May 2010 monthly sales

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Overall, May of the year 2010 was quiet. The big picture says that sales increased by less than half a point so there isn't much to say... Or is there? This piddly growth was brought on by some serious sales explosions for some manufacturers and massive implosions for others.

Amongst those that thrived during the month of the Greek goddess Maia, two North American makers took off while one lingered far behind. Chrysler had a good month, an incredible month in fact. Their sales climbed 53.5% year over year for a total of 20,861 units. In second place, Subaru continues to prosper with an increase of 25.6%. Ford, no surprise here, continues to bully the Canadian auto market with 19.4% more deliveries last month (26,110, #1 in Canada) compared to the same period last year.

As per usual, the Koreans did very well. Kia's numbers grew by 13.9% and Hyundai's, by 12.6%. For your information, Hyundai was the fifth best selling auto maker in Canada last month with 12,620 new car owners. They were behind, Ford, GM (25,995), Chrysler and Toyota (16,461), respectively.

Many luxury makes continue to see grand increases. The biggest winner is Land Rover , with 29.9% more takers. Mercedes (+22.2%), Porsche (+19.9%) and Audi (13.4%) fared the best. Surprisingly, BMW fell last month with 11.8% fewer sales.

In the loss column, Honda took a major hit last month, tumbling by a whopping 28.2% (14,046 to 10,084). General Motors struggled with a decrease of 17.6% in units sold while Toyota, did only slightly better, by dropping 1 less percentage point. In the numbers game, Suzuki was hardest hit last month as it registered 44.2% fewer new car sales. They went from 1,255 deliveries last year to only 700 this time around.

There you have it. On the surface, not much happened but in reality, there's a whole lot of shaking going on.

May Current Month YTD
2010 2009 10/09 2010 2009 10/09
Acura 1503 1578 -4.8% 6609 6308 4.8%
Audi 1226 1081 13.4% 6189 4326 43.1%
BMW 2361 2676 -11.8% 9958 8388 18.7%
Chrysler 2861 13593 53.5% 86656 67774 27.9%
Ford 26110 21873 19.4% 100986 80431 25.6%
General Motors 25995 31546 -17.6% 97492 111190 -12.3%
Honda 10084 14046 -28.2% 47773 49781 -4.0%
Hyundai 12620 11204 12.6% 50713 42350 19.7%
Infiniti 745 718 3.8% 3114 2662 17.0%
Jaguar 69 92 -25.0% 291 312 -6.7%
Kia 5731 5032 13.9% 20642 16909 22.1%
Land Rover 226 174 29.9% 1055 778 35.6%
Lexus 1418 1587 -10.6% 5946 5874 1.2%
Mazda 8051 8009 0.5% 33641 32080 4.9%
Mercedes-Benz 2865 2344 22.2% 11901 9389 26.8%
MINI 502 522 -9.1% 1587 1461 8.6%
Mitsubishi 1810 1931 -6.3% 8235 8311 -0.9%
Nissan 7487 7672 -2.4% 30345 29383 3.3%
Porsche 193 161 19.9% 792 716 10.6%
Saab - 65 -100.0% - 488 -100.0%
smart 244 178 37.1% 886 871 1.7%
Subaru 2436 1940 25.6% 11032 8317 32.6%
Suzuki 700 1255 -44.2% 3612 4450 -18.8%
Toyota 16461 19729 -16.6% 71290 72968 -2.3%
Volkswagen 4587 4209 9.0% 18406 14475 27.2%
Volvo N.A. 773 N.A. 2044 2326 -19.1%
Light Vehicles Sales 154285 154018 0.2% 631195 582518 8.4%
Passenger Car 74349 83181 -10.6% 296044 300595 -1.5%
Light Truck 79936 70837 12.8% 335151 281923 18.9%
GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplates 72966 67012 8.9% 285134 259395 9.9%
Import Namesplates 81319 87006 -6.5% 346061 323123 7.1%
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 168.2 185.5 184.5 154.0 154.3 0.2%
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.
Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report