The average days to turn for used vehicle inventory listed for sale continued to decline last week and is now at a 14-day moving average of 46 days — down three days from the previous week, according to Canadian Black Book.
In its weekly COVID-19 update, the company said vehicle prices last week indicated that there is greater stability in the Canadian wholesale market. Car segments increased in wholesale value during this period by 0.01%, while trucks were up 0.12%.
“Car wholesale values have been virtually flat for a month now, after an earlier five-week positive run,” said CBB. “The Truck side of the market has seen growth for two weeks, following two weeks of marginal declines.”
In the car segment, near-luxury cars were up 0.25% ($49), followed by mid-size cars with 0.18% ($21), luxury cars with 0.14% ($38), and sports cars with 0.12% ($23). The most significant decrease came from the full-size car category with -0.63% (-$97), followed by compact cars, prestige luxury cars, and premium sporty cars.
CBB said the car segment has seen regressions for five weeks with an average weekly loss more than 0.50%.
“With an average national fuel price at $1.04 per litre, this segment does not have the same appeal as it did just 18 month ago, when fuel was over $1.30 per litre,” said CBB.
In the truck segment, full-size crossovers/SUVs were up the most at 0.50% ($144), followed by compact vans with 0.39% ($55), full-size pickups with 0.29% ($78), and compact luxury crossover/SUVs with 0.25% ($61). There were other increases, but significantly smaller.
This now marks ten consecutive weeks of positive change for the popular full-size pickup category, which has not declined a week since July. “This is a testament to the fact that Full-Size Pickups are high demand items, both for sale domestically and for export to the U.S.,” said CBB.
The steepest decrease within the truck segment came from the small pickup category with 0.27% (-$52), followed by the sub-compact luxury crossover category with 0.13% (-$23), and others.
On the U.S. side, wholesale vehicle prices declined for both the car and truck category this past week, with cars down a significant 0.92% and trucks down by 0.34%.
As for the big issue likely occupying dealer minds, CBB is anticipating that vehicle shortages for new cars will continue to prove challenging for the industry due to various regions in the world struggling with the second wave of the novel coronavirus.
The full report can be found here.
