For the first time, the Big Three automakers did not sell a majority of the vehicles sold in Canada last month, according to the latest sales figures.

GM Canada, Ford Motor Co. of Canada and DaimlerChrysler Canada collectively sold 66,651 cars and light trucks in September, Desrosiers Automotive Consultants said in its monthly market snapshot.

The so-called import nameplates — Toyota, Honda and Nissan among them — sold 69,113 vehicles across the country.

"For nine years in a row, they [GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler] have lost market share," Dennis Desrosiers, president of Desrosiers Automotive Consultants, told CBC News Online.

"So at some point, this was going to happen," he said. 

Desrosiers said that if fleet sales are excluded (concentrated among GM, Ford and Chrysler brands), import nameplates have actually been winning the sales game in Canada for the last four years.

Industry figures show that overall Canadian sales last month rose 9.3 per cent from the same month in 2005. A year ago, consumers stayed away from showrooms as gasoline prices hit record highs after Hurricane Katrina and a number of incentive programs had just ended.

Car sales gained 3.7 per cent, according to Desrosiers, while light truck sales surged 16.6 per cent.

Perennial sales leader GM Canada saw its sales rise 8.1 per cent. But double-digit increases at Toyota and Honda allowed them to come in second and third last month, pushing Chrysler and Ford into fourth and fifth spots.

Year-to-date, the market share of the Big Three in Canada stands at 53.8 per cent, according to Desrosiers. Last year at this time it was 56 per cent.