Coming off back-to-back record years, auto makers saw Canadian unit sales fall 6.4 per cent in 2003, hit hard by declines from the Big Three manufacturers.
However, while sales skidded, the total number of cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles sold last year - 1.59 million units, down from 1.7 million in 2002 - remained at what industry observers deemed a healthy level. Indeed, the 2003 tally is the second highest on record.
According to data provided by the manufacturers, General Motors of Canada Ltd. sold or leased 455,751 vehicles last year, down 12.5 per cent from a year earlier, Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. sold 242,234 units, down 6.4 per cent, while DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. recorded sales of 212,934 vehicles, down 13.7 per cent.
Over all, the Big Three auto makers watched their unit sales drop 11.2 per cent in 2003, while offshore-based manufacturers posted a 1.1-per-cent gain.
Sales figures for December for the Big Three were even uglier.
GM Canada's sales dropped 37.4 per cent during the month compared with the same period in 2002, while Ford's fell 24 per cent and DaimlerChrysler's plunged 33.2 per cent.
'What I think is happening here is that consumers are probably getting concerned as they see the Canadian dollar rocket up to 10-year highs on a daily basis,' Carlos Gomes, an economist with Bank of Nova Scotia, said in an interview.
'People are getting concerned as to what the impact of this will be on the Canadian economy and they're becoming a little bit cautious,' he added.
The dollar surged more than 20 per cent in 2003.
What's more, Mr. Gomes described the declines as 'puzzling,' saying the Canadian economy has posted strong job creation numbers in recent months and that normally translates into strong auto sales. He was forecasting total 2003 sales of 1.63 million units.
'I think when you look back at the year for Canada, a lot of things happened in Canada that were completely unforeseen and certainly had an impact,' said Richard Cooper, the director of the Canadian operations of consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates, pointing to the SARS outbreak that pummelled the Toronto area and the single mad-cow incident in Alberta last year.
'When you look at the places that they hit, they're very strong markets,' Mr. Cooper said.
He also noted that the lure of hefty incentives from the Big Three failed to reel in buyers
'"Consumers" are feeling less of a need for urgency to get out there and take advantage of incentives because they think 'oh, they'll come back some time.'.'
Mark Norman, who spent his first day on the job yesterday as the new president of DaimlerChrysler Canada, said it's not clear how effective incentives are in the market, but he said they're here to stay.
'I think we saw December close with very high incentive levels and the "sales" volume wasn't there.'
But while the large manufacturers skidded, some of the smaller players posted record years. They include Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., Nissan Canada Inc., the Canadian arm of Audi AG and Porsche Cars North America Inc.(PCNA).
Toyota saw sales jump 8 per cent in 2003 amid what has been described by industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers as 'as one of the strongest product lineups at the moment.'
At Porsche, nearly half of its 1,612 vehicles sold during the year came from its Cayenne sport utility line.
'We have proven the naysayers wrong,' said Peter Schwarzenbauer, PCNA's president and chief executive officer.
'The Cayenne is a hit in North America, outselling our expectations.'
Auto sales gear down
But a few smaller players had banner years. Porsche, whose Carrera GT is shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, reported its best year every.
Change Change
Company December '03/'02 Year-to-date '03/'04
Cars
GM 16,260 -37.4% 228,315 -15.0%
Honda 7,423 -5.6 113,530 -6.4
Toyota 5,955 -20.2 119,959 +5.5
Ford 3,945 -23.9 70,491 -14.9
Mazda 3,769 +55.7 49,578 -5.0
DaimlerChrysler 3,323 -33.2 54,000 -12.6
Volkswagen 3,183 -13.3 37,979 -11.3
Nissan 3,138 -9.4 48,738 -1.1
Hyundai 2,787 -8.7 53,353 -8.4
BMW 1,528 +50.2 14,516 +7.9
Kia 1,102 +1.8 19,113 +4.2
Mercedes 892 -6.9 11,575 +1.1
Subaru 687 -9.5 11,078 -14.6
Volvo 638 +14.3 10,750 +13.9
Mitsubishi 375 -51.3 10,798 +301.4
Suzuki 255 -62.1 4,878 -18.5
Jaguar 100 -18.7 2,366 -7.4
Porsche 32 -33.3 871 -27.0
TOTAL 55,392 -20.9% 861,886 -7.3%
Trucks
GM 17,976 -32.4% 227,436 -9.8%
Ford 13,373 -4.7 171,743 -2.4
DaimlerChrysler 11,541 -29.0 158,935 -14.1
Toyota 3,000 -21.0 45,065 +15.3
Honda 2,749 -20.5 41,100 -6.6
Nissan 1,940 +27.0 20,796 +35.1
Hyundai 869 +29.1 12,025 +38.4
Mazda 710 -40.1 15,974 -15.8
Kia 649 -6.3 12,025 +38.4
Subaru 323 -5.8 4,684 +9.7
BMW 245 +0.8 3,352 +5.9
Suzuki 176 -79.8 4,483 -19.6
Mitsubishi 171 -7.1 3,324 +523.6
Mercedes 168 -37.1 2,301 -25.0
Volkswagen 162.+2,214.3 868 +543.0
Land Rover 156 +22.8 1,603 -26.3
Porsche 52 - 741 -.
TOTAL 54,260 -22.8% 726,455 -5.3%
Totals
Overall total 109,652 -21.9% 1,588,341 -6.4%
Big 3 66,418 -28.6 910,920 -11.2
Other 43,234 -8.6 677,421 +1.1
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CORRECTION
Volkswagen Canada Inc. sold 45,840 cars last year. Kia Motors Canada Inc. sold
11,410 trucks. Incorrect information was published in a chart on Jan. 6.
(Wednesday, January 14, 2004, Page B2)
