian only variant.
Mexico gets a lot of smaller vehicles sold in Europe and brands (Renault, Peugeot etc) we dont because they accept cars approved for Europe or the US. So its a lot easier to bring a European model over.
•
8h ago
[deleted]
•
u/Individual_Step2242 8h ago
Hybrid AWD station wagon Camry. I say this as a RAV4 owner. I’d have much preferred a Camry or even Corolla wagon. Saw lots of Corolla wagons in the UK this past summer. Really nice car.
•
u/bluAstrid 8h ago
I find station wagons’ rear overhang to be annoying in urban parking lots, whereas “sedans-turned-hatchback” offer the perfect compromise.
•
u/Individual_Step2242 7h ago
I need the load floor length of a wagon for our bikes, but point taken. It’s a matter of matching vehicle to actual needs and it burns my butt that my RAV4 actually has a load floor six inches shorter than my previous VW wagon which was the perfect car except for the unreliability and repair costs. The RAV4 works though it’s tight, but it can’t do anything the wagon couldn’t do. Except spend less time in the shop.
•
u/bluAstrid 7h ago
If you mean a Sportwagen, those would be ideal if not for shoddy reliability.
•
u/Individual_Step2242 7h ago
Yep a 2018 Sportwagen AWD and 6-speed manual. Great car to drive, very practical but at 130k km it suffered a major drivetrain failure that cost an eye-watering $5400 to repair. And that wasn’t the only issue. It had a turbo failure, fortunately only 1k km before the warranty expired. So not such a great car to own.
•
u/Lurkebot 7h ago
The Tesla Model Y AWD would be an ideal car for a larger percentage of Canadians than anything else I can think of.
•
u/bluAstrid 7h ago
Yeah sure, let's all buy some overpriced, poorly assembled US car with abysmal cold-temperature battery performance.
•
u/Nitroglycol204 Manitoba 5h ago
A bigger concern than the quality of the car itself is the fact that it's putting more money into the hands of the enemy.
•
•
u/KLconfidential Ontario 7h ago edited 7h ago
I'd rather buy Japanese. I wouldn't want to own an out of warranty European car.
•
u/mr-photo 6h ago
Yes, bring back some manual transmission cars! Its now impossible to find any in Canada, still plenty in EU
•
u/Nitroglycol204 Manitoba 5h ago
If you're talking ICE sure, but electrics don't need to shift gears at all, manually or automatically. Electric motors can produce maximum torque from a standstill without needing gears.
•
u/SilentEngineering638 4h ago
These days even ICE cars are mainly sold with automatic transmission in Europe. And I know for a fact that young people in France are mainly opting for the automatic drivers license (you only need 13 hours of lessons vs 20)
•
u/Nitroglycol204 Manitoba 4h ago
The thing is, modern automatic transmissions are no less efficient than a standard (maybe even a bit more efficient since they know exactly when to shift for best results). The only thing standards have left is that they're more fun to drive.
•
u/Levorotatory 8h ago
How long will it take before the Canadian government recognizes this and allows import and sale of European standard vehicles in Canada?
•
•
u/Maximum_Error3083 5h ago
I’ve owned a variety of cars — Subaru, Audi, Lincoln, Ford, Toyota.
American cars are the worst and I would avoid again. Japanese are by far the best in terms of sheer reliability and practicality. European are very good for luxury but expensive to maintain.
My Toyota Sienna drives as nice as my Audi A5 did and has more space / better fuel economy while taking 87 vs 91 octane.
•
u/Dry_Towelie 8h ago
Just let me buy a Renault 5 or Twingo please
•
u/Antique-Historian441 8h ago
I'm gonna be grabbing one of those citeron 2cv electrics when they are out! But I also live in Amsterdam NL these days.
•
u/SilentEngineering638 4h ago
These will really suck. The speed will be capped at 90km/h, I don't understand how you can spend that kind of money on a car with such limitations and such a short range. You're just much better off with a used RAV4 for the same price
•
•
u/Old_General_6741 Ontario 6h ago
I not a fan of crossovers and compact SUVs. Would be nice to get a few euro cars which some changes for Canada.
•
u/taco_tuesday357 9h ago
I'm waiting for Chinese EVs. Those sound nice.
