MARKHAM, Ontario -

Sharing some certified pre-owned insight, Todd Fowler —Honda Canada’s manager of used-vehicle operations — told Auto Remarketing Canada on Wednesday that both of the company’s brands have made a “fantastic start” to the year in the CPO segment.

And it appears that Honda and Acura aren’t alone.

When asked by Auto Remarketing Canada about January CPO sales, several automakers in Canada are saying they have kicked off 2012 with a bang.

Starting with Honda Canada, the company’s Honda brand moved 1,485 certified units in January, up from 1,322 CPO sales in opening month of 2011. Acura’s 258 CPO sales were up from 191 in January 2011.

“Thanks to the strong support from our dealers and with our customers truly finding the value in our certified programs, Honda and Acura have both exceeded January 2011 CPO sales,” Fowler shared. “With Honda achieving an impressive 12.3-percent increase, and Acura showing an outstanding 35.1-percent growth in CPO sales versus last year, 2012 is off to a fantastic start."

Toyota, meanwhile, had its strongest January for certified sales with 1,559 units sold. This is up from 1,502 CPO sales in January 2011 and represents the 29th consecutive best month.

Up next was Mercedes Benz Canada, which also had its best-ever January. It moved 859 pre-owned vehicles for a 37.4-percent gain.

“All of our dealers are focusing on building their CPO business; these efforts generated outstanding results to positively kick start the New Year,” said Neal Bodack, vice president of pre-owned, fleet and remarketing at Mercedes-Benz Canada.

“All three regions saw increases of more than 30 percent, with an exceptionally strong demand for pre-owned MLs which showed an 80-percent gain over 2011. This significant growth undoubtedly confirms the level of confidence and value our consumers see in a Star Certified Mercedes-Benz vehicle,” he added.

Meanwhile, Audi began the year by selling 256 certified vehicles, compared to 245 CPO sales in January 2011.

“With this, we’ve had a strong start to the year, particularly in Western and Central Canada. From an inventory perspective, we are expecting 2012 to be more challenging in terms of off-lease supply. However at this point, our dealers continue to do well despite these changes,” said Jonathan Breton, Audi Canada’s manager of certified pre-owned and corporate sales.

As for Volvo Canada, it sold 84 certified units in January, compared to 48 CPO sales in the first month of 2011. Officials noted that the company rolled out a new program in April 2011, which dramatically pushed sales upward.

“Sales continue to steadily increase each and every month since we introduced our aggressive certified pre-owned program last April. Analysts have forecasted this sector as an area of future growth in the industry, so we only expect these numbers to continue,” explained Emanuel Lichtinshtein, the company’s national fleet sales, CPO and remarketing manager.

“More and more customers are taking advantage of Volvo Canada’s certified pre-owned program, recognizing the tremendous value and benefit of purchasing a premium vehicle with confidence,” he added.

Moving along, Volkswagen moved 807 CPO vehicles in Canada last month, up from 713 a year ago. Subaru Canada’s CPO sales reached 21 units in January, compared to 15 certified sales in the same period of 2011.

Over at BMW Group Canada, the BMW brand moved 796 pre-owned vehicles (down 6.8 percent) while the Mini brand sold 73 models (down 49.7 percent).