Canadian automakers posted record sales in May: DesRosiers

With Canadian light vehicle sales up 5.7 per cent overall to 195,571 cars and light trucks, May 2014 was the best May on record, according to Toronto-based DesRosiers Automotive Reports.

“The big winners from a brand point of view can be broken out into two groups —the larger mass market brands and the smaller niche market brands,” DesRosiers said in its latest automotive commentary. “Some of the smaller second-tier brands are blowing away all previous sales records and, in many respects, are the key success story this year.”

Ford Canada remained No. 1 in terms of sales volume despite a 2.3 per cent decline from May 2013, the DesRosiers report noted. Hyundai’s sales were down 5.2 per cent while Toyota’s overall sales rose only one per cent.

Nissan Canada had 28.9 per cent growth, the most of any vendor with at least 10,000 sales per month. Niche player Land Rover rose 40.8 per cent to 500 vehicles, Jaguar was up 38.9 per cent to 150 vehicles and Porsche gained 32.2 per cent to 530 vehicles.

Ford led the pack with 31,747 units sold in May, followed by Chrysler Canada with 31,302 units. Meanwhile, General Motors of Canada had its best May since 2009 with sales rising 11.8 per cent from a year ago to 26,444 vehicles.

The monthly DesRosiers automotive report shows overall Canadian sales of cars and light trucks were up 5.7 per cent from May of last year, rising to 195,571 from 185,040.

Trucks accounted for 111,035 of the vehicles sold in Canada last month, up 12.1 per cent last year. Car sales totaled 84,536, down 1.7 per cent from 86,012 a year ago.

Toyota Canada’s overall sales rose one per cent to 22,465 from 22,250, although Toyota-branded sales were essentially unchanged while its Lexus luxury brand had a 14.2 per cent increase to 1,789 from 1,566.

Honda Canada sold 18,512 units last month up 12 per cent from 16,723 last year. Sales of its Acura-branded vehicles fell by 1.9 per cent to 2,005 while Honda-branded sales were up 12 per cent to 16,507.