Mini-MPVs Just Won't Hurry Up And Die Already

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

99.9 percent of the minivans sold in the United States in 2016 were (oxymoronically-titled) full-size minivans.

The Kia Rondo finished its brief one-generation U.S. run in 2011, having generated 73,100 total sales over the course of nearly five years.

Having produced more than 160,000 sales for Mazda USA, the Mazda 5 is likewise no longer part of the automaker’s U.S. lineup. Mazda 5 volume was essentially chopped in half between 2008 and 2014.

The Chevrolet Orlando arrived in North America with a decidedly Floridian name but never actually made its way to Florida, or the U.S. market as a whole. Having generated 12,038 Canadian sales, the Orlando quickly departed Canada after volume plunged 81 percent between 2012 and 2014.

Yet the Kia Rondo and Mazda 5 are still available in Canada. They’re alive and (un)well. And while “full-size minivans” claim 96 percent of Canadian MPV sales, Kia and Mazda just won’t give up on their genuinely mini minivans.

Prompted to look into the matter after January sales of the Kia Rondo and Mazda 5 fell to a combined, paltry, scarcely measurable 189 units last month (the Mazda averaged 1,000 monthly sales on its own in 2008; the Rondo more than 800 monthly sales during the same year), we made inquiries at the Canadian outposts of both Kia and Mazda.

At Kia, in particular, recent Rondo results have been disastrous. Sales in 2013 tied the Rondo’s worst performance ever even as Kia launched an all-new, long-awaited model. Then sales dropped 12 percent in 2014, took a 35-percent hit in 2015, and plunged 45 percent in 2016. January began with only 48 Rondo sales, the worst full month in the Rondo’s Canadian history.

Kia’s response: “We have no current plans to discontinue the Rondo or any other of our current vehicles,” Mark James, Kia Canada’s corporate communications manager told TTAC last week; a firm, if not a ringing endorsement. Kia’s other vehicles accounted for 99 percent of the brand’s sales in January.

At Mazda, meanwhile, sales of the Mazda 5 have perked up recently, but only in comparison with a period during which Mazda 5 sales fell to the lowest level ever. Mazda 5 sales have increased on a year-over-year basis in each of the last five months, growing 15 percent during that period. But with the 5’s relatively recent U.S. death and the traditional ties between virtually every automaker’s Canadian and U.S. lineups, is Mazda Canada really going to forge ahead with an aging design for a vehicle that sells roughly one-seventh as often as it used to? Of the nearly 70,000 Mazdas sold in Canada over the last year, only 2 percent were Mazda 5s.

Sandra Lemaitre, Mazda Canada’s director of public relations, told TTAC, “In Canada, the 2017 model year Mazda5 went on sale in August 2016. We haven’t yet announced any details for 2018 model year vehicles, including the Mazda5, so I’m not able to confirm anything at this time.”

So there’s a chance it’s dead? No, Mazda declined to comment on the 2018 model year potential for any vehicle.

But how much longer can Kia and Mazda continue to import wildly unpopular products that aren’t sold in the United States?

For the most part, Canadians just want Dodge Grand Caravans. The ancient Dodge earned 57 percent of all Canadian minivan sales in 2016. And yet the Grand Caravan hasn’t yet killed off the ankle-biting upstarts.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

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  • Arthur Dailey Arthur Dailey on Feb 10, 2017

    For those interested in such things, the new generation is available in Canada as a manual. The previous generation was available only with an automatic transmission. In Europe the Rondo, known as the Carens is available as a manual and with a diesel. It is also available with a 7 passenger configuration, although the rear 2 seats are best used as 'jump' seats for small children or short trips only.

    • Allythom Allythom on Feb 10, 2017

      I rented a diesel Carens on my last family trip back to the motherland. Sadly not a manual though (pretty sure UK rental agencies look at the US license and assume you need an auto), and not brown either -otherwise it could have been a contender for "internet's perfect car". It served as an excellent family hauler, albeit a thoroughly unexciting one. Even managed to use the third row briefly on a short excursion with the grandparents. Was watching some old episodes of Minder at the weekend, stand on me.

  • Rolando Rolando on Feb 11, 2017

    The new Kia Rondo/Carens looks great, I might have chosen it over my Mazda3!

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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