CARY, N.C. –

Never before has certified pre-owned had this great a share of used sales at Mercedes-Benz Canada.

The company said in a sales release it had overall pre-owned sales of 16,795 vehicles last year, which was up 9.8% year-over-year. And a record 89.9% of those used sales were CPO, Mercedes-Benz said. That certified penetration rate was also 3.5 percentage points higher than the rate from the year before, which was the prior record.

CPO penetration at Mercedes-Benz was also above 90% for six straight months (May through October).

And the automaker achieved CPO records for March, May, August, September and October. March was an all-time record, as Mercedes-Benz moved 1,606 certified vehicles.

The company closed the year with 3,513 certified sales in the fourth quarter, representing an 89.2% CPO penetration rate. That beat the year-ago rate by 2.5 percentage points.

Mercedes-Benz wasn’t the only automaker with a record-breaking 2021.

Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. posted a best-ever year, moving 14,013 CPO vehicles, said Charles Plewes, who is manager of CPO and remarketing national sales, in emailed comments.

That beat 2020 figures (the prior all-time high for Hyundai) by 18%.

It was also a record year for dealer participation (80%) in Hyundai’s CPO program, Plewes said.

Hyundai sold 861 certified vehicles in December, which was flat year-over-year. That was driven by challenges stemming from the omicron variant and the overall used-car shortage, he said.

Elsewhere, Porsche Cars Canada also posted an all-time high, selling a record 2,930 CPO vehicles last year, beating the prior-year figure by 15%.