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Employees work on the Chevrolet Cruze assembly line inside a plant of General Motors India Ltd.Amit Dave/Reuters

Canadian consumers appeared to shrug off higher gasoline prices and global economic uncertainty last month, plowing more money into sport utility vehicles and crossovers as sales of light trucks vastly outperformed cars.

Although overall light vehicle sales increased by 3.2 per cent to 140,361 units over the same month last year, the truck segment was the clear winner. Total sales of light trucks grew by nearly 6 per cent year-over-year, while sales for passenger cars dipped by 0.1 per cent.

The light truck segment includes sport utility vehicles, crossovers, minivans and pickups, but consumers opted for the most gas-friendly of the group.

"What we are seeing is [that]it is the small fuel-efficient trucks that are posting the strong gains. It is not necessarily the big pickups," said Carlos Gomes, a senior economist with the Bank of Nova Scotia who closely follows the auto industry.

"And interestingly enough, it was the pickups that were posting strong gains last year. And so we've seen a shift from the big pickups toward the fuel-efficient vehicles – which is exactly what you would expect in a rising gasoline environment."

While those light trucks generally consume more gas than smaller passenger cars, they are proving more popular because consumers still place a high premium on practicality including having sufficient cargo space, he said.

Light trucks are also outselling cars on a year-to-date basis, said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. His report noted that light truck sales are now up by 4.6 per cent on the year versus a 1.6-per-cent decline for car sales.

"Despite high gas prices, light trucks continue to sell better than passenger cars," said Mr. DesRosiers in his report. Still, he stressed it was unclear if the trend would persist for the remainder of 2011.

Overall, the big three Detroit auto makers saw their collective sales improve by 9.5 per cent in August as they continued to poach market share from imports.

Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd., which had the best sales showing among the Big Three, recorded its best August sales month since 1988 as total sales increased by 8 per cent versus the same period last year.

"Consumers are recognizing Ford for fuel-efficient cars and trucks," said president and chief executive officer David Mondragon in a release. He noted that more than 40 per cent of F-150 trucks sold in August had "EcoBoost" engines. A two-litre version of that fuel-efficient engine is available on the 2012 Ford Explorer.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. recorded an overall sales increase of 6.4 per cent over last year thanks to both cars and crossovers.

"Furthermore, customer demand for GM's fuel-efficient crossovers continues to grow," the company said in a release. "The Canadian-built Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, two of North America's fastest-selling vehicles, increased sales 34 per cent combined, up 30 per cent year-to-date. GM's mid-size crossovers – Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia – increased combined sales 12 per cent."

Chrysler Canada Inc., meanwhile, said its August sales rose by 17 per cent, marking 21 months of consecutive sales growth.

"Our light trucks continue to set monthly records and Ram truck and Dodge Grand Caravan are firmly entrenched as the second- and third-best selling vehicles in Canada," said chief operating officer Dave Buckingham.

There were also encouraging signs from some Japanese auto makers last month, suggesting they are recovering from the disruptions caused by the March earthquake. Toyota Canada Inc., for instance, said its sales rose 8.9 per cent from the same month the previous year.

And while Honda Canada Inc. said combined sales for its Honda and Acura divisions tumbled 26 per cent from last year, the company stressed the worst of the crisis is over. Jerry Chenkin, executive vice-president, said dealer inventories should "steadily increase" in September.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:29pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
BNS-N
Bank of Nova Scotia
+1.21%51.78
BNS-T
Bank of Nova Scotia
+0.94%70.07
F-N
Ford Motor Company
+1.68%13.28
GM-N
General Motors Company
+1.7%45.35
TM-N
Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord ADR
-0.19%251.68

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