The Theme
This map shows the percentage of compact cars in the total sales
of light-duty vehicles with the model year 1990 for the populated
area of each census division. The year, 1990, is the reference year
for the target of greenhouse gas reductions for the Kyoto
Protocol.
Light-duty vehicles include all cars and light trucks. The light-duty
vehicle size classes, defined by the US Environmental Protection
Agency, were adopted for the vehicle classification. This classification
has 15 classes: six classes for automobiles, six classes for light
trucks, and three classes for station wagons. Among these 15 classes,
seven prominent classes account for the large majority of new light-duty
vehicle sales in each census division. The prominent classes are subcompact cars, compact cars, midsize cars, large cars, small vans,
small utility vehicles and large pickups. The remaining classes
include two seater cars, minicompacts, small pickups, large vans,
large utility vehicles, and three size classes of wagons.
Note that there are no data available for the Territories.
Relation to Climate Change
Because vehicles consume a substantial part of energy in Canada,
average vehicle fuel efficiency is an important indicator for greenhouse
gas emission and climate change policy making. The lower the fuel
efficiency, the higher the emission per vehicle, and, consequently,
the greater the contribution to greenhouse gases. Average light-duty
vehicle fuel efficiency, which measures miles travelled per gallon, is defined by averaging the tested fuel efficiency rating
for each vehicle's class, weighted by that class' market share in
each census division. Vehicle market share is therefore one of the
two determinants to vehicle fuel efficiency. Compact cars are relatively
fuel-efficient vehicles. For a particular area, the larger the compact
car share, the more fuel-efficient this area.
Spatial Variation
There is a significant spatial variation for the market share of
compact cars with the model year 1990 across Canada. Overall, there
are proportionally higher percentages of compact cars in the eastern
provinces, especially southern Quebec, than in the western provinces.
This difference is also apparent between the Windsor-Quebec Corridor
with larger compact car shares, and the Lower Mainland British Columbia
with smaller compact car shares. These two regions show another
general pattern, that urban areas have relatively higher market
shares of compact cars than surrounding rural areas.
Data Source
The measures for this map were derived by the GeoAccess Division
of Natural Resources Canada, based on the 1992 Canadian Vehicle
in Operation Census database, produced by DesRosiers Automotive
Consultants of Toronto. The fuel consumption
ratings and vehicle size classification information were added into
the database by the Transportation Energy Use Division, Energy Sector,
Natural Resources Canada.
The digital data for this map can be downloaded
here.
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