An eye on new light vehicle segment sales during the third quarter of the year reveals that smaller SUVs have pulled ahead as luxury options retreated, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
In describing September’s sales results as tepid, DAC said Q3 new light vehicle sales in Canada increased by an estimated 4.0% compared to a year-to-date growth of 8.1%. They said passenger cars continued to lose ground to light trucks.
Overall, passenger car sales declined an estimated 10.2% for Q3 and showed a 3.3% decrease for the year so far. This led to a sales split of 13.6% passenger cars against 86.4% light trucks.
“At the segment level, there are a number of interesting dynamics at play,” said DAC in its update. “First and foremost is the strength in the two small mainstream SUV segments — both of which showed YTD gains of more than 20 per cent.”
In Q3 they said compact SUVs continued to see an increase in sales, with subcompact SUVs seeing a bit of pullback. Less anticipated was the growth in small vans, as they have been losing ground to SUVs for years. However, this category saw a 17.2% increase compared to the period last year.
“A second major market theme in 2024 has been weakness in the luxury market,” said DAC. “The luxury segments, combined, saw an estimated 8.5% sales decline in the third quarter and a 2.4% decrease year-to-date.” Only the compact luxury SUV and intermediate luxury SUV segments experienced growth year-to-date — increasing just 2.6% and 1.7%, respectively.
“The luxury segments have seen long term structural growth throughout the past two decades as the baby boomers accumulated wealth,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner at DAC, in a statement. “Faced with high vehicle prices and high interest rates consumers have pulled back from luxury in 2024. It will be interesting to see if this is a temporary pause or the start of a longer-term market shift.”
