Canadian sales of new cars in January skid 25%; GM down 46.6%

General Motors of Canada suffered a 46.6 per cent decline in January sales from a year earlier, pacing an overall slump of 25.3 per cent in the industry.

Chrysler sales skidded 33.7 per cent compared with January 2008, and Ford was down 14.2 per cent.

Industry figures compiled Tuesday show Toyota Canada was off 2.7 per cent including its premium Lexus brand, while Honda sagged 37.1 per cent including Acura.

Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, who compiles the industry data, noted that January is the slowest month for vehicle sales and the drop from a year ago was not a surprise, but ``Canada has clearly joined the global automotive recession and is bringing a lot of companies with it.''

On the positive side, South Korean automaker Hyundai posted an 18.9 per cent sales gain, while Japan's low-volume Mitsubishi was up 9.1 per cent and Suzuki rose 4.3 per cent.

But overall, as DesRosiers said, it was ``a very difficult month for the industry,'' and GM, Ford and Chrysler ``are having a hard time breaking through the perception that they are in trouble which is turning a lot of consumers away from their dealers.''

Dismal as the Canadian numbers were, they compared well with January drops in the United States of 49 per cent for GM, 40 per cent for Ford and 32 per cent for Toyota, as the overall American market posted its fourth straight month of sales down 30 per cent or more from a year earlier.

In Canada, General Motors said its dealers delivered 14,254 units _ 5,034 cars, down 60 per cent from a year ago, and 9,220 trucks, down 34 per cent.

"January sales continued to reflect the overall Canadian market challenges seen at the end of 2008,'' commented Marc Comeau, GM Canada's vice-president of sales.

Comeau added that the Canadian market leader ``is well positioned to respond to improving consumer credit and confidence we hope and expect to see in the months ahead.''

Ford of Canada gained market share on the month, as its 14.2 per cent drop _ passenger- car sales down 20.9 per cent to 2,264 and light trucks off 12.2 per cent at 8,669 for a total of 10,933 vehicles sold _ outperformed the industry as a whole.

But DesRosiers noted that this is the start of the 15th year of market-share losses by the three Detroit-based automakers as a group.

"It's no secret that today's automotive market is tougher than a 10-cent steak,'' commented Reid Bigland, president of Chrysler Canada, where sales fell to 11,259 units _ the second-highest total in the market for the month.

Toyota registered a 0.3 per cent increase in Toyota-branded cars and trucks to 9,681 _ its best January ever _ driven by big gains for its Ontario-built Corolla, Matrix and RAV4.

But Lexus sales sagged 35 per cent to 588, which the Japan-based automaker attributed to ``anticipation of new and refreshed models ... that will be arriving in dealerships soon.''

Honda-branded sales fell 39 per cent to 6,460, while Acura was down 26 per cent at 1,099. The carmaker, which assembles Civics and two Acura models in Ontario, said these declines ``reflect our expectations,'' as year-ago numbers were boosted to twice the monthly average by special sales initiatives.

Results were mixed for high-priced German imports, with BMW down 20 per cent at 880, Audi losing 32 per cent to 388 and Porsche down 28.5 per cent to 88, but Mercedes-Benz up 10 per cent at 1,178.

Volkswagen sales, meanwhile, were down 1.6 per cent at 1,893.