General Motors appears to have discontinued the Chevrolet Sonic in Canada.
Multiple sources familiar with the automaker’s developments have informed GM Authority that the Sonic is no longer available in Canada, though requests for official confirmation sent to GM Canada went unanswered. As of this writing, the Sonic is still listed on the official Chevrolet.ca website.
- Update: GM Canada has provided a statement after this story was published.
Canadian Sonic sales have dwindled in recent years. The subcompact range accounted for under 3,000 deliveries during all of 2018, a significant decrease compared to the 8,036 deliveries in 2014. Sales have all but dwindled to 37 units in October 2018 and 12 units in November 2018.
Sales Results - Canada - Sonic
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 2018 | 332 | 290 | 359 | 442 | 659 | 309 | 179 | 135 | 69 | 37 | 12 | 19 | 2,842 |
| 2017 | 364 | 146 | 388 | 558 | 743 | 513 | 314 | 203 | 280 | 336 | 331 | 315 | 4,491 |
| 2016 | 206 | 210 | 436 | 694 | 912 | 384 | 201 | 220 | 276 | 137 | 345 | 383 | 4,404 |
| 2015 | 205 | 346 | 528 | 948 | 721 | 577 | 462 | 336 | 485 | 430 | 424 | 301 | 5,763 |
| 2014 | 345 | 423 | 808 | 1,202 | 1,021 | 872 | 625 | 495 | 554 | 566 | 470 | 655 | 8,036 |
*** This manufacturer is now publishing only quarterly numbers for this market. Monthly figures may be averages.
Notably, the rumored discontinuation in Canada may also signal plans to drop the Sonic in the United States. The subcompact range has already been discontinued in most other global markets, including Mexico, Central America, South America, as well as Australia, where it was available as the Holden Barina.
In Latin American markets, the Sonic was fully replaced by the Chevrolet Onix five-door hatchback and its four-door sedan brother, the Chevy Prisma. Notably, the Onix currently reigns as the best-selling car in Latin America. In China, the Sonic was replaced by the Chevrolet Cobalt (which was initially introduced as the second-generation Cruze).
The only market where the Sonic remains available is South Korea, where it continues to be sold as the Chevrolet Aveo.
About Chevrolet Sonic
The Chevrolet Sonic is a subcompact family of vehicles that include a four-door sedan and five-door hatchback. Having replaced the Aveo in the Chevrolet lineup, the Sonic is currently Chevrolet's second-smallest car, slotting above the Chevrolet Spark city car but below the compact Chevrolet Cruze, midsize Chevrolet Malibu and full-size Chevrolet Impala.
The current model was introduced for the 2012 model year and represents the first generation of the Sonic nameplate. The model rides on the GM Gamma platform shared with the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Encore.
The Sonic was given a midcycle refresh for the 2017 model year. The 2018 Chevy Sonic represents the sixth model year of the first-generation Sonic. The vehicle remains fairly competitive in its segment and the 2018 model year brings a handful of changes, including a new exterior color, a change to the Sun and Sound Package, and the standardization of the seven-inch diagonal color touchscreen.
For the 2019 model year, the Sonic gained one new exterior color (while losing two other colors), the removal of the base 1.8L naturally-aspirated Ecotec engine, and several other minor equipment-level changes.
The Sonic is assembled at the following plants:
- GM Lake Orion plant in Orion Township, Michigan, USA operated by GM USA supplying United States and Canada
- GM Bupyeong plant in South Korea operated by GM Korea supplying Korea (previously supplied Holden Barina for Australia and New Zealand)
- GM Cairo plant in Egypt operated by GM Egypt (plant idled)
- GM Hanoi plant in Vietnam operated by GM Vietnam (plant sold and no longer producing GM models)
A March 2017 rumor stated that GM would discontinue the Sonic as soon as 2018. As of this writing, it's unclear whether or not the nameplate will see a second generation. In November 2018, General Motors announced that it will discontinue the Chevrolet Cruze, along with five other passengers cars. Though the Sonic was not on that list, the model was discontinued in Canada. The move leaves the United States and South Korea as the only two markets where the model is currently available.
Related News & Info
- GM news
- GM forums
- Chevrolet Sonic information
- Running GM sales results
- Running Chevrolet sales results
- Running Chevrolet Sonic sales results
- Running Chevrolet sales results
Comments
If you can’t beat the competition, just quit and go home. That’s what it’s come to?
Yep.
GM underpriced the sedan so it wouldn’t cannibalize Cruze volume and then overpriced the hatchback to compensate.
The Cruze was generally a better car — and often not much more money and sometimes cheaper with the incentives — so they never sold many sedans. The extra $1000 or so dollars on the hatch made it too expensive — especially when the more appealing Cruze hatch came to market.
GM Canada has abdicated the small car segment to others even though small cars account for a much larger percentage of the total market in Canada than in the US.
GM’s market penetration in urban centers is generally poor and certainly won’t improve with getting out of the small car segment.
The Sonic is actually pretty popular around here at least as far as sub-compacts go although 2018 sales are down.
It outsells the Yaris and is on par with the Fit and Accent in the US. It’s not really a slow seller relative to the competition, and it serves as a lot of young people’s “first car”.
Of course Chevrolet would cancel the model instead of updating it to possibly take the place of the Cruze.
Presently only 5 in stock in all of Ontario Canada
So that only leaves the Spark which doesn’t sell very well. The Cruze sales were increasing here in Canada.
Joe in T.O.
It’s probably for the best, that car, among all the pickups, are made in Mexico…I wouldn’t buy any vehicle built in Mexico…watch the quality and loyalty of GM built pickup trucks tank in the near future too.
All the crewcab pickups have been made there for many years — the extended cab was the volume model in the US for a long time which is why Fort Wayne made those. The new T1 crewcabs will be built in both plants so Canada will probably see less US pickups than we have in the past since Fort Wayne is a lot closer than Mexico.
Are you an idiot? It was made in lake Orion Michigan
I guess it’s easier to cancel the model rather than update or advertise it.
You offer reliable Cruze and Sonic models to college kids now so that you can sell them Camaros and Cadillacs later on (assuming they have a decent experience with it).