Toyota Motor’s Canadian unit said on Monday its June sales dropped 13.8% year on year while General Motors said Canadian sales rose 15.2%.
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The two automakers have vied for the top sales spot in Canada over the past couple of years but both saw their numbers eclipsed by Ford of Canada in June. Ford last week posted its best Canadian monthly performance in a decade.
All told, Canadian vehicle sales rose 11.6% in June, auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, who puts the industry’s total sales increase at 9.1% for the first half of 2010, told Reuters.
“We have to be very careful when referring to comparable figures from a year ago since last summer the industry was in turmoil due to restructurings in the US by GM and Chrysler,” DesRosiers said in an email.
Toyota said it sold 16,036 Toyota and Lexus cars, trucks and SUVs in Canada in June. Sales of Toyota models were down 15.1%, while its luxury Lexus vehicles gained 1.9%.
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By GlobalDataGM said its June sales were up 15.2% to 25,725 vehicles. Car sales fell 19.6% while truck sales surged 48.3%.
Honda Canada, which generally does not offer the same big incentives the other automakers have been using to lure consumers to their showrooms, said on Monday its June sales fell 14% from a year earlier to 11,889 vehicles.
The company’s Honda brand reported a drop of 13%, while Acura sales fell 21%.
Late last week, Ford said its Canadian sales jumped 15.7% in June, its best monthly performance in a decade.
The Detroit-based company was the top-selling automaker in the country in the month. It was the first time in more than 50 years that it led the market for two consecutive quarters.
Ford of Canada said it sold 31,707 vehicles in June, with car sales up 23.3% and truck sales up 13.2%.
Nissan Canada said it sold 8.6% more vehicles last month than it did a year earlier.
Nissan said total sales rose 8.6% to 8,057 units. The Nissan brand had its best June ever, selling 7,248 vehicles, or 7.5% more than in the same month of 2009, while the Infiniti nameplate accounted for 809 vehicles sold, a 19% increase.
DesRosiers said it was the second month in a row that the traditional Detroit Big Three, led by Ford, outperformed import nameplates in Canada.
“Two months in a row hadn’t happened since the early 1990’s … It appears that the Detroit Three have stabilised their market share in Canada,” DesRosiers told Reuters.
Chrysler Canada reported its June figures last Thursday andsaid its sales doubled in June, the seventh straight month of at least 20% growth at the retail level.
Chrysler said it sold 18,502 vehicles in Canada, compared with 9,211 in the same month of 2009.
Hyundai Canada said it recorded its second consecutive month of record sales in May and its 16th straight month of increases.
The automaker said it sold 12,620 vehicles in the month, up 12.6% over a year earlier.
