Compacts Rule in Retained Value

Half of this year’s Top 10 “Best Retained Value” cars and light trucks under $70,000 are compacts, according to Canadian Black Book’s annual report.

The awards based on data gathered from four-year-old vehicles, in this case 2005 models, determines a vehicle's ability to retain value from its original MSRP.

Expanded from Canadian Black Book's (CBB) traditional 'top five' brands named, this year the publication has chosen top individual models from manufacturers. 

"Every brand contains weak performers, there is greater value to the consumer in identifying specific models that out-perform the pack," said Larry Shred, executive vice president of CBB, adding, "Since the awards measure actual value retained and not a prospective look, consumer confidence in the model is strengthened based on actual performance."

Toyota Canada posted an unprecedented five models in the top 10. "This list also demonstrates the faith buyers place in the Toyota brand and its solid reputation," said Mr. Shred. Fully half of the models in this year's top 10 are from compact segment.

The top 10 for 2009 for retained value are:

1) Toyota Rav4

2) Dodge Sprinter

3) Mini Cooper

4) Toyota Echo

5) Smart Fortwo

6) Honda Civic

7) Toyota Tacoma

8) Toyota Corolla

9) Toyota Matrix

10) Mazda Mazda3

Top five models in terms of percentage increase in retained value over last year, listed alphabetically, are Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Kia Spectra, Nissan Sentra, and Toyota Echo.

Canadian Black Book is the publisher of the "Black Book" vehicle value and residual guides and is the benchmark for automobile dealers, manufacturers, financial services firms, insurance companies and other sectors with interests in the automobile industry.