CANADA AUTO SALES FACTS AND FIGURES FROM APRIL OF '09

One predictable sign of rough times arises when business, governments, and even families begin to alter definitions or use new terms altogether. Nova Scotia has passed a bill that retroactively changes what a budget deficit really means, for example. Automakers which haven't posted a year-over-year sales increase in what seems like years now tend to compare their figures - when possible - to the month before, rather than the equivalent period of a year earlier. It helps these automakers to spin positive news out of terrible news. General Motors, in this case, sold more cars than in April than in March. Forget that April/2009 sales were much lower than April/2008 sales, down 23.6% in Canada and 34.5% in the USA.

Let's put it this way: believe what you hear; but take a deeper look. No time to take a deeper look? That's fine - The Good Car Guy has done it for you. In Canada, a deeper look reveals some very interesting figures. Keep reading to get the backstage story.

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2,718 - total Toyota RAV4s sold in April of 2009 in Canada (thanks to the availability of new front-wheel drive models), which is almost 1,100 more than all Lexus Canada sales

948 - total Toyota Venza sales in April of 2009 in Canada, representing the third consecutive month of increased Venza sales

4.7 - percentage gain in Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra truck sales in Canada this April compared with April of '08

133 - total Audi Q7 sales in April in Canada, making the large SUV Audi's fourth-best selling vehicle in April with sales beating the combined effort of Audi's R8, A8 & S8, A6 & S6, and the TT

2,517 - total Daimler sales in Canada in April, represented by Mercedes-Benz and smart, which makes April of 2009 the best-ever April for the brand(s)

24.4 - percentage gain posted by the Ford Fusion compared with the equivalent period of a year earlier

1,017 - total Kia Soul sales in April, representing about 1/4 of all Kia Canada sales

35.9 - percentage increase in the year-over-year sales of the Subaru Forester, helping Subaru (up 4.1%) become one of few automakers to sell more cars this April than last

1,065 - total Nissan Rogue sales, easily outselling its Nissan "truck" counterparts combined sales of 749

6,443 - total Honda Civic sales in April of 2009 in Canada, almost topping Nissan's total sales and definitely outdoing the lower 17 brands in April's Sales Stats post

16 - total sales of up-and-coming, mould-breaking, status-quo defeating Nissan GT-R and Audi R8, with 8 units pushed into Canadian hands each