Editor's note: Nissan Canada will delay the reporting of its sales totals for November until Monday, Dec. 4, because of a "system issue." As a result, a final industry sales tally won't be available until then.
Ford Canada widened its gap in the race to become Canada's top auto seller in 2017, even though both it and current runner-up General Motors saw their sales paces slow in November.
Ford’s total sales fell 2.8 percent to 23,788 units while GM’s sales were off 17.2 percent to 23,612 vehicles when compared to the same month a year ago.
Ford has sold 7,923 more vehicles than GM through the first 11 months of 2017.
Ford sales of 290,948 vehicles through Nov. 30 were up 2.2 percent over the same time last year. GM has sold 283,025 units, up 13.6 percent.
The Ford F series had its best November on record with sales up 11 percent to 12,548 units. Edge sales increased 12 percent to 1,538 units, its highest November total on record.
“The SUV segment continues to grow as more and more consumers favor the functionality and technology SUVs offer,” Ford Canada CEO Mark Buzzell said in a statement.
GM SAYS NOVEMBER 'AN ANOMALY'
Not even truck sales could salvage GM's numbers.
The sudden sales crash comes after GM posted total sales gains of greater than 20 percent in two of the previous three months.
GM sold 23,612 total vehicles during November's 26 sales days, which is the same number of sales days as the previous year.
Of that total, GM said 5,948 were fleet deliveries.
GM Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Wright called the decline "an anomaly" and attributed the decrease not to sluggish sales this year, but to a record number of sales in November 2016 when the automaker offered a number of incentives.
"We've already sold more vehicles year to date [in 2017] than we did in all of 2016," she said.
Wright said despite the 17.2 percent drop, the 23,612 vehicles GM sold this November was still the second highest November total in the last decade.
Car and truck sales were both down almost equally by percentage this November. GM sold 4,720 cars, down 18.2 percent, and 18,892 trucks, down 17 percent, even though Canada's market continues to shift toward trucks and away from cars.
Nine years ago, cars represented 54 percent of Canada’s new-vehicle market. Cars accounted for 32 percent of the Canadian new-vehicle market through October.
With 283,025 total vehicles sold through the first 11 months of 2017, GM Canada remains well ahead of its sales total through the same month of 2016 with 249,212 vehicles. Year to date, sales are up 13.6 percent. Truck sales alone are up 21 percent, more than offsetting a 7.6 percent decline in car sales.
TOYOTA UP
Toyota Canada's total November sales were up 2.9 percent to 16,963 vehicles due to Canada's appetite for light trucks and luxury vehicles.
Toyota's truck sales were up 5.9 percent to 9,401 vehicles with sales of the Sienna minivan up 25.8 percent and the Highlander up 11.3 percent.
The automaker's Lexus brand saw its sales increase 1.9 percent to 1,911 units when compared with November 2016.
When it comes to cars, Toyota managed to at least keep Canadians interested. Its Toyota brand car sales were down 1.5 percent to 5,651 units. The decrease would have been epic if not for Camry sales surging 72.5 percent to 1,425 units. The Yaris and 86 sports car (63 sold in November) were the only other two cars to post gains.
SUBARU UP ON CROSSTREK
Subaru Canada sold 4,767 vehicles in November, up eight percent over the 4,412 it sold during the same month last year.
The Crosstrek had one of the biggest increases with a 60 percent sales gain over a year ago. Total sales of 1,304 units made it Subaru’s top-selling vehicle in November. Crosstrek sales offset sales declines of the popular Forester (-18.9 per cent) and Outback (-13.4 per cent).
On the car side, while sales were up 25.5 percent to 1,367 units, bucking the trend of customers moving away from cars. Sales of the Impreza were up 51.5 percent to 718 units.
This report will be updated on Monday.
