DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) will continue to release monthly Canadian new light vehicle sales updates along with its COVID-19 update series, although reports for March are expected to be noticeably different from January and February.
Its latest update about provincial sales in February 2020 reveals an estimated 123,375 units sold during the month — 2.1% increase year-over-year when 120,891 units were sold. This was at a time when the novel coronavirus had not yet dramatically impacted the country.
In an article posted by The Globe and Mail in March, Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, said there was no immediate impact of the virus in the first two months of the year.
“The majority of provinces noted estimated sales increases for the month with British Columbia noting a decrease of 4.6%,” said DAC in its news release. “Sales in Saskatchewan grew an estimated 11.1%, outpacing the rest of Canada. Strong sales increases were further estimated for New Brunswick (+9.0%), Prince Edward Island (+6.5%), Manitoba (+5.6%), and Alberta (+5.4%).”
Ontario and Quebec also noted a sales growth in February, with an estimated 232,991 units sold year-to-date — an increase of 1.4% over the first two months of 2019, when 229,665 units were sold.
B.C. was the only province to report a noteworthy sales decrease year-to-date, with sales declining an estimated 7.5%. Newfoundland also experienced a decline in sales, while New Brunswick managed to snag the largest new light vehicle sales increase in the country with an estimated 9.4% year-to-date.
“Clearly, February sales showed no impact from COVID-19, but we expect March numbers to exhibit a markedly different pattern with sales declines across the country,” said DAC.
Dealers can regularly check our resource page for updates on all things COVID-19 related to the automotive industry.
