CANADA AUTO SALES BY BRAND – JULY 2010

*updated August 18/2010*

Canada’s automobile market made slight gains in July 2010, no thanks to passenger cars. Light trucks, an automotive class featuring vehicles as varied as the Ford Escape and Toyota Tundra, accounted for the majority of Canadian sales in July, making a 22% jump from July of 2009 when passenger car sales forced light trucks into a minority position.

The Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Group, and General Motors didn’t sell in numbers as high as “import” brands, but sales from the U.S. manufacturers still rose 18% while foreign brands suffered a 3% drop. Vehicle sales dropped a bit from June 2010 totals. Going back to 2003, this last month was the third-best July in the last eight years.

Special notes regarding July 2010 sales in Canada are written for a special few. Mercedes-Benz’s smart division lost 110 sales compared with July 2009. That’s saying A LOT when July 2009 sales weren’t exactly lighting Canada on fire. Honda and Toyota: what is with you two? Year-to-date, Hyundai is beating Honda by more than 5,000 vehicle sales and Toyota’s terrible month brought Hyundai within 2,200 units. If the new Elantra and new Accent were here already Toyota would’ve lost to Hyundai in July, I dare say. Which leaves Mercedes-Benz as a topic of conversation. Mercedes is Canada’s favourite luxury brand this year; was so in July as well; and isn’t making gains on the backs of its cheapest vehicles. The S-Class, SL-Class, and SLS AMG are all selling better than anyone would’ve anticipated at this time last year.

The full rundown on Canadian auto sales in July 2010 is below.

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Ford: +2.3% to 26,751
Dodge: +59.8% to 17,050
Chevrolet: +58.8% to 15,283

Toyota: -22.8% to 13,681

Hyundai: +9.7% to 11,503

Honda: -10.2% to 10,184

Nissan: +10.1% to 7,525

Mazda: +12% to 7,268
GMC: +162.5% to 6,622

Kia: +10.6% to 5,652
Jeep: +39.6% to 4,061

Volkswagen: -3.4% to 3,881

Subaru: +28.1% to 2,336

Mercedes-Benz: +6.3%% to 2,102