Toyota Corolla is the new best-selling car in Canada
For the first time since 1997, a car other than the Honda Civic dominates car sales in Canada
33,096 units of the Toyota Corolla were sold in 2022
For the first time in over two decades, there is a new best-selling car in Canada. The Honda Civic has held the title since 1997, but last year it was the Toyota Corolla that was most popular among Canadian buyers, outselling its eternal rival by nearly 3,400 units.
With 33,096 units of the Toyota Corolla sold in 2022, the Toyota compact sedan surpassed the Honda Civic at the top of the Canadian car sales chart. The Civic registered 29,722 units according to the Automotive News Data Center, falling short of the Corolla by 3,374 units.
The Honda Civic did finish second overall in Canadian car sales, surpassing the Hyundai Elantra (24,559 units sold), Kia Forte (11,942), and Toyota Camry (10,226). The Nissan Sentra (8,257), Mazda3 (8,044), Kia Rio (6,054), Volkswagen Jetta (5,745), and – surprisingly – the Chevrolet Malibu (5,271) round out the top 10.
Even more noteworthy than the changing of the guard at the top of the Canadian automotive sales results is the significant drop in year-over-year sales for every model on the list. With the exception of the Malibu which deserves an article all its own for its 2022 results.
Even the new number one wasn’t immune to production and supply issues that continued to plague the industry in 2022. Toyota Corolla sales fell 17.3% last year, a significant drop from the over 40,000 units sold in 2021. Unfortunately for the Civic, production and inventory issues were even more significant at Honda with the automaker’s compact sedan sales falling by 31.8%. The Civic was the clear best-seller in 2021 with 43,556 units sold.
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This likely makes the end of your result even more frustrating for Honda. The redesigned 11th-generation Honda Civic has not fallen out of favour with Canadian consumers, quite the contrary. However, there just wasn’t enough to go around to meet demand last year.
As for the Toyota Corolla, it had been inching closer to the Civic and separating itself from other compact sedans in the segment for quite some time now. The addition of the hybrid version a and a refreshed lineup including a redesigned hatchback trim likely helped the Corolla close the gap with the Honda compact.
