New-vehicle sales of 125,680 units in Canada in October were up 2.1 per cent from the same month last year, further extending the up-down monthly pattern that has stalled year-to-date sales at 1.5 per cent above last year. Dennis DesRosiers, of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, called it “another soft month,” although all was not gloom and doom. It was the best October for sales since the record year of 2002 and the SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) for the month was up into the 1.63-1.65 million range – the highest rate since spring. Find out who was up and who was down.
Year-to-date sales were 1,349, 829 through October, up over 20,000 units from the same time last year.
“Despite all of the economic storm clouds swirling around the world, the sun is peaking through the clouds with respect to vehicle sales in Canada,” said Canadian auto dealer columnist David Adams, president of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada (AIAMC).
“Encouragingly… for the second month in a row sales in October were better than the average for the last five,” he added.
In fact, October’s sales were 3.6 per cent ahead of their five-year average, although the year-to-date number still lags the five-year figure by 0.7 per cent.
Viewed as a six-month moving average, the SAAR has been on a virtual plateau for the past 12 months, holding just below 1.6 million, which is where it is likely to finish the year, barring some further force majeure.
That being the case, while far from being a record, it’s looking like 2011 will be the best of the past three years for sales, and the third- or fourth-best of the past decade. It could have been worse.
GM back on top
For the first time since January, General Motors (+9.1%) outsold Ford (-2.4%) in October to claim first place in the sales race and pull back into positive territory in terms of year-to-date sales. Ford still maintains a healthy (31,000+) lead in year-to-date numbers, however, so is all but a lock to claim the sales title for the full year.
In terms of year-over-year improvement, Chrysler (+12.4%) was the big winner of the Detroit Three in October. The same is the case for year-to-date figures: Chrysler is up by 14.0 percent; Ford by 3.6 percent; and GM by 0.1 percent.
The Koreans continued their relentless advance with Kia up by 15.4 percent – its 34th consecutive month of growth – and Hyundai by 12.1 percent.
Collectively, it was a down month for Japanese nameplates (-7.1%). Only Toyota (+3.2%) and lexus (0.7%), improved from October 2010, which was a soft month for those brands.
Suzuki (-38.1%), Mitsubishi (20.7%), Acura (-14.5%), Infiniti (-14.3%), Nissan (-14.1%), Honda (-12.3%), Mazda (-4.9%) and Subaru (-4.8%) all suffered declines.
The Euro brands, on the other hand, almost all showed gains (Saab excluded). Land Rover (+57.2%)led the way, followed by Mercedes-Benz (+17.9%), Volvo(+13.2%), Volkswagen (+7.5%), Mini (+6.2%), Audi (+2.5%), Jaguar (+1.9%) and BMW (+0.3%). The only losers among the group were Porsche and Smart (-21.0%).
Truck sales continued to surge in October, up 6.0 per cent from year ago, while passenger cars (-4.0%) again declined.
Compared to five-year averages, truck sales were up by 20.9 per cent with passenger-car sales down by 5.4 per cent. Year-to-date truck share was 1.6 per cent to 55.8 per cent while passenger car share fell the same amount to 44.2 per cent.
