Canada's February car and light-truck sales climbed 5 percent compared with February 1998, to 88,073.
Through the first two months of 1999, total Canadian light-vehicle sales were up 8.3 percent, to 172,498.
Truck sales for the month were up 7.3 percent, to 40,973.
In trucks, Ford Motor Co. led the way. Ford truck sales in February were up 14.3 percent, to 11,963.
General Motors' North Ameri-can trucks posted gains of 12.6 percent, to 11,684 for the month.
For the year to date, truck sales were up 7.1 percent, to 82,830.
Cars, with total sales of 47,100 in February, were up 3.1 percent for the month.
The February gain boosted year-to-date sales of cars by 9.5 percent, to 89,668.
Chrysler Canada Ltd. truck sales fell 6.1 percent in February, to 11,301.
For the year, truck sales were down 13.3 percent, to 21,123. Cars dropped 17.6 percent in February, to 4,796.
Mercedes-Benz posted a 21.1 percent gain on the month, to 701 cars and trucks.
Japanese makes were led by Honda/Acura, which posted total sales gains of 12.6 percent in February, to 6,670.
In contrast, sales of Toyota and Lexus models dropped 24.1 percent in February, to 6,523.