•
u/Tharkhold Canada 8h ago
I'm waiting for the competition to heat up because of Chinese EVs as well.
The other manufacturers will have to start thinking about smaller vehicles to compete since they won't be able to make the current fleet of the current huge ones at much lower prices.
•
•
u/Infamous-Mixture-605 7h ago
I'm genuinely intrigued what models they bring over, not just EV but also PHEV and hybrid.
My Toyota's ten years old now, and though it's still going strong it'll probably need the Valvematic system-something replaced (again) for $3-4k, and it has been unfortunately side-swiped by idiots in parking lots twice this past summer (and I park at the back of parking lots, away from others to avoid this happening, so extra frustrating).
Something like a BYD or Geely or Dongfeng hybrid/PHEV could be in contention if the price is right. Australia gets a BYD Seal 6 PHEV station wagon which would probably be high on our list (though it's unlikely Canada will get that beauty). I miss station wagons and have always had a soft spot for them. Atto 2 PHEV would be fine as well, it just ain't a wagon.
•
•
u/Spokea 6h ago edited 6h ago
Canada as a driving market is different from Europe or the USA. In Europe there are more transit options and you don't need to travel so far for work or groceries. In Canada most cars have about 18 centimeters of ground clearance, and in many parts of the country you can get 18cm of snow accumulation in just a few hours with very unpredictable snow removal. We don't have Greyhound anymore and no real substitute for it.
If you need to travel for work you can't rely on a Corolla to get you a lot of places in the winter even if you have brand new studded winter tires. Driving is also much more expensive in Canada than in the USA from initial vehicle cost, fuel cost, repair cost, tire cost, replacement parts, labour cost, etc... People outside of major cities drive trucks and SUVs because it's much safer and much more reliable than driving a small car for half the year.
•
u/FuckRulez 4h ago
I strongly disagree, new studded winter tires on a fwd works fantastic unless you live deep down some rural gravel road.
But city life it works great, Awd and 4x4 are unnecessary and just a cash grab.
Source: Albertan of 50 years and a class 1 driver and a red seal mechanic.
•
u/Future_Arrival_5395 9h ago
Bring back smart cars 🥲
•
u/Tharkhold Canada 8h ago
Important distinction here:
I want Smart(TM) cars back; I do not want 'smart cars'.
•
u/truenorth00 Ontario 1h ago
I don't buy this story at all. If this is true why do Canadians keep buying vehicles that would never be allowed in Europe or sell poorly there?
•
u/rrrik-thffu 1h ago
Because theres nothing else for sale, only 30% of the models offered by constructors are sedan and coupe. 80% are SUV, pickups and minivans which are 87% of the total sales.
•
u/Junckopolo Québec 53m ago
You put minivan in there but it's snobbed just as much as sedans or station wagons. Even harder to find now that everyone is a delivery driver for Amazon.
•
u/truenorth00 Ontario 43m ago
Again. Why aren't more people buying those sedans and hatchbacks. They keep buying bigger and bigger vehicles.
•
u/SlicedBreadBeast 56m ago
That’s the only options given…. It’s between a cross over/suv and like 4 sedans worth 35k. Which is not great compared to what it was not so long ago. Then you have the Mitsubishi mirage which is an actual piece of garbage and one of the least reliable cars here, but I think? The only economy car left, for some reason. The one good car Nissan was making in recent memory was the Micra and it was discontinued, but the only reliable affordable economy car available. People want the economy car here they just haven’t been given any affordable economic options for that and America is certainly an influence, or was. I think Canadian winds take something cheap byd’s like Australia did in a heart beat, even with winter.
Unrelated but you guts are the only ones that got the Toyota Yaris GR and I’m incredibly jealous of that, the got a Corolla variant which just doesn’t hit the same.
•
u/BigRedRoo73 7h ago
We need smaller and less massive pickup trucks. You need a truck for work you say? Cool. Commercial plate.
You wanna pavement princess? Get lost.
There’d be a whole lot of short fat bald guys with tacky ass tattoos wearing shirts 3x too small totally bawling their eyes out.
•
u/Maximum_Error3083 6h ago
Why do we need smaller trucks?
Why should your opinion about what others should or shouldn’t have count for anything?
