Canada: Steep Sales Drop in 2008 for Detroit Three

Foreign automakers sold 51.2 per cent of vehicles in Canada last year, the first time that the market share of the Detroit Three has fallen below 50 per cent.  All three North American automakers - General Motors, Chrysler and Ford - saw their share of the Canadian vehicle market shrink in 2008.

""I don't care how much money the governments in North America provide to Detroit," industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said in a report Monday.  "Until they can turn their market share losses around they will continue to be in trouble ... to be losing market share in a declining market is a disaster scenario."

GM, Ford and Chrysler have already cut several thousand jobs, with GM planning to shut down a truck plant in Oshawa this spring, costing 2,600 jobs, and a Windsor transmission factory next year, affecting 1,400 jobs.

"There is now growing market research that shows that the way governments have been throwing GM, Ford and Chrysler under the bus, that they are damaging the brands of these guys," Pochiluk said.  He said the effects of this brand damage could be felt long after the current recession has run its course, and predicted a reduction in sales of North American-produced vehicles of between three and five per cent - or 800,000 vehicles - between 2012 and 2014.

GM Canada's sales were down 11.1 per cent to 358,902 and Chrysler Canada sales dropped 4.2 per cent to 222,996. DesRosiers said full-year sales of the Ford brand were down 5.9 per cent to 210,626.

GM still holds the largest share of the Canadian market with 21.7 per cent of vehicle sales, followed by Toyota, Ford and Chrysler.