TORONTO — Canadians bought fewer Toyotas in January compared to a year earlier amid a massive recall and halt on sales of some of its most popular vehicles.
However, the 10.4 per cent drop can’t be attributed to the recall alone: Toyota has seen its sales fall in every one of the last 12 months and its closest rival, Honda Canada, saw its numbers plunge 15.4 per cent in January.
Toyota announced that it would recall 270,000 vehicles in Canada and another 2.3 million in the U.S. on Jan. 21. Five days later, the Japanese automaker said it would suspend sales of the eight models involved in the recall, including the Corolla, Camry, RAV4 and Matrix.
“To understand the full impact of the Toyota recall, you’ve got to look at February to March, not January,” DesRosiers added.
Overall, Toyota sold 9,199 vehicles last month, compared with 10,269 in January 2008, according to data complied by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. The automaker’s Canadian market share fell to 11.3 per cent, down from 13.4 per cent a year earlier.
Overall light vehicle sales in Canada were up 6.2 per cent last month at 81,581 vehicles.
“We expected better numbers. A year ago the January sales were down by about 25 per cent and the lowest sales in a decade so most believed that this January would be back to more normal sales levels for this time of year,” DesRosiers said.
“Holding the market down was the performance of all of the top five (original equipment manufacturers) who all underperformed the market as a whole. When the big guys underperform it usually means the market follows suit.”