Last month's auto sales second-strongest January in history: consultant

When it came to buying cars, Canadian consumers ignored the bad economic news in January, a Canadian auto consultant reported Friday.

Sales of new cars and light trucks last month were up 12.8 per cent over January of 2007, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants said. In all, 102,831 vehicles were sold, up from 91,180 a year earlier. It was the second-strongest January in history, DesRosiers said.

"The lesson here is don't believe all the negative news in the business media each and every day. Consumers make up their minds one at a time and they decided in very big numbers to stay in the market for a new vehicle in January," Dennis DesRosiers of the consulting group said.

Even the troubled North American auto makers did well, with General Motors's sales rising 18.1 per cent, Ford adding 9.7 per cent and Chrysler gaining 1.9 per cent.

While sales of North American brands grew more slowly than import brands, overall, the Big Three outsold their competitors by about 56,000 vehicles to 47,000.

GM's sales of 26,404 vehicles left it firmly in first place, followed by Chrysler, Ford and Toyota.

BMW Group Canada (the BMW and Mini brands) reported the best January ever.