In more dramatic fashion than this year’s spring weather, new vehicle sales in Canada continue to heat up. According to information compiled by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, April saw deliveries reach 178, 703 units — a significant bump on March’s total of 157,060. Compared to April last year, which saw 171,807 units, last month’s figures indicate a continued optimism and willingness among Canadian consumers to purchase new cars and light trucks.
Most brands saw solid gains for April compared with a year ago, though in a pattern similar to what we saw last year, Ford edged out Chrysler for the top spot last month (27,334 units, versus 27,019). General Motors also witnessed decent gains, ringing in 25,435 orders in April compared with 21,790 the month prior.
Compared with April 2013, Chrysler and GM saw gains of 5.2 and 3.2 per cent in sales volume respectively while Ford, despite posting higher numbers in April than in March, was still down by two per cent compared with last year.
Toyota led the way when it came to Import brands — reporting sales of 19,035 for the month, but a big surprise was Hyundai, which recorded 14,310 units sold — surpassing Honda and representing the Korean brand’s first significant gain in months (up 5.9 per cent compared with April 2013).
An emphasis on new product (notably the new Canada-only Micra and the popular Rogue compact SUV) saw Nissan post significant growth in April. With 9,576 deliveries, Nissan saw a bump of 29.1 per cent compared with a year earlier. Sister brand Infiniti was also a big winner, posting a 37.9 per cent increase over April 2013 thanks to sales totalling 913 units.
On the downside, it was the niche brands that appeared to suffer most, MINI, smart and Volvo all reporting double digit losses (16, 10.5 and 28.1 per cent) compared with April 2013, though with new product finally in the pipeline, there are signs that Volvo could see a turnaround this year.
Elsewhere, trends point to a slowly growing market share for Imported brands over Domestics (55.5 per cent versus 44.5), while Canadians continue to overwhelmingly favour light trucks in lieu of passenger cars. Could we be on track to exceed 2013’s overall sales numbers? It’s quite possible given that the year-to-date total currently stands at 537,095 units (a 1.9 per cent increase over 2013). Watch this space.
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