TORONTO -

Certified pre-owned sales were strong in August for the European automakers, with one luxury brand, in particular, touting its best August ever for CPO sales.

Audi Canada had its best August ever this past month, with 436 CPO vehicles sold. Jonathan Breton, manger of certified pre-owned and corporate sales, said this number is up 16.9 percent over the 373 units sold in August 2012.

Year-to-date sales are also up. As of the end of August, Audi Canada had sold 3,454 CPO units, up 18.7 percent over 2,911 sold during the same period in 2012.

And Audi wasn’t the only European OEM making a splash this past month. Volkswagen Canada sold 1,410 CPO rides in August, up 9.2 percent from the 1,291 sold during the same period of 2012.

Year-to-date, the automaker has sold 10,060 CPO units, up 8.6 percent from the 9,258 sold during the same period last year.

Over at Mercedes-Benz Canada, the pre-owned division reported 1,248 deliveries throughout August. These sales bring the year-to-date CPO sales total to 9,005.

Moving along to highlight the Asian automakers, first up, Mazda sold 471 CPO units in August, up from 373 sold during the same period last year. While they were only at 1,985 CPO sales at this time last year, this time around the company has sold 3,638 CPO units as of the end of August.

Though Toyota had experienced a bit of a drop in CPO sales for July, this past month the gap between year-over-year numbers narrowed a bit.

This past month, Toyota Canada sold 2,051 CPO units, down slightly from the 2,066 sold in August 2012. This brings the year-to-date total to 15,767, down from 17,337 during the same period of 2012.

Over at Honda, the company sold 1,612 CPO units in August, down from 1,840 sold during the same period or 2012 for its Honda arm, representing a 12.4 percent year-over-year drop.

Its luxury arm, Acura, sold 308 units this past month, up from 253 sold in August 2012, representing a 21.7-percent year-over-year lift.

Todd Fowler,  manager of used-vehicle operations at Honda Canada Inc., said, "2013 continues to present a unique challenge, as the Canadian market is operating under a tight used-vehicle supply, the lowest in more than a decade. However, we have confidence our dealer networks will strive to meet this challenge head-on."