Canadian automotive data and analytics provider, Canadian Black Book, has announced its 2023 Best Residual Value Awards.
This is only the second year for the Residual Value Awards.
The 2023 Awards are completed across 16 vehicle categories and 5 overall brand categories and forecast residual values in 2027.
This year’s awards have revealed some intriguing trends as it relates to EV residual values. After averaging the residual values percentage of the winners across the internal combustion engine (ICE) car categories and comparing this to the same average for EV car category winners, it shows that EV cars are predicted to hold more value after four years than their ICE car counterparts. The average residual value across the EV-winning cars is 58.5%, while the average across the ICE car winners is 56.1%. In addition, all four EV category-winning vehicles are predicted by Canadian Black Book to hold more value by 2027 compared to those winners from last year.
“There are more EVs on the roads; more people researching, buying, and leasing them; and more options from OEMs and dealers. They are becoming commonplace and, therefore, consumer confidence in them is increasing, which helps bring up residual values for EVs,” says Daniel Ross, Senior Manager, Industry Insights & Residual Value Strategy at Canadian Black Book.
More SUV winners
The EV SUV category winners increased substantially from last year’s winners, however, unlike the car categories, ICE SUVs winners averaged higher forecasted residuals for 2027 at 74.3% compared to the EV SUVs winners at 66.5%. Interestingly, like ICE categories over the past number of years, EV SUVs are holding more value when compared to EV cars.
“Canadians still have a soft spot for larger, more versatile vehicles. This is a taste that transcends the ICE versus EV debate. With more SUV EV options being made available, recognition and sales of EVs have increased, bringing values up,” adds Ross.
New categories
The 2023 Awards introduced two new categories, ‘Plug-in Hybrid EV: Main’ and ‘Plug-in Hybrid EV: Luxury’ to better capture the wider industry move towards electrified vehicles. In ‘PHEV: Main’ The Jeep Wrangler 4XE took the top spot, while the Land Rover Range Rover won in ‘PHEV: Luxury’.
For the Overall Brand Awards, Toyota/Lexus took three wins, with a back-to-back win in ‘Overall Brand: Car’, another back-to-back win in ‘Overall Brand: Luxury’ and a first-time win in ‘Overall Brand: SUV/Truck.’ Volkswagen took ‘Overall Brand: EV’ and Nissan won ‘Overall Brand: Most Improved,’ both their first wins in the Overall Brand Award categories.
Toyota/Lexus led the way with 6 category wins and 15 mentions (1st, 2nd or 3rd), winning in the above-mentioned Overall categories, ‘Car: Prestige’ with the Lexus LS500; ‘Full-Size Pickup’ with the Toyota Tundra; and in ‘SUV: Main Mid/Full’ with the Toyota 4Runner. Other repeat winners from last year include the Chevrolet Corvette in ‘Sports Car: Luxury’, the GMC Terrain in ‘SUV: Main Compact/Sub Compact’, the Kia Soul EV in ‘EV Car Below $55k’ and the Polestar 2 in ‘EV Car Above $55k’. Of note is that the Corvette gets an honourable mention for holding the most value four years from now at a predicted 84.2%.
GM gets 3 wins and 7 mentions, followed by Mercedes Benz with 2 wins and 3 mentions; Volkswagen with 2 wins; Subaru with 1 win and 4 mentions; Ford with 1 win and 4 mentions, Stellantis with 1 win and 3 mentions; Kia with 1 win and 3 mentions; Nissan and Mazda both with 1 win and 2 mentions and Land Rover and Polestar both with 1 category win.
2023 Canadian Black Book Best Residual Value Award Results
| Category | Winner | 2nd | 3rd |
| Overall Brand Award: Car | Toyota | ||
| Overall Brand Award: SUV/Truck | Toyota | ||
| Overall Brand Award: Luxury | Lexus | ||
| Overall Brand Award: ZEV | Volkswagen | ||
| Overall Brand Award: Most Improved | Nissan | ||
| Car: Main | Subaru Impreza | Toyota Camry | KIA Soul |
| Car: Luxury | Cadillac CT5 | Lexus IS | BMW 4-Series |
| Car: Prestige | Lexus LS500 | Mercedes CLS | Genesis G90 |
| Small Pickup | Ford Maverick | Toyota Tacoma | Jeep Gladiator |
| Full-Size Pickup | Toyota Tundra | Chevrolet Silverado HD | GMC Sierra HD |
| PHEV Main | Jeep Wrangler 4XE | Toyota Rav4 Prime | Ford Escape |
| PHEV Luxury | Land Rover Range Rover | Lincoln Corsair | Lexus NX |
| Sport Car: Main | Mazda MX5 | Toyota Supra | Subaru BRZ |
| Sport Car: Luxury | Chevrolet Corvette | Audi R8 | Lexus LC500 |
| SUV: Main Compact/Sub-Compact | GMC Terrain | Subaru Crosstrek | Mazda CX-5 |
| SUV: Main Mid/Full | Toyota 4Runner | Jeep Wrangler | Toyota Highlander |
| SUV: Luxury | Mercedes GLS | Cadillac Escalade | Lexus UX |
| EV Car Below $55,000 | Kia Soul EV | Nissan Leaf | Chevrolet Bolt |
| EV Car Above $55,000 | Polestar 2 | Lucid Air | Audi e-tron GT |
| EV SUV Below $60,000 | VW ID.4 | KIA EV6 | Subaru Solterra |
| EV SUV Above $60,000 | Mercedes EQS SUV | Ford Mustang MACH-E | Volvo C40 |
