2009-07-02 21:49:03 -

TORONTO (AP) - Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. has claimed the top spot in Canadian vehicle sales in June for the first time in 50 years, the company reported Thursday.
Ford Canada said it sold 27,408 vehicles in June, as it posted a 25-percent increase over the same month of 2008.
The increase came in a month when General Motors Corp. sought bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Chrysler Canada Inc. dealers were short of vehicles because its North American plants were shut as it also went through a bankruptcy protection process in the United States.
Ford sold more than 5,000 units ahead of perennial market leader General Motors, whose sales were 31 percent below where they were a year ago.
Toyota Canada's dropped 17 percent and Honda Canada's fell 17 percent.

Chrysler Canada's sales fell by a whopping 58 percent to just 9,200 vehicles, as large-volume fleet sales fell due to the temporary shutdown of the company's North American plants while the company's parent restructured.
DesRosiers Automotive reports that overall Canadian sales of cars and light trucks were down 13.2 percent in June, falling to 138,500 from 159,529 a year ago.
Canadian auto sales numbers have come out a day after their U.S. counterparts reported that almost all of the automakers, except Honda, had sales declines last month compared with the same time last year.