For the ninth consecutive week, Canadian wholesale vehicle prices for cars and trucks were down, with the car segment decreasing on average by 0.10% ($21) from the previous week and trucks down 0.34% ($75), according to Canadian Black Book.
In its latest COVID-19 automotive industry update for the week of December 15, CBB revealed that the prestige luxury car category was up the most with 0.39% ($178) for the car segment, and the mid-size car category took the deepest dive with -0.71% ($80). For trucks there were declines all around, with the sub-compact luxury crossover segment declining the most with -1.10% ($198).
“Of the thirteen market truck segments CBB tracks, all thirteen were down in value,” said the company in its report. “The largest decrease for last week was seen in the sub-compact luxury crossover segment at -1.10%. Sub-Compact Crossover declined by -0.65% and Small Pickup fell by -0.59% for the week.”
The report also revealed that the Canadian dollar reached a two-year high last week, at $0.7853, which may be bad news for Canadian exports of used vehicles to the United States if the trend continues.
Wholesale used vehicle prices in the U.S. continued to weaken for both the car and truck segments, with car wholesale prices down 0.80% and trucks down 0.42%.
“This past week saw wholesale price declines, for the ninth week straight (in Canada),” said CBB. “A key observation, from last week, is that the wholesale industry is approaching the type of declines normally seen this time of year, but we are not quite there just yet for all segments.”
With a vaccine approved in Canada and the potential for others to follow suit, CBB says there is some good news — such as the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index reached its highest level since mid-March. According to CBB, economists typically equate higher consumer confidence to higher demand for “large ticket items” — and that includes vehicles.
To read the full CBB report, click here.
