Auto sales slow to a crawl

Tony Van Alphen

BUSINESS REPORTER

Canada’s auto market has slowed down considerably after showing earlier signs of pulling out of the recession strongly.

Despite heavy summer incentives, sales of new cars and trucks inched up only 0.5 per cent or less than 1,000 vehicles to 136,069 in August from the same month last year, manufacturers reported Wednesday.

It marked the ninth consecutive month of gains in sales but August was at a much slower pace than earlier in the year. Sales for the first eight months this year are still up by 7.5 per cent to 1,071,227.

Some analysts have warned in recent months about increasing evidence of a slowdown in the market because of weaker economic growth.

Several automakers such as current industry leader Ford Motor Co. of Canada and Chrysler Canada posted healthy gains while business for Toyota Canada fell sharply.

Ford showed no sign of relinquishing its position as volumes climbed 8 per cent to 24,034 during the month with officials noting improvements across the company’s lineup. It was the best August for the company in the last two decades.

Chrysler said its volumes jumped 11.7 per cent to 16,144 vehicles. The company, which experienced a major restructuring last year, has now posted increases for nine consecutive months and the company said more new models should be able to maintain the momentum.

Sales at General Motors, which led the industry for more than 60 consecutive years and also faced a significant restructuring, improved 1.8 per cent to 23,542 despite the elimination of four brands.

Surging Hyundai said its sales jumped 9.5 per cent to 11,403. Business at its Korean cousin Kia also shot up 16.2 per cent to 5,430.

Honda Canada’s volumes increased 5.7 per cent to 12,914 and Mazda’s deliveries climbed 8.8 per cent to 7,486 vehicles.

But sales at Toyota, which is trying to recover from a series of recalls, plunged a whopping 29.5 per cent to 12,862. The results include the Lexus luxury brand.

Nissan’s volumes including the Infiniti luxury brand also slid 10.3 per cent to 6,882 vehicles last month.

Meanwhile in the U.S., sales tumbled 21 per cent during August as economic conditions deteriorated. The U.S. market, where Canada exports most of its auto production, is now up just 8 per cent for the year from the depths of the recession in 2009.

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