Canadian auto sales surge in February, Toyota up

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian auto sales rose for a third straight month in February, with even Toyota making strong gains despite the company's massive recall in late January.

Canadians bought 100,243 vehicles last month. That's up 24.9 percent from 80,230 a year earlier, according to data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.

Ford (F.N) took the No. 1 sales spot in the country away from General Motors, which slipped to third, with Ford sales up 51 percent in February. Chrysler retained its No. 2 position with a 16.9 percent rise.

"A 100K month is right up there with some of the better Februaries over the past decade," said Dennis DesRosiers, president of the firm.

"The strong February puts (year-to-date) sales up 15.8 percent. January and February are typically weak sales months, but the year is starting out very strong."

Sales at Toyota Canada (7203.T) rose 25.2 percent to 12,693 vehicles, despite no sales of eight of the company's most popular models at the beginning of the month due to the safety recall.

The automaker's Toyota division reported a 25.2 percent rise, while its luxury Lexus brand rose 26.2 percent.

"February was a pretty strong sales result," said Stephen Beatty, managing director of Toyota Canada International.

"Admittedly, February last year was not one of the better months in the Canadian auto industry, but we had a number of models that recorded their best ever February sales."

Those models included the Corolla, the RAV4 and the Prius, all of which were part of a massive recall by Toyota in late January due to a faulty accelerator pedal mechanism.

"It is hard to explain," said DesRosiers, " ... the consumer appears to be giving them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. I also suspect there is some backlash in Canada to the treatment Toyota is getting by the politicians in the U.S."

Toyota's top U.S. executive was called in front of a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday for a third hearing related to the recall.

Beatty said that as of Tuesday, Toyota had repaired about 105,000 vehicles of the 170,000 recalled in Canada.

FORD MARKET SHARE RISES AGAIN

Ford sold 14,459 vehicles in the month, with car sales up 58.7 percent and trucks up 49.2 percent.

Ford was the only one of the top five automakers in Canada to record positive sales in 2009, and February marked 16 consecutive months of market share increases.

Chrysler sold 14,045 vehicles. Its passenger car sales fell 24 percent, while truck sales jumped 31.4 percent.

General Motors Co GM.UL saw its sales rise 20.5 percent to 13,898 vehicles. Car sales were down 11 percent, while truck sales surged 44.6 percent.

GM is the latest automaker to announce a big recall. The company said late Monday it is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America, including 250,000 in Canada, to fix defective power steering systems that have been linked to more than a dozen crashes.

The recall includes the 2005-2010 model years Chevrolet Cobalt, the 2007-2010 Pontiac G5, and 2005-2006 Pontiac Pursuit.

Honda Canada (7267.T) posted a 27 percent February sales increase to 8,917 vehicles. Sales in the Honda division gained 33 percent, while the Acura division was down 13 percent year-on-year.

"We are pleased to see the Canadian market gradually improving," Jerry Chenkin, executive vice president of Honda Canada Inc, said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Cameron French; editing by Peter Galloway)