Canada Sales Up Fourth Straight Month

Canada light-vehicle sales increased for the fourth consecutive month in February, the longest string of gains since a 13-month streak that ended in October 2002.

In fact, since then, there haven’t even been consecutive increases of two months.

The 4-month run includes a revision to January, which changed results from a slight decline to a small gain of 0.15%.

February sales totaled 97,895 for a daily selling rate of 4,079, 6.3% above same-month 2004 – 24 selling days both periods. (See related data: Ward’s Canada Light Vehicle Sales by Brand)

Three of the Top Six auto makers – which now mirror the U.S. Top Six thanks to Nissan Canada Inc. firmly knocking Mazda Canada Inc. from the list – posted gains.

DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. led the big-volume companies with a 22.7% gain, followed by General Motors of Canada Ltd. at 21.5% and Honda Canada Inc.’s 9.7%.

For GM and Honda, it was a reversal of their February results in the U.S. (See related story: February U.S. Light-Vehicle Sales Decline From Year-Ago)

Also marking a reversal from their U.S. results, Toyota Canada Inc. sales declined 5.4% and Nissan suffered a 1.4% shortfall.

Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. posted a whopping 29.1% downturn from year-ago, which followed a 15.9% slump in January. Only two other auto makers suffered declines in February, Suzuki Canada Inc. (-14.1%) and Mazda Canada Inc. (-5.1%).

Meantime, Hyundai Auto Canada led all gainers with a 35.1% increase and Kia Canada Inc.’s sales were up 24.0%.

[email protected]