Ford of Canada was alone among the country’s Big Three car makers to report higher March and first-quarter sales this week as worries over the war in Iraq, concerns over the slowing North American economy and a growing preference for imports slowed showroom traffic, Reuters reported.
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DaimlerChrysler Canada said it sold 19,697 vehicles in March, a 13.2% drop from the 22,689 it sold in March 2002, Reuters noted.
The news agency said Chrysler’s steepest decline was in truck sales, which fell 20.8% to 13,668, while car sales rose 11.2% to 6,029. For the first quarter, its car and truck sales were down 14.2%.
According to Reuters, General Motors of Canada said March sales were 42,427, down 3% from 43,735 for the same month a year earlier. GM car sales dropped to 20,133 in March, down 10.4% from 22,463 for the same month a year earlier. However, truck sales rose to 22,294, up 4.8% from 21,272 for the year-ago period.
For the three-month period General Motors Canada reported a 15.1% decline in vehicle sales, Reuters added.
Ford of Canada sold 24,386 vehicles during the month, Reuters said, up 0.3% from the 24,308 cars and trucks for the same period last year.
Ford also said car sales were 7,254 in March, down 9.3% from 7,999 vehicles during the same period a year earlier. Truck sales were 17,132 during the month, up 5% from 16,309. For the first three months of the year, Ford reported a 1.5% gain in combined sales, Reuters added.
Dennis DesRosiers, an independent auto analyst, told Reuters that sales for domestic and import companies combined were impressive, but noted the Big 3 continued to lose ground to the imports.
“The Big 3 continue to lose a little bit of market share to the import nameplates and it’s the Big 3 with the big incentive programs on their products. So you really have to wonder what they’re going to have to do to turn around their market share losses,” he told Reuters.
The news agency said that Toyota Canada reported a year-over-year increase of 8.4% for March, Volkswagen Canada reported a 9.6% increase and Audi Canada said sales grew 15.4%.
