Through the first quarter of 2010, new vehicle sales in Canada were up 11.3 percent. According to the industry experts at DesRosiers Automotive, Canadians bought 476,910 passenger cars and light-duty trucks compared to 428,500 over the same period in 2009.
The growth in sales turned out to be more modest in April, however, with 149,658 units sold versus 143,931 last year (+4.0 percent).
A large part of the credit goes to pickup trucks, which are surprisingly posting a 20.9-percent increase since the beginning of 2010. Conversely, passenger cars are averaging a meager 2.0-percent rise; in fact, they dropped 6.5 percent in April.
The winners…
German brands remain among the top performers, starting with Audi , whose sales have doubled during the first quarter (52.9 percent), including a 38.5-percent improvement in April alone. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were up 34.6, 33.0 and 28.3 percent over the same period, respectively.
Among Asian manufacturers, Subaru led the way with a gain of 34.8 percent after four months. As expected, Kia and Hyundai are still going strong with 25.5 and 22.3-percent rises, respectively.
Two of Detroit’s Big Three are following a similar trend. Ford sales were up 27.9 percent, while Chrysler’s climbed by 21.4 percent.
… and losers
At the other end of the spectrum, General Motors is still looking to rebound. After posting a 10.2-percent decrease in sales through the first quarter of 2010, the former #1 automaker in the world reported a loss of 20.4 percent in April.
A decline was also observed at smart. The Mercedes subsidiary’s sales dropped 7.4 percent during the first quarter and 18.0 percent in April.
Finally, while Toyota (-16.8 percent) and Lexus (-15.5 percent) both suffered significant setbacks last month, their overall Q1 sales were on the rise by 3.0 and 5.6 percent, respectively.
Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report
The growth in sales turned out to be more modest in April, however, with 149,658 units sold versus 143,931 last year (+4.0 percent).
A large part of the credit goes to pickup trucks, which are surprisingly posting a 20.9-percent increase since the beginning of 2010. Conversely, passenger cars are averaging a meager 2.0-percent rise; in fact, they dropped 6.5 percent in April.
The winners…
German brands remain among the top performers, starting with Audi , whose sales have doubled during the first quarter (52.9 percent), including a 38.5-percent improvement in April alone. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were up 34.6, 33.0 and 28.3 percent over the same period, respectively.
Among Asian manufacturers, Subaru led the way with a gain of 34.8 percent after four months. As expected, Kia and Hyundai are still going strong with 25.5 and 22.3-percent rises, respectively.
Two of Detroit’s Big Three are following a similar trend. Ford sales were up 27.9 percent, while Chrysler’s climbed by 21.4 percent.
… and losers
At the other end of the spectrum, General Motors is still looking to rebound. After posting a 10.2-percent decrease in sales through the first quarter of 2010, the former #1 automaker in the world reported a loss of 20.4 percent in April.
A decline was also observed at smart. The Mercedes subsidiary’s sales dropped 7.4 percent during the first quarter and 18.0 percent in April.
Finally, while Toyota (-16.8 percent) and Lexus (-15.5 percent) both suffered significant setbacks last month, their overall Q1 sales were on the rise by 3.0 and 5.6 percent, respectively.
| April | Current Month | YTD | ||||
| 2010 | 2009 | 10/09 | 2010 | 2009 | 10/09 | |
| Acura | 1708 | 1430 | 19.4% | 5106 | 4730 | 7.9% |
| Audi | 1733 | 1251 | 38.5% | 4963 | 3245 | 52.9% |
| BMW | 2681 | 1931 | 38.8% | 7597 | 5712 | 33.0% |
| Chrysler | 20576 | 15242 | 35.0% | 65795 | 54181 | 21.4% |
| Ford | 23430 | 18782 | 24.7% | 74876 | 58558 | 27.9% |
| General Motors | 23451 | 29476 | -20.4% | 71497 | 79644 | -10.2% |
| Honda | 11388 | 11865 | -4.0% | 37689 | 35735 | 5.5% |
| Hyundai | 12495 | 10809 | 15.6% | 38093 | 31146 | 22.3% |
| Infiniti | 613 | 542 | 13.1% | 2369 | 1944 | 21.9% |
| Jaguar | 74 | 88 | -15.9% | 222 | 220 | 0.9% |
| Kia | 5057 | 4276 | 18.3% | 14911 | 11877 | 25.5% |
| Land Rover | 225 | 138 | 63.0% | 829 | 604 | 37.3% |
| Lexus | 1370 | 1621 | -15.5% | 4528 | 4287 | 5.6% |
| Mazda | 8338 | 8195 | 1.7% | 25590 | 24071 | 6.3% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 2777 | 2267 | 22.5% | 9036 | 7045 | 28.3% |
| MINI | 411 | 366 | 12.3% | 1085 | 909 | 19.4% |
| Mitsubishi | 1613 | 1844 | -12.5% | 3425 | 6380 | 0.7% |
| Nissan | 6576 | 6532 | 0.7% | 22858 | 21711 | 5.3% |
| Porsche | 225 | 191 | 17.8% | 599 | 555 | 7.9% |
| Saab | - | 160 | -100.0% | - | 423 | -100.0% |
| smart | 205 | 250 | -18.0% | 642 | 693 | -7.4% |
| Subaru | 2640 | 2050 | 28.8% | 8596 | 6377 | 34.8% |
| Suzuki | 742 | 917 | -19.1% | 2912 | 3195 | -8.9% |
| Toyota | 16303 | 19599 | -16.8% | 54829 | 53239 | 3.0% |
| Volkswagen | 4394 | 3496 | 25.7% | 13819 | 10266 | 34.6% |
| Volvo | 633 | 613 | 3.3% | 2044 | 1753 | 16.6% |
| Light Vehicles Sales | 149658 | 143931 | 4.0% | 476910 | 428500 | 11.3% |
| Passenger Car | 70416 | 75331 | -6.5% | 221695 | 217414 | 2.0% |
| Light Truck | 79242 | 68600 | 15.5% | 255215 | 211086 | 20.9% |
| GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplates | 67457 | 63500 | 6.2% | 212168 | 192383 | 10.3% |
| Import Namesplates | 82201 | 80431 | 2.2% | 264742 | 236117 | 12.1% |
| Sales History | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 10/09 |
| January | 86.2 | 91.2 | 102.8 | 76.9 | 81.6 | 6.2% |
| February | 97.4 | 97.0 | 111.0 | 80.2 | 100.2 | 24.9% |
| March | 151.3 | 150.7 | 150.0 | 127.5 | 145.4 | 14.1% |
| April | 155.1 | 169.0 | 175.2 | 143.9 | 149.7 | 4.0% |
| May | 168.2 | 185.5 | 184.5 | 154.0 | ||
| June | 157.3 | 169.2 | 159.5 | 138.5 | ||
| July | 141.6 | 142.4 | 149.5 | 139.9 | ||
| August | 153.6 | 158.4 | 147.0 | 135.4 | ||
| September | 135.8 | 131.8 | 134.1 | 129.5 | ||
| October | 118.4 | 120.9 | 122.7 | 121.5 | ||
| November | 123.5 | 117.3 | 105.2 | 102.1 | ||
| December | 126.3 | 119.9 | 94.4 | 111.2 | ||
| Full Year | 1614.7 | 1653.4 | 1636.0 | 1460.6 | ||
| Note: Sales figures above are in thousands. | ||||||