Sales of new motor vehicles fell 2.2% to 115,187 units in February 2009

The decline was entirely a result of falling truck sales.

Statscan - Monthly sales have averaged around 115,000 units since December 2008, whereas the average over the previous three years was almost 140,000 units.

Preliminary data obtained from the industry indicate that the number of new motor vehicles sold rose about 6% in March.

Truck sales drive decline

Sales of new trucks (which include minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses) were down 5.0% to 54,834 units in February. This decline did not offset the increase in truck sales in January.

Sales of passenger cars rose 0.4% to 60,353 units. There was a 6.1% gain in sales of overseas-built passenger cars, their largest increase since March 2008. Offsetting this increase was a 3.5% sales decline for North American-built passenger cars.

Sales down in seven provinces

The number of new motor vehicles sold declined in seven provinces in February. The main contributors to the decline at the national level were declines in Alberta (-12.5%) and British Columbia (-11.6%).