FordJoe Raedle
Auto makers enjoyed robust sales in both Canada and the United States last month, but the crisis in Japan will lead to more shutdowns at North American plants in April.
Small cars took centre stage in the U.S. market in March as soaring gas prices caused buyers to snap up subcompacts and compacts. Overall sales jumped 5 per cent in Canada from year-earlier levels, leading to the best March on record as the key spring selling season begins.
But the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan has caused parts shortages that are now affecting North American vehicle production - and not just for Japanese auto makers.
Ford Motor Co. said it will close a truck plant in Kentucky next week because of a shortage of parts from Japan and a decline in retail sales of full-sized trucks.
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., will close plants in Tennessee, Mississippi and Mexico for at least a week each in April.
That will halt output of Nissan's compact and subcompact cars, the Sentra and Versa respectively, just as the $3.50 (U.S.) a gallon price of gas is making those categories popular.
Subcompacts and compacts have gained six points of market share among U.S. retail buyers, said George Pipas, Ford's chief sales analyst. They represented 25 per cent of the market in March, compared with 19 per cent in December.
"This is not unlike the shift that we observed in the spring of 2008 as gasoline prices began rising toward an eventual peak of a little over $4 a gallon," Mr. Pipas told analysts and reporters on a conference call.
The fuel surge has also caught the notice of truck buyers, Ford officials said, noting that 37 per cent of the F-series pickups it sold to Americans last month contained V6 engines. In December, buyers bought V8-equipped trucks only.
Compact cars alone came in at about 19 per cent of the U.S. market, said Don Johnson, vice-president of U.S. sales for General Motors Co. That's the highest level since the U.S. government's cash-for-clunkers incentive program in 2009.
Sales of GM's Chevrolet Cruze compact hit 18,000 vehicles, Mr. Johnson said, with retail sales four times higher than the Chevrolet Cobalt that it replaced.
Final prices for the vehicle were $2,000 higher than those for the Honda Civic and $3,000 higher than Toyota Corolla, he added.
Auto makers sold 153,485 vehicles in Canada, but the jump was not driven by a small-car frenzy.
"Light trucks exploded again and cars were soft," said industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ont.
"That would indicate gas prices haven't had much of an impact yet," Mr. DesRosiers said.
In the first three months of the year, light trucks - which includes minivans and crossover vehicles - represented 57.9 per cent of the market, a record high.
The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate hit 1.66 million vehicles, the highest level since the summer of 2008, before the global financial crisis and the recession, Bank of Nova Scotia economist Carlos Gomes said Friday in a sales analysis.
Ford grabbed top spot in the sales rankings in both Canada and the United States last month, displacing GM in the U.S. market for just the second time since 1998.
Each of the Canadian units of the Detroit Three posted strong gains, as did Honda Canada Inc., Hyundai Auto Canada, Volkswagen Canada Inc. and several luxury manufacturers.