Driven by incentives and low financing rates that drew customers into showrooms, many automakers shattered their Canadian sales records as year-end reports flooded in on Friday, CBC reported today.

Foreign automakers in particular showed solid sales gains, as Honda, Toyota, Mazda and Audi all reported record year-end figures in Canada. Volkswagen posted its second-best year while Nissan said it had its best year in more than a decade.

Honda sold 165,331 vehicles for a 10.1% increase from 2001, while Toyota sold 152,766 units – 19.6% better than 2001’s 127,754 sales.
Mazda’s sales gained 3.8% from 2001, hitting 71,140 vehicles.

Nissan sold a total of 64,661 cars in 2002, up 14.1% from 2001.

Sales figures for domestic automakers were mixed.

Ford of Canada said its yearly sales hit 258,807 vehicles in 2002, a rise of 2.8% from 2001, but added that December sales were down 13.9% from the same month last year.

DaimlerChrysler Canada said its 2002 sales were 246,777, up by 0.5% from the previous year, but its year-over-year December sales dropped 13% to 21,235.

General Motors – which doesn’t break down its Canadian sales – sold 473,663 new cars and trucks in December in the United States, a 36% increase from December 2001. However, the 4.9 million new vehicles the company sold for all of 2002 was down 1% from 2001.