L'Industrie automobile canadienne

[MTLskyline]

Ce fil est pour mettre des nouvelles sur l'industrie automobile au Canada (ventes, etc)

 

Detroit Three sales in Canada 'disappointing': analyst

Toyota sales fall 10% over recall

 

Scott Deveau, Financial Post

Published: Tuesday, February 02, 2010

 

Toyota Canada Inc. said Tuesday its sales fell more than 10% during the month of January compared with last year as a result of a massive recall that prompted the Japanese automaker to halts sales on eight of its most popular models in North America for most of the last week of the month.

 

The news comes as the Detroit Three also reported "disappointing" sales figures in Canada, an analyst said Tuesday.

 

Sales of the Toyota brand alone were down 14.8% during the month in Canada, excluding a 62% bump in Lexus sales, the company said.

 

Toyota has recalled 4.3 million vehicles worldwide since Jan. 21 due to a faulty gas pedal that proved a propensity to stick on rare occasions. On Jan. 26, the world's largest automaker said it would halt the sales of eight of its most popular vehicles across North America and the production of those models this week, including the RAV4, Corolla, and Matrix that it builds in Canada.

 

That recall adds to the more than 5 million vehicles Toyota had already recalled since November due to its gas pedals getting stuck on floor mats.

 

As a result, overall sales for the Toyota brand in Canada were 8,246 units in January, down from 9,681 units for the month last year.

 

Toyota said this week it intends to begin repairing the recalled vehicles as of Friday at its dealerships and modify its production lines, which should allow it to begin selling the affected models again by this weekend, a process that is expected to take more than a month to complete in Canada.

 

Meanwhile, the Detroit Three all made sales gains during the month in Canada.

 

Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd. saw sales increase nearly 6% in Canada, while General Motors of Canada and Chrysler Canada saw sales improvements of nearly 5% and 6% respectively during the month.

 

In the U.S., Ford saw a more substantial sales bump of more than 24% during the month of January, while GM's sales improved 14%, including the negative impact of its non-core brands - Saturn, Saab, Pontiac, and Hummer. That was first monthly improvement for GM since October.

 

Chrysler Group LLC, on the other hand, said its sales fell 8% in the U.S.

 

Overall, the Canadian sales figures were "disappointing," said Dennis DesRosiers, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. president.

 

"If this were to hold it would be very bad news for the automotive sector in Canada," he said in a note to clients. "We expected better numbers."

 

He noted that overall January sales were up 6.2%, but off of very weak comparables in January 2008, when sales were down 25% in Canada.

 

"GM, Ford and Chrysler were all up for the month although all were slightly below market performance so collectively they lost market share to import nameplates," Mr. DesRosiers said. "This is the sixteenth year in row that the [Detroit Three] started the year losing market share to import nameplates. Not good."

 

Audi, Subaru, Volvo, Mercedes Benz, Hyundai, and Kia were the big winners during the month, he added.

 

He also noted that Honda and Toyota/Lexus were market share losers in January, but cautioined not to read too much into the January sales figures.

 

The month is typically the slowest of year, Mr. DesRosiers said, adding that March to June are "make-or-break months" for the automakers.

 

While Honda Canada Inc. reported a 15% decline of its own in Canada with sales, Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. reported its best January on record Tuesday, saying it sold 6,084 units in Canada during the month, or a 32% increase over the same period last year.

 

Kia Canada Inc. also reported a 32% increase in sales to 2,416 units in January.

 

Nissan Canada Inc.'s sales rose 17% to 4,975 units during he month, including an 18% jump for the Nissan brand and a 9% increase for Infiniti.

 

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2513062#ixzz0eQ4DFfuA

 

It is indeed a little disappointing that the Big 3 aren't really profiting that much from Toyota's woes. Especially considering how good the product is these days (and how reliable American cars are!).