Canada light-vehicle sales rose 10 percent in November behind strong double-digit gains at General Motors and Ford Motor Co. -- two of the country's three biggest automakers ranked by volume.
GM Canada deliveries increased 31 percent in November compared to November 2015, the company said. The automaker delivered 28,523 vehicles -- the best total November sales performance since 2006.
Buick sales rose 54 percent, led by a 93 percent increase in sales of Buick SUVs.
GMC sales year-over-year were up 41 percent in November, while Chevrolet was up 25 percent.
GM's sales are up 1.8 percent to 249,212 in Canada year to date.
Ford Motor Co. said it sold 24,450 vehicles in November, up 18 percent compared with the same month a year earlier. Ford reported a 10 percent rise in Canadian auto sales in the first 11 months of 2016.
Analysts expect Canadian auto sales to set a new record in 2016, rising to 1.96 million vehicles, up from a record-breaking 1.90 million units last year. But after a strong first half this year, sales have declined in August, September and October on an annual basis.
Deliveries have increased 3.2 percent to 1.827 million through November.
At FCA, November volume dipped 3.2 percent to 20,674 cars and light trucks, behind a drop of 9.4 percent at Dodge and 1.8 percent at Jeep.
Among other automakers in Canada, Mazda, Hyundai-Kia, Toyota and Honda were all up, but Nissan/Infiniti and Porsche showed the largest gains.
Nissan
Sales increased 13 percent over the same month in 2015. The Rogue compact crossover set a new November sales record with 3,675 units sold, an increase of 45.7 percent. Nissan’s luxury Infiniti brand posted a sales increase of 16 percent, with a November-record 1,130 units sold.
Porsche
The company reported its best November sales on record with 541 vehicles sold, a 20-percent increase. Having sold 6,511 units year to date, Porsche reached a new annual sales record one month ahead of year-end and topping last year’s 5,963 units sold.
Mazda
Sales increased by 9.2 percent due mainly to a jump in the number of CX-5 and CX-9 tall-wagon models sold. Canadians bought a combined 2,437 units, up from the 1,765 they bought a year ago.
Hyundai-Kia
While Hyundai volume slipped 4.6 percent, its sister company, Kia, posted an increase of 21 percent. Combined, sales at Hyundai and Kia were up 3.1 percent. Hyundai also sold 45 of its new luxury Genesis models, which went on sale Nov. 21 and are available only through appointment test drives. Genesis, which doesn’t have showrooms in Canada, sold 31 G80 sedans and 14 G90s.
Toyota
The company posted a 4.2-percent total sales increase over November 2015 on the strength of the Corolla and Tundra. Toyota sold 526 more Corollas and 298 more Tundras than it did last November.Overall, Toyota’s car sales were up 10 percent while total truck sales remained essentially flat, up 0.8 percent
The company’s Lexus brand posted a sales increase of 3.4 percent.
Honda
Honda Canada said November sales increased 1.7 percent compared with November 2015. The Honda automobile division set a record, gaining 1.2 percent on sales of 13,183 units. The automaker sold 914 units of the Honda Fit, up from the 525 it sold during the same month last year. Sales of the Civic dropped 9.4 percent. The Acura division reported sales of 1,832 units in the month, up 5.5 percent over last November.
Reuters contributed to this report.
