The Honda CR-Z Is Officially Dead In Canada

2016 will be the final model year for the extraordinarily slow-selling Honda CR-Z in Canada. Honda Canada spokesperson Maki Inoue confirmed that the CR-Z is done, indirectly supplanted in Honda Canada’s lineup by the reborn Honda Accord Hybrid.

“As Honda aligns its product portfolio to best take advantage of growth opportunities in the marketplace, it will add a new Accord Hybrid, and discontinue CR-Z this year,” Inoue told GoodCarBadCar earlier this afternoon.

Of course, we knew the CR-Z was done for. Separate articles on TTAC earlier today made mention of an American Honda spokesperson’s impression that the CR-Z was already dead and the glut of CR-Z inventory of which Honda dealers must now rid themselves.

News that the CR-Z is dead north of the border is thus no surprise, particularly given the car’s disastrous reception in Canada. You thought the two-seat, hybrid hatchback was unpopular in the American market? Oh, Canada: in comparison with their northerly neighbors, Americans were downright enamored with the Honda CR-Z.

Consider this: Americans buy approximately nine times more new vehicles than Canadians, but CR-Z sales in the United States were 25 times stronger than Canadian sales over the vehicle’s lifespan.

It’s not that Canadians won’t buy Hondas. More than 11 percent of the new passenger cars sold in May were Civics. Indeed, the Civic has been Canada’s best-selling car in each of the last 18 years.

But the CR-Z, underpowered and not as efficient as you’d expect a two-seat hybrid to be, did Honda Canada no favors.

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.