Watch out Audi! BMW and Mercedes-Benz AWD sales surge in Canada last month

That may not come as a surprise considering our climate but it wasn't that long ago that most AWD cars (excluding Audis and Subarus) were shunned by the market.

Do you remember the BMW 325ix (E30) or the Mercedes-Benz 300E 4MATIC (W124)? Those were popular amongst, well, nobody really. Hence, those models left the Canadian market after just a few years on the market.

Times have changed and over the years BMW and Mercedes have slowly convinced more and more customers of the virtues of AWD.

Would you believe that last month both companies sold more AWD models than RWD models in this country?

In February 69% of BMW vehicles sold in Canada were equipped with xDrive. 4Matic accounted for 79.7% of Mercedes-Benz Canada sales.

Is AWD the new RWD?

[Source: BMW Canada and Mercedes-Benz Canada]

Comments

[BernardP]

It certainly was helpful to AWD sales that M-B and BMW have been systematically offering more and more AWD models for sale in Canada. Many potential buyers in high-snow areas couldn't get themselves to consider a RWD car. Now, they can have the AWD option on many M-B and BMW models.

[shaun]

No way I'm trading in my rwd Merc, it's to much fun. I could understand the appeal of awd if you had a long commute everyday but it's still not my flavor