April car sales soar

The North American auto industry was firing on all cylinders in April, sales data from most major car companies showed Monday.

Ford Motor Co. saw its U.S. sales increase by 25 per cent compared with last year. Canadian sales data showed a similar trend, up 24.5 per cent. Within that, car sales were up 14 per cent while truck sales jumped by 28 per cent.

It was the fifth straight month Ford showed sales increases of more than 20 per cent.

General Motors Co. sales rose 6.4 per cent. But excluding sales of lines GM has announced it is phasing out, sales were up 20 per cent compared with April of 2009, the automaker said.

Chrysler Canada Inc. had its strongest sales month since June 2008, with April sales up 35 per cent over the same month in 2009 on 20,630 units.

"No question 2009 was a difficult year for Detroit … but this year is different," Chrysler Canada president Reid Bigland said.

Car sales were 29 per cent higher, while truck sales rose 26 per cent. As with Ford, it was the fifth straight month of increases of at least 20 per cent at Chrysler.

Some of the smaller automakers also made large sales gains during the month. Subaru Canada posted an all-time sales record of 2,640 units during the month, a 28.8 per cent increase over April 2009. It was the fourth straight monthly sales increase for the Japanese carmaker.

Subaru's U.S. sales soared 48 per cent based largely on the crossover Outback wagon, which doubled its sales from April of last year. Crossovers are SUVs built on sedan bodies and combine elements of both vehicles .

Korean automaker Kia Canada reported 5,057 sales in April, an increase of 18.3 per cent versus April of 2009. The figure represents the 16th consecutive month of sales gains and was also Kia's best April ever.

Kia's U.S. sales rose 17 per cent on strong demand for its newly released Sorento crossover and Forte sedan.

Hyundai Canada also posted record-breaking April numbers, with sales up 15.6 per cent to 12,495 vehicles. That bested a record of 11,200 set in May 2009. In the U.S., Hyundai's sales increased 30 per cent on rising demand for the new Sonata midsize sedan, the company said.

Below March levels

Although the numbers are almost uniformly strong, they are all compared against the baseline of a weak April 2009, when the North American economy was still in the depths of recession.

On the whole, they are also slightly behind the torrid annual pace of March, when aggressive incentive programs coupled with an even worse March 2009 baseline to produce eye-popping gains.

Auto research website Edmunds.com says incentives fell an average of five per cent in April as the lustre wore off some of the deals and automakers tried to pull back on spending. But there were still good bargains.

Toyota's recall problems may have finally caught up with the automaker in April, as the automaker's sales fell 16.7 compared with a year ago, after two months of double-digit sales gains. The decline came even though Toyota rolled out some of the best incentive programs it has ever offered in March, as the embattled Japanese automaker struggled to emerge from a safety scandal.

Honda Motor Co. spent a record $1,787 per vehicle, while Toyota spent $2,498, down $245 from record-high levels in March.

GM spent $3,273 per vehicle, although that was skewed by high incentives on the brands it is discontinuing.

GM said it spent $100 less per vehicle in April than in March.

"We'll be judicious with our incentives," said Steve Carlisle, GM's new vice-president of sales. "We'll be competitive but not foolish."