The Hemisphere: Swarm of Bugs

Canadians need no computer to know that small European cars are wheeling the nation’s imported car dealers down the highway to prosperity. Compact little Volkswagens, Austins, Simcas and British Fords scoot buglike along the roads, sit —and fit—snugly in many a next-door neighbor’s garage, cut tight corners into supermarket parking slots. Last week the Dominion Bureau of Statistics cranked up its computers nonetheless, and produced some staggering figures. Though sales of new cars and commercial vehicles slipped 7.3% in the first seven months of 1958, import sales shot up 52%. In July imported foreign cars won a fat 22.5% of Canada’s new car market, will probably wind up the year with sales of close to 66,000 cars.