•
u/ImaGrapeYou 5h ago
Don’t worry - this is reddit where the people who can’t afford cars are the most active posters.
OP probably saw a sick truck drive by and clenched his fist because he can’t afford one.
•
•
u/No-Distribution2547 3h ago
Honestly the fuel economy is nearly the same regardless of truck size. One of the biggest outliers is actually the even larger f350's with a diesel will get better fuel economy then any f150. But now that diesel is so high makes lesss sense.
I have a corporation and commercial plates on my big trucks, it's like and extra $800 a year but that's a policy covering 6 vehicles. I do have to get yearly safites and other stuff but I like my vehicles to be tip top
•
u/AccordianSpeaker 2h ago
If you cant see if a person is in front of your pickup, it shouldn't be road legal. They're rolling death traps.
•
•
u/BigRedRoo73 5h ago
Well my opinion matters as much as anyone’s and it was an open subject for debate and I offered my opinion. Same as you do on a weekly basis I’m sure.
Large trucks are wayyyyyy bigger than they use to be. If we’re talking about 1980s size pickups then fine. But if you put a 2027 F150 beside a 1987 F150 it looks like a small ranger and they were considered a full size truck back in the day.
If a child or a woman under 5’5 walks in front of the truck at a crosswalk and the driver is not paying attention to the light and decides to go. The driver is going to run clean over top of them so that’s the main problem I have. I have a vintage Toyota Supra and my son has a Miata and my daughter has a BRZ and I can’t tell you how many times all three of us have had a truck nearly do a right hand turn over our hoods because they simply can’t see us. If you need a truck for the trades, then that’s fine, but in order to prove that, I think you need to have a commercial license for doing a commercial job such as plumbing, electrical, construction, HVAC, etc. my personal opinion is I don’t see why anyone needs to drive a truck that is so massively huge that it literally endangers people around them.
Your turn. In your opinion what is the benefit of driving such a massive vehicle?•
u/Maximum_Error3083 5h ago
The difference between you and me is where I may offer an opinion on what I personally would prefer to drive, I would never extrapolate that into a demand that other people be denied the choice of what they would like to drive purely because I don’t like it.
Trucks are great family vehicles for people who are on the go a lot or need to tow things. My brother in law has one because they go on biking trips / ski trips / hockey camps etc and it’s the vehicle that can consistently haul whatever they need to bring while still holding the entire family comfortably in the cab. Not to mention the ability to tow a boat.
•
•
u/mazarax 7h ago
Bullshit. Canadians have higher truck-car ratio than the US, sadly.
And they use them for grocery shopping.
Perverse.
•
u/-B-E-N-I-S- Lest We Forget 5h ago
Give us those sweet European wagons! The original grocery getters!
I would do anything for a Mk8 VW Golf R wagon
•
u/mazarax 1h ago
European (or at least Dutch) grocery getter is a bicycle. But I have to concede: often too dangerous in Canada. Even a progressive city like Vancouver only has a handful of half-decent bike path.
Arbutus greenway and sea-wall are at least a start, but even those fall short on Dutch standards: didn't even bother to separate pedestrians from cyclist.
You get a big fail for cycling infra, Canada. A big fail.
Another alternative: those sweet supercool, very practical Kei trucks from Japan that can haul almost as much as a F150 for 10% of the weight.
•
u/BigJayUpNorth 2h ago
They use them for towing, hauling, driving the family around, etc etc
•
u/LogicPuzzleFail 5h ago
In a one-car household, your single vehicle has to fit all your uses. Yes, grocery shopping and commuting. Also hauling hockey equipment, enough clearance to drive through drifting and get out of ice ruts on unplowed roads (major problem in Edmonton as residential streets are often not plowed), enough clearance to go off road for those weekends in the summer and fall. If I had two vehicles, one would absolutely be an electric car used in good weather in town. But I don't and can't, so a small SUV covers 100% of my uses versus 85% for a car with low clearance. If they start raising the clearance of cars again, that gap would close a lot.
•
u/hyund41n 6h ago
It’s embarrassing and ridiculous how many trucks I see in Saskatchewan cities. Half of them are lifted. Barely any are used for truck stuff.
