• Vehicle sales in Canada rose by 18.3 percent in August compared with the same period last year.
Prices for new vehicles have never been so high. The average price of a new car in Canada recently rose to over $66,000, which is staggering. In this context, one might expect to see a drop in sales.
Not so, at least not in August. As reported by Automotive News (citing data from Canada's benchmark in the field, DesRosiers Automotive), sales grew by 18.3 percent compared to the same period last year.
Specifically, automakers sold 149,697 vehicles in Canada last month. It should be noted that these are estimates, as many automakers only publish their results on a quarterly basis. Ford does so once a year. Nevertheless, the expertise of DesRosiers allows us to rely on its results.
The firm does add a caveat, explaining that “August 2022 was very weak, the worst since 1999. However, the market's strength this year remains impressive.”
In the last pre-pandemic year, 2019, the data shows 181,996 vehicles sold in in August of that year. Meaning sales have yet to return to pre-Covid-19 levels as far as the month of August is concerned.
Even so, the upward trend is clear. August was the tenth consecutive month in which a year-on-year increase was recorded.
As for automakers who publish their results on a monthly basis (ten brands, seven manufacturers), none recorded a decline in August, according to Automotive News’ Detroit Research and Data Centre. This is the second month in a row that this has happened, further confirming the upturn in sales across the industry.
There are two main factors driving the growth: greater vehicle availability, and buyers coming to the table after postponing purchases during the pandemic.
Desrosiers remain cautious about the future, however. The firm says it will be watching to see “whether market momentum can be maintained in the months ahead in light of high interest rates, weakening economic performance and record new vehicle price.”