Honda enjoys the Civic’s Sweet 16 birthday as Canada’s top-selling car

16 Years at the Top for the Honda Civic in Canada

by David Miller 

When it comes to cars, very few can stay on top and endure time. An exception to this rule is the Honda Civic, which has been named Canada’s top-selling passenger vehicle from 1998-2013, successfully defending its title once again for a sixteenth consecutive year. 

When you look back at 1998 – a lot has changed. It was a year when Titanic won the Oscar for Best Picture; when we all were shocked by the Canadian Olympic Hockey team not medalling at the Nagano Olympic games with questions on why Wayne Gretzky wasn’t chosen in the shootout versus the Czech Republic?; and the year when Google was founded and incorporated by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while attending Stanford University.

When it comes to cars, very few can stay on top and endure time. An exception to this rule is the Honda Civic, which has been named Canada’s top-selling passenger vehicle from 1998-2013, successfully defending its title once again for a sixteenth consecutive year. It took over as top-dog from the Chevrolet Cavalier and hasn’t looked back relying on quality, safety, reliability and plenty of incentives. Throughout the years, the Civic has garnered its well-earned respect and that’s shown in its high resale value.

"We truly value the trust that our customers put in us when they buy a Civic," said Dave Gardner, vice president of sales and marketing, Honda Canada Inc. "Nearly every Civic sold in Canada is built for Canadians, by Canadians, right here in our Ontario manufacturing facility.

The success of the Civic is an impressive feat considering the modern changes that have occurred over sixteen years, not including the major automotive industry crisis that began in 2008. Furthermore, the Honda Civic had to endure some worrying moments a few years back after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan interrupted the Honda supply chain that led to production stalls and shortages. In the end, the Civic still prevailed in 2011, but has seen some stiff competition over the past few years.

The Civic is currently battling the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla and the Mazda3 in the highly-competitive compact car segment. The Civic ended up finishing 2013 with 64,063 units sold, outselling the Elantra by 9,303 units. The gap might seem large, but the Elantra has pulled closer to the Civic from last year’s gap of 14,012 units sold, so that’s a good sign for the Korean-outfit from Hyundai.

The Toyota Corolla finished a respectable third, while the Mazda3 finished in fourth. 2014 is shaping up to be a big year for both the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3, who both have released new redesigns. It will be interesting to see how the standings of these four shake-up in 2014, if at all. But for now a big congratulations goes out to the Honda Civic for sixteen consecutive successful years on top.

Source;
http://www.autonet.ca/en/2014/01/06/honda-enjoys-the-civics-sweet-16-birthday-as-canadas-top-selling-car

Honda Civic Aces new IIHS Dual Barrier Crash Test

 
DETROIT -- Two redesigned Honda Civic models were the only small cars to get the top rating in stringent front-end crash tests performed by an insurance industry group.

Half of the 12 compact and subcompact cars tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety fared poorly, but six performed well. Safety is critical in the fast-growing small-car market, as buyers downsize from larger vehicles.

The two-door and four-door Civics earned "good" ratings, while the Dodge Dart, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and the 2014 Scion tC were "acceptable."

Popular models such as the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic and the Volkswagen Beetle got "marginal" ratings, while the Nissan Sentra, Kia Soul and 2014 Kia Forte were rated "poor."

The group didn't test the Toyota Corolla because a new version is coming out in the fall. The Corolla is the No. 2-selling small car in America, behind the Civic.

The two Civic models and the Dart, Focus, Elantra and Scion tC each earned the IIHS' coveted Top Safety Pick Plus award for performing well in multiple tests, including the small offset crash. So far, 25 vehicles of all sizes have earned the award.

The IIHS ratings are influential because many auto shoppers find them while researching vehicles on the Internet.

The market for small cars is one of fastest-growing in the U.S. Automakers have made the cars quieter and more refined as people who want good gas mileage turn to compacts and subcompacts.

So far this year, Americans have bought more than 1.8 million new small cars, up 12 per cent over a year ago, according to Autodata Corp. IIHS said that as a group, small cars performed worse than mid-sized cars, but better than small SUVs.

Results for mini-cars will be released later in the year, the group said. Kia said in a statement the IIHS test goes beyond U.S. government requirements and noted the Soul and Forte received top safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nissan said it will review the IIHS tests. The Sentra, it said, performed well in other IIHS tests.

Honda bolstered the Civic's front structure as part of a redesign late last year, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Some older models, such as the Cruze and Sonic, were designed before the test was announced.

The IIHS, a non-profit research group funded by insurance companies, conducts its small offset test by crashing vehicles into a fixed 1.5-metre-tall barrier at 65 km/h to simulate collisions with a utility pole or tree.

The institute gives vehicles demerits when the structure intrudes into the passenger compartment, or if a crash dummy suffers injuries to head, neck, chest or other body parts. "Good" is the top rating, followed by "acceptable," then "marginal" and "poor."

 --The Associated Press