With the year half gone, new vehicle sales in Canada continue the record pace they’ve been on since it started.
June sales set a new monthly record for the sixth month in a row, increasing the string of consecutive year-over-year growth to 15 months. This has made the first half of 2015 the best ever.
Sales of 177,857 new cars and trucks were up just 1.2 per cent from the same month last year but that was enough to make it the best June on record – six per cent higher than the five-year average sales for the month, according to David Adams, president of the Global Automakers of Canada.
First-half sales were 2.7 per cent ahead of those for the same record-breaking period last year and 9.7 per cent ahead of the five-year historic average for first-half sales.
“Rising consumer confidence and attractive incentives and financing rates have continued to propel new car sales forward in June,” said Adams.
While those figures are highly positive, there is a note of caution among them. According to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, the seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) fell below 1.8 million for June, its third consecutive month of decline. That measure will have to turn around if 2015 sales are to stay on pace to top 2014’s record 1.85-million sales total.
FCA MAINTAINS SALES LEADERSHIP
FCA Canada (formerly Chrysler Canada) maintained the top sales spot in June, in spite of a modest 0.8 per cent sales increase. Monthly sales of 27,217 vehicles were sufficient to keep it in first place year-to-date as well, with a healthy 14,000-unit lead over Ford. FCA’s first-half sales are up 1.1 per cent from last year.
Ford suffered a sales decline of 13.2 per cent from last June but maintained its second-place ranking ahead of General Motors, which saw a solid sales increase of 15.3 per cent. Year-to-date, Ford holds an advantage of about 7,000 units over GM.
Toyota (+9.1 per cent) maintained its fourth-place ranking, with Honda (-0.3 per cent) solidly in fifth. But there were changes in the order further down the ranks. Nissan (+10.1 per cent) surged past Hyundai (-21.6 per cent) to take over sixth place, and Mazda (+7.3 per cent) surpassed Kia (-10.3 per cent) and Volkswagen (+3.7 per cent), to round out the top 10 for the month.
The year-to-date order was the same as the monthly rankings for the top five, followed by Hyundai, Nissan, Volkswagen, Kia and Mazda.
TRUCKS AND LUXURY BRANDS LEAD THE WAY
Truck and SUV sales gains (+11.5 per cent) for June were almost offset by losses on the passenger car side (-11.7 per cent). Truck/SUV sales accounted for 61.5 per cent of all sales in June and bumped their share up to 60.1 per cent year-to-date.
Sales of luxury brands also outpaced the rest of the market, most by a significant margin. Land Rover (+28.2 per cent), Acura (+27.6 per cent), Porsche (+25.9 per cent) and Lexus (+25.8 per cent) led the way, followed by Infiniti (+20.2per cent) and Mercedes-Benz (+17.3 per cent).
Among mainstream brands, Subaru made the biggest improvement, with sales up 22.5 per cent from last June.
[NOTE: Data quoted in this report were sourced from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, Global Automakers of Canada and individual automakers.]