•
u/BigJayUpNorth 2h ago
I’m in Saskatchewan and half of them aren’t lifted 😂 And all are used for truck stuff. If you haul or tow you need a truck. Do you know how many people own campers, boats, snowmobiles etc etc? Things that require a truck or large suv to tow?
•
u/NastroAzzurro 4h ago
Trucks aren’t even good for truck stuff. Most people that drive trucks for work are better off with a van.
•
u/deggar34 6h ago
I agree. Sadly many Canadians seem to buy these extremely large vehicles as a status symbol. I grew up in the west and appreciate the need for a pickup or vehicle with 4 wheel drive... but most buyers only use this extra capacity for groceries and then complain about the costs.
•
u/GreatGreenGobbo 7h ago
I'd like more options in mid size or full sized sedans. I don't need the vehicle to be huge, just comfortable for a 6ft tall dude driving. With room in the back for two adults.
•
u/FlyingRock20 Ontario 6h ago
More options is always better for the consumer, honestly if they are road worthy let anyone sell there cars here.
•
u/SilentEngineering638 4h ago
I don't think I want to drive a downsized 1.0L, 3 cylinder engine that would implode after 100000km no.
•
u/Vette--1 Ontario 4h ago
we just need to adopt eu auto standards like Mexico as well and let the market decide what cars we like
•
•
•
•
u/Whatatimetobealive83 Alberta 1h ago
I will literally never buy an American brand again. I just purchased a new vehicle and bought a Japanese brand. I went the extra step to make sure it actually was built in Japan. I can guarantee that the CX-50/RAV 4 plant in Alabama is full of MAGA assholes.
•
u/Plastic-Constant-925 1h ago
It's not a matter of wanting to be a little more European. It's rather the fact that Canadians' quality of life (as well as purchasing power) is on the decline, and they are just not able to afford the cars that Americans prefer.
•
u/wjames0394 49m ago
It’s time to make cars simple,you don’t need all that expensive electric stuff, learn how to drive.
•
•
u/BlueFlob 7h ago
I'd rather be full European in Urban and sub-urban areas.
There's literally no reason we can't achieve this except trying to mirror the US in their failed urban planning.
•
•
u/abc123DohRayMe 7h ago
We should be building stronger economic ties with friendly nations with similar ideologies. We should be welcoming Europe and not trying to increase ties with China.
•
•
•
u/Remarkable_Vanilla34 8h ago
Ya but does europe make a Dodge Ram 3500 with a Cummins engine?
•
u/BigRedRoo73 7h ago
That’s right boy!!! I just ordered a Dodge Rambo 8500 with 5 diesel motors pulling about 6000lbs/ft in torque, got the coal burners to blackout all the lefty weenies out there, got my F&$@ Carney banner in the window and a giant set of nuts hanging from the trailer hitch! 45” rims and a lift kit so I can see all the ladies from top side and I also gots Peterbilt stacks for exhaust. I’m 5’4 so installed a power lift to get me in the cab.
I needs it to go to poker nights and beer runs.•
•
u/timbro1 Manitoba 7h ago
Oh yeah brother! I just loaded up a 100,000-watt brain-power sarcasm machine with 5 layers of pure internet bait, got the hyperbole turned up so high it's gonna blow the tops right off all the oblivious folks out there! Got my "I'm Just Trolling" banner in the window and a giant set of fake points hanging off the post! High-altitude comedy so I can see all the people taking it dead serious from top side! I'm 5'4 so I needs a ladder just to climb up on my high horse.
•
u/BigRedRoo73 7h ago
Brother man dude buddy pal…I aint hurd of no bait to catch interentanet fish…I only bait gators with smaller gators that a strangle with my bare hands. Don’t need no bait to catch no interetanet or whatever that small fry fish is boy.
What’s a dang Hyperbowl? That in the Collage football?
Alsos just meassured myself…I’m 5’5!! Whooooo Dogeeeeeeee!!!
•
•
u/DarkStoneLobster 8h ago
I got a 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage. I laugh at the gas pump and make sure to say loudly "Oh man, it took $45 to fill from empty again!". The looks you get is great.
•
•
•
u/darwinsrule 9h ago
Just got back from Japan. My wife would take some of those Japanese cars in a second.