While retail consumers are important to the automotive market, the fleet segment represents a significant portion of overall sales and its impact on the market is important, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC).
“The speed and extent to which the fleet market recovers will be one of the key factors driving the recovery in the Canadian automotive market in the coming months,” said DAC.
“With the ongoing pandemic and subsequent shutdowns, overall new light vehicle sales were hit hard and fell sharply,” said DAC. “However, industry stakeholders indicate that segments of the vital fleet market were hit harder still.”
How much each automaker replies on fleet sales varies widely. Tesla and Honda, for example, are on the low end with its fleet having accounted for 1.7% and 3.3% of their overall registration figure, respectively.
On the high end, fleet sales at Ford accounted for 34.9% of the brand’s overall registrations in 2019. For FCA, that percentage was 32.9%. Ford was ahead of the pack with more than 97,000 total fleet registrations for 2019, when considering overall volume. FCA and General Motors were close behind, with more than 73,000 and more than 71,000 registrations, respectively.
“The speed and extent to which the fleet market recovers will be one of the key factors driving the recovery in the Canadian automotive market in the coming months,” said DAC.
