It wasn’t just the weather that was hot in August. New vehicle sales in Canada maintained the hot pace they’ve been on for most of this year, with 149,301 units sold.
That total is up 6.4 per cent from August 2011 and it’s 4.7 per cent ahead of the five-year average for the month.
Year-to-date-sales of 1,162,395 vehicles were up 6.7 per cent from last year and 4.7 per cent from their five-year average.
It wasn’t a breakout month – its SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) of 1.66 million (per DesRosiers Automotive Consultants) was down slightly from the past couple months – but it was right in-line with the year so far and that’s not a bad place to be.
Total sales of 1.66 million for 2012, If the final four months maintain that pace, would make it a very good year indeed.
Imports maintain momentum
All of the overall sales gain can be attributed to the import brands, which maintained their strong momentum with a collective sales increase of 16.5 per cent for August. Many of those brands reported all-time record sales for the month.
Honda (+49.9%) led the charge among mainstream brands, finally closing in on its five-year average (-2.6%) after falling well behind with the events of 2011. And with an all-new Accord arriving this fall, future prospects look even better.
Other big gainers on the import side included Land Rover (+44.6%), still riding the crest of the Evoque wave, Subaru (+43.9%), Porsche (+43.4%), Volkswagen (+34.4%), Kia (+32.4%), Mini (+26.9%) and Toyota (+25.9%).
The only import brands that didn’t improve sales from 2011 were Volvo (-27.5%), Nissan (-18.0%), Mitsubishi (-16.1%) and Jaguar (-15.0%).
Year-to-date, the imports hold 54.7 per cent of the market – up three-tenths from July and a 3.0-per cent gain from this time last year. D3 share is down by the same amount, to 45.3 per cent.
Detroit Three continue to lose ground
Collectively, Detroit Three sales were down 3.9 per cent from August 2011, with Chrysler (+9.2%) the only one to outperform the market. Ford’s sales were down only slightly (-1.8%) but General Motors (-15.9%) continued to drop further behind.
With 13.5 per cent of the market, GM has lost 2.6 per cent of share since last year. Ford has given up 0.9 share per cent, while Chrysler has held steady, although both have substantially improved sales, year-to-date.
Ford remained unchallenged in first place in the market for August and year-to-date. Chrysler, GM and Toyota followed in that order but Honda outsold Hyundai to reclaim fifth place for the month, though Hyundai remains well ahead year-to-date.
Kia’s sales outpaced Nissan’s for the month by a sufficient margin to move the Korean brand into seventh place for the year-to-date.
Among luxury brands, BMW outsold Mercedes-Benz for the month but the latter maintains a significant, although far from insurmountable, lead year-to-date.
Passenger car sales regain momentum
After a form reversal in June and July, passenger cars (+8.7%) again posted a greater rate of sales increase than trucks (+4.6%) in August, as had been the case earlier in the year.
Year-to date, car sales are ahead by 8.8 per cent compared to a 4.9-per cent gain for trucks. Trucks still account for 54.4 per cent of the market to 45.6 percent for cars, but that’s a 0.9-per cent share loss for trucks from a year ago.
