CARY, N.C. -

Even amid a pandemic, at least one automaker was at a record high for certified pre-owned in 2020.

That would be Hyundai, which had its strongest year ever for CPO sales, said Charles Plewes who is manager of CPO and marketing national sales at Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

It moved 11,869 certified vehicles in 2020, up 9% year-over-year. That sum was also 6.5% stronger than the prior record, which was set in 2013.

Hyundai sold 864 CPO vehicles last month, its strongest December ever and a 16% year-over-year increase. December was among Hyundai’s eight record months for CPO sales in 2020, Plewes said.

“Overall, 2020 was an outstanding year for Hyundai Canada’s H-Promise CPO program,” Plewes said. “Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hyundai dealers displayed an impressive recovery from the second quarter dealer closures to achieve our best sales year in the history of the program. 

“The only headwind to continued sales growth is a general shortage (of) used vehicles, which is a phenomenon in the overall market and not unique to Hyundai,” he said.

A few other automakers also shared Canadian CPO sales results with Auto Remarketing Canada. 

Subaru moved 4,637 CPO vehicles in 2020, up 13.7% from 2019.

It closed the year with 361 certified sales in December, up from 296 a year earlier.

Next up, Nissan had 11,108 CPO sales for the year, down from 15,434 in 2019. December sales were at 911, up from 879 a year earlier.

Infiniti moved 1,583 CPO units in 2020, compared to 2,036 in 2019. It had 103 CPO sales in December, compared to 152 in December 2019.