RICHMOND HILL, Ontario -
During October, two vehicle segments primarily meant for commercial use showed some of the heaviest gains in the Canadian new-car market. These segments included large pickups and large vans, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. 
So why such growth in these categories? The firm pointed to strong incentives as a big factor.
Specifically, large pickup sales for the month climbed 8 percent from October 2009, but were up 26.5 percent year-to-date. Meanwhile, large vans showed a 39.7-percent gain from the year-ago period, and through the 10-month period were up 36.9 percent.
Overall, 123,154 new vehicles were sold in Canada during October, according to the data. This marks a 1.4-percent upswing from the year-ago period. Through the first 10 months of 2010, sales had totaled about 1.33 million vehicles, up 6.6 percent year-over-year.
Light-truck sales totaled 67,760 units during October (gain of 13.6 percent), while year-to-date they reached 717,810 vehicles (up 19.3 percent). Meanwhile, passenger car sales reached 55,394 during October for a 10.5-percent drop from October 2009.
Year-to-date sales through October were at 611,669 units, a decrease of 5.3 percent.
“With this kind of money on many light trucks it is not surprising that light truck sales are up 13.6 percent on the month and 19.3 percent YTD, while passenger car sales were down 10.5 percent on the month and down 5.3 percent on the year,” suggested Dennis DesRosiers, president of the company.
The market’s leading light truck model was the Ford F-Series. A total of 7,459 F-Series trucks were sold in October, which is 3.8 percent stronger than the year-ago figure and more than 3,000 units higher than the closest contender on the truck side (Dodge Caravan, 4,425 units sold).
In fact, the F-Series was the market’s top-selling vehicle (truck or passenger car) for both October and year-to-date.
In terms of year-to-date sales, 84,630 units were moved through October. This marks a 24.2-percent improvement.
Over on the car side of the new-vehicle market, the Honda Civic was tops for October sales and year-to-date total. There were 6,009 Civic models sold during the month (up 26.9 percent year-over-year), and 48,805 have been sold through October (down 8.6 percent year-over-year).
“Honda finally put serious money on the Civic and — surprise, surprise, surprise — sales of Civic were up 26.9 percent on the month,” DesRosiers highlighted. “I guess Honda is terrified of losing the No. 1 selling sales position in the passenger car segment so it decided to buy the position. The problem is that whenever an OEM slaps major money onto the windshield of a particular vehicle, the resale value of tens of thousands of existing owners drops by a similar amount with a corresponding reduction in brand value … pity.”
Looking at individual segments, the only segment on the car side not to show a year-over-year decrease in October was the luxury high segment, which climbed 17.3 percent. Year-to-date, three car segments improved, with those being luxury high (up 16.5 percent), sport (up 12.8 percent) and luxury (up 4.4 percent).
On the truck side of the market, all but one segment (intermediate luxury sport utility, down 8.7 percent) improved from October 2009. Year to date, all were up except for small vans (down 3.3 percent).
Continuing on, DesRosiers also took a further look into the struggles experienced by Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura when it comes to small cars.
“I get asked all the time about whether Toyota and Honda’s poor sales performance this year is because their sales are concentrated in the entry level vehicle segments which are down so much," he shared.
To illustrate how “this is not the case,” DesRosiers offered the following table:
                                                    Entry Level Segment Year-to-Date 2010 versus 2009
                                                    Total Industry       Toyota/Lexus     Honda/Acura
October YTD 2009                       641,364                 114,080                   83,111
October YTD 2010                       638,250                   90,207                   81,362
Percentage Change                    0.5 percent              -20.9 percent        -2.1 percent

“First of all, sales of entry-level vehicles are only down 0.5 percent as compact SUVs pick up the slack from subcompact and compact cars,” DesRosiers continued. “And second, Toyota is significantly underperforming the entry-level market with sales down 20.9 percent.

“Honda as well, but their sales are down only 2.1 percent in this segment. So if someone is looking to blame poor entry-level vehicle sales for the problems at Toyota and Honda they better look elsewhere for an excuse,” he concluded.