Alberta leads new vehicle sales so far in 2012

Ontario and Quebec are by far the two most lucrative provinces for car manufacturers, but when you factor in the population, Alberta leads in sales by population.

2012 Ford-150 FX4 (Photo: Sébastien D'Amour/Auto123.TV)

In Canada, new car and light truck sales climbed 13.1% during the first two months of 2012, compared to the same period last year. However, the provinces with the highest increases are Saskatchewan (21.4%), Alberta (20.5%) and Nova Scotia (19.6%).

On the other hand, all the other provinces scored a result below the national average, and Prince Edward Island is the only one that bought fewer vehicles so far in 2012 than in 2011 (-2.8%).

With 8.2 new vehicle sales per 1,000 citizens, Alberta is ahead of – surprise – Newfoundland, whose population bought 6.9 new vehicles per 1,000 citizens. Saskatchewan completes the podium with 6.6.

Rank	Province	Population (est.)	Vehicle sales	Sales per 1,000
1	Alberta	3,823,617	31,516	8.24
2	TNewfoundland	511,036	3,528	6.90
3	Saskatchewan	1,068,356	7,103	6.95
4	Nova Scotia	945,532	5,757	6.09
5	Quebec	8,035,365	47,941	5.97
6	New Brunswick	751,171	4,470	5.95
7	Ontario	13,482,495	74,929	5.56
8	PEI	143,013	723	5.06
9	Bristish-Columbia	4,606,191	22,467	4.88
10	Manitoba	1,262,693	5,775	4.57

_{Source: DesRosiers Automotive Reports, Statistique Canada.}