December 2010 sales and the year in review

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This past year, the first in the second decade of the 21st Century, has been a year of many broken records and, well, broken hearts.

Let's begin with the cruel month of December, for some anyhow. The hardest hit in 2010, are Toyota. The month of December brought a debilitating 46.3% drop in sales, unit numbers dropping from 16,472 in 12/09 to 8,842. To make matters worse for the largest Japanese carmaker, their luxury division fared no better with a 31.8% freefall in deliveries. Volvo rounds out the bottom three with a decline in new car sales to the order of 28.3%.

On the up side, the winners are two of the German luxury brands and Mazda. 1st place trophy goes to Mercedes, crushing all with a 69.3% rise in new car takers in December. Numbers climbed to 3,080 from 1,819 in 2009. Next comes the small Japanese manufacturer with a gain of 22.5%. On the last step of the podium, we find BMW with an increase of 21.9% in sales.

A tip of the hat goes to Porsche with a 43.0% increase year-over-year. In a surprising turn of events, Audi's sales fell by 3.9% last month. Other notables include Subaru with a gain of 20.7% over December 2009 and smart, falling 36.3% for the same period.

2010 wrap-up
You may have guessed that the steadily dwindling numbers from month to month for Toyota have handed them the title of the Biggest Loosers for 2010. Is this proof that reputations take decades to build and mere seconds to destroy? We think so.

By the end of 2009, Toyota had delivered 189,313units. A few days ago, the tally was of 157,723. That's a 16.7% tumble. Lexus results mimic those of Toyota with a diminution in new customers by 9.8%.

As substantial as Mercedes gains' are, smart has felt to the crunch; blame it on the still relatively cheap litre of fuel . For the year, deliveries were down by 24.3% compared to 2009. Other losers includes Jaguar (-6.1%), Mitsubishi (-1.4%) and Suzuki (-31%, although December info was not available when this was written).

2010 crowned many new champions and made numerous manufacturer pop champagne bottles. Perhaps the most significant gains were had by Chrysler, after having fallen behind Toyota in 2009. Last year, Chrysler dropped off 204,074 new units, up 25.7% over 2009, where 162,395 new cars were sold.

The Big3 from Germany all had banner years. Audi wins top honours with the largest growth, a gain of 26.7% with 14,333 sales. Mercedes is next, coming in with an increase of 22.1%, moving up to an impressive 29,632 deliveries. BMW is #3, raking in 27,202 new customers, representing a 10.0% jump in sales over 2009. Where is all this money coming from?

Lastly but surely not least of all, Ford takes the crown as the #1 new car Kings in Canada. They put out 267,871 brand spanking new products on the road in 2010, a spike of 19.1% compared to 2009 when they sold 224,859 cars and trucks.

By the way, General Motors delivered 246,668 units in 2010, down 2.1% from 2009.

Overall, Canada light duty vehicle sales rose 6.6% in 2010, with 1,556,484 units compared to 1,460,581 in 2009.

December Current Month YTD
2010 2009 10/09 2010 2009 10/09
Acura 1779 1533 16.0% 17340 17088 1.5%
Audi 674 701 -3.9% 14333 11310 26.7%
BMW 2252 1848 21.9% 27202 24724 10.0%
Chrysler 14324 13739 4.3% 204074 1623956 25.7%
Ford 19466 17902 8.7% 267871 224859 19.1%
General Motors 20170 18825 7.1% 246668 521938 -2.1%
Honda 11097 10830 2.5% 123730 122918 0.7%
Hyundai 6104 5154 18.4% 118507 103233 14.8%
Infiniti 574 489 17.4% 8233 7081 16.3%
Jaguar 32 57 -43.9% 755 804 -6.1%
Kia 3039 2645 14.9% 53882 46118 16.8%
Land Rover 190 243 -21.8% 2547 2006 27.0%
Lexus 842 1235 -31.8% 14249 15802 -9.8%
Mazda 5218 4261 22.5% 78662 73672 6.8%
Mercedes-Benz 3080 1819 69.3% 29632 24276 22.1%
MINI 315 297 6.1% 4501 4251 5.9%
Mitsubishi 1749 1609 8.7% 19504 19786 -1.4%
Nissan 4435 4652 -4.7% 74780 71936 4.0%
Porsche 163 114 43.0% 2036 1689 20.5%
Saab 2 53 -96.2% 2 777 -99.7%
smart 144 226 -36.3% 2019 2667 -24.3%
Subaru 2348 1945 20.7% 27805 23034 20.7%
Suzuki N.A. 707 N.A.% 8491 12303 -31.0%
Toyota 8842 16472 -46.3% 157723 189313 -16.7%
Volkswagen 3737 3205 16.6% 45388 40049 13.3%
Volvo 448 625 -28.3% 6550 6542 0.1%
Light Vehicle Sales 111024 111186 -0.1% 1556484 1460581 6.6%
Passenger Car 45943 50942 -9.8% 708607 747496 -5.2%
Light Truck 65081 60244 8.0% 847877 713085 18.9%
GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplates 53960 50466 6.9% 718613 639192 12.4%
Import Nameplates 57064 60720 -6.0% 837871 821389 2.0%
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 168.2 185.5 184.5 154.0 154.3 0.2%
June 157.3 169.2 159.5 138.5 154.6 11.6%
July 141.6 142.4 149.5 139.9 148.8 6.3%
August 153.6 158.4 147.0 135.4 136.1 0.5%
September 135.8 131.8 134.1 129.5 135.1 4.3%
October 118.4 120.9 122.7 121.5 123.2 1.4%
November 123.5 117.3 105.2 102.1 116.0 13.6%
December 126.3 119.9 94.4 111.2 111.0 -0.1%
Full Year 1614.7 1653.4 1636.0 1460.6 1556.5
Note: Sales figures above are in thousands.
Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report