Canada September LV Sales Up 6.5%

Sales of light vehicles in Canada rose 6.5% in September compared with year-ago on volume of 142,858 units vs. 134,188, respectively. Both months had 25 selling days.

However, last month’s deliveries dipped 0.3% on a daily selling rate basis from 148,983 in August, which had 26 selling days.

The gains were led by several top Japanese makes that suffered in September 2011 from product shortages stemming from natural disasters the previous March. Those included improvements of 21.9% for Toyota, 16.2% for Honda and 21.6% for Subaru.

Nissan, least affected by last year’s difficulties and lacking adequate inventories of several ’13 models, was unable to take advantage of the upswing and its sales fell 13.2%.

Overall deliveries of Asian brands rose 10.6% in September compared with September 2011, while European brands gained 16.0%, thanks in large part to increases by Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Daimler.

September LV sales by the Detroit Three edged 0.4% ahead of like-2011 despite a 7.9% decline by industry leader Ford to 23,302 from 25,290.

Meanwhile,  Chrysler credited strong demand for its Fiat 500 and Dodge Dart models, along with record Chrysler 200 deliveries, for a 35.6% increase in car sales that more than offset a 9.7% shortfall in light-truck purchases for a 1.4% overall gain.

General Motors said improvements of 12.7% and 30.5% for its Chevrolet and Buick brands, respectively, helped boost its LV sales 11.6% compared with like-2011.

Overall, Canadian LV sales year-to-date are running 6.7% ahead of like-2011 at 1,302,769 vs. 1,221,404 with Toyota, up 24.6%, and Honda, up 24.3%, showing the biggest gains among high-volume makes. Detroit Three deliveries have risen just 0.1% for the period despite Chrysler’s 6.2% increase.

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