Sales of passenger cars and light trucks took off in Canada last month, with news that auto sales jumped seven per cent to hit a record high in July, according to industry figures released Thursday.
Data from DesRosiers Automotive Reports said 158,993 new vehicles were sold last month. That beats the previous record, which was set in July 2005.
Chrysler's Canadian arm reported record sales for July of 26,209 vehicles, up 8.5% from a year earlier. That was good enough for first place among automakers.
Ford of Canada wasn't far behind with 25,188 total sales in July. But that represented a drop of almost 10% from July of last year as truck sales faltered.
GM Canada's sales dropped marginally to 19,164 vehicles — good enough for third place.
Toyota saw its Canadian sales rise more than 12% in July, thanks in part to record sales of its trucks and its hybrid models and strong sales of its smaller models, like the Yaris and Corolla.
Honda Canada's July sales soared 35 per cent over last year's, with sales of its Accord model more than doubling. On a year-to-date basis, its popular Civic model regained the title of top-selling passenger car in Canada.
Nissan Canada's sales jumped 54%.
Subaru Canada and Mercedes-Benz Canada reported their best-ever July sales figures.
