Sales of new motor vehicles in Canada increased by 6.3 per cent in March, the largest such increase since January 2008, according to figures released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.

Trucks, which include minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses, accounted for much of the growth, says Statistics Canada. Sales of trucks were up 11 per cent compared to February figures, when sales were down 5.7 per cent.

In March, 60,577 new trucks were sold, slightly less than half of the 122,194 new vehicles sold overall. But the overall sales were down 17.9 per cent compared to March 2008 figures, when 148,796 new vehicles were sold.

Up across the board

Sales of new vehicles were up in all provinces, particularly Quebec, which posted a 10.4 per cent increase.

Sales in Ontario, which has been bleeding auto manufacturing jobs in recent months, were up 5.8 per cent. March was the third consecutive month Ontario recorded an increase in sales.

The lowest growth rate was recorded in Alberta, which posted a 1.8 per cent increase.

Statistics Canada noted that preliminary figures from the auto industry indicated April figures were not likely to differ much from March's numbers.