Considering one of the harshest winters we’ve had to endure in years (certainly for Eastern Canada), data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants shows that new vehicle sales have continued to trend upward in 2014, bucking the notion that winter tends to flag demand for vehicles.
February’s total of 105,693 units was up on January’s 95,639, while March delivered 157,060 — a number for that month only surpassed by 2013 in the post-recession marketplace.
Signs continue to point to a healthy demand for new cars and trucks among Canadian consumers. The majority of OEMs in Canada saw gains this March compared with a year earlier. Chrysler led the way in terms of overall volume for the month, delivering 24,481 units ( a boost of 1.5 per cent over March 2013). Ford meanwhile saw declines of 10.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, putting it only slightly ahead of third place General Motors with 22,390 units sold. GM, which delivered 21,790 cars and light trucks saw demand rise by 7.8 per cent compared with a year ago — an encouraging sign perhaps that recent new product investment and strategies are paying off.
On the Import side, Toyota remained the volume leader, delivering 15,803 units for the month (a 4.8 per cent gain over March 2013), followed by Honda (13,454 units) and Hyundai, which having sold 12,707 units is showing signs of momentum once again (after an extended period of declining sales). Nissan also continues to show strong gains — demand for March was up by 26.4 per cent compared with a year earlier, the automaker reporting 9,404 deliveries.
On the luxury side, both Jaguar and Land Rover continue to perform well in terms of percentage gains. With 209 and 734 sales for March respectively, both marques witnessed double digit growth compared with a year earlier (43.2 and 25.5 per cent). Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus, also put in a strong showing for March — 1,594 deliveries represented a 30.5 per cent gain over a year earlier. Another big winner from a percentage gain standpoint was smart — demand nearly tripling since last year (320 units versus 111). Perhaps that in itself, indicates a growing interest in true city cars among Canadians.
In terms of light trucks versus passenger cars, March saw gains for the former, with 90,851 units representing a 5.1 per cent increase over last year and placing truck sales at 59.8 per cent of the overall light vehicle market. Meanwhile, passenger car demand, at 66,209 units, fell last month — demand was down 5.1 per cent compared with March 2013.
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