According to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., provincial sales performance of new light vehicles was mixed in June 2021. Ontario continued to see an improvement in sales, Newfoundland saw a sales decrease of 14.8%, and British Columbia noted a sales increase of 24.1%.
Although total sales across Canada reached an estimated 162,500 units and were up 3.9% from June 2020, those sales were 12.4% lower than the typical pre-COVID performance seen in June 2019.
Looking at year-to-date sales figures, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. reported that Canada’s total new light vehicle sales increased 33.0% with Quebec leading the way, outperforming the market with a 42.9% sales increase. This is significant in light of the province’s unexpected 9.2% decrease in June. Ontario performed below the Canadian market, with a sales increase of 26.3%, and PEI noted a 48.1% sales increase in the first half of the year.
According to Andrew King, Managing Partner of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., semiconductor-related vehicle shortages may have played a part in the mixed sales results noted across the country. “The interaction of pandemic related demand issues and semiconductor related vehicle shortages continued to cause havoc across Canada in June,” he said in a recent press release, adding that “The result was higher than normal volatility and a significant spread in region by region performance.”
