Continuing the trend witnessed so far this year, Canadian new vehicle sales in September not only increased by 12.6 per cent over last year’s total, they also helped push the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) up to 2 million units. According to data compiled by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, this represents the first time the market has been operating at a SAAR of 2 million.
Such a strong month saw all but five automakers in Canada post sales gains over last September. In terms of percentage gains, Audi was the biggest winner — total sales of 2,490 units representing a 42.3 per cent gain over September 2013 (1,750). Perhaps a surprising result came from General Motors, which posted a whopping 34.4 per cent gain over last September’s numbers, selling 24,555 units for the month versus 18,270 during the same period a year earlier.
In fact, General Motors’ performance in September enabled it to overhaul Chrysler Canada and finish second in terms of overall volume behind Ford, which sold 27,148 vehicles. Chrysler, which sold 23,620 units across all its brands for the month still posted a gain of 19.8 per cent over last September.
Aside from Mitsubishi, Nissan and Porsche, all of which continued to perform exceedingly well in September, most brands saw steady to modest growth. Canadians continued to be drawn to light trucks, demand for this segment rising 10.3 per cent, for September compared with the same period a year earlier, while passenger car volume declined slightly (0.6 per cent).
As the industry continues to perform exceedingly well and short term forecasts remain optimistic, there is every indication that — at least from a volume perspective — 2014 will go down as a banner year for new car and truck sales.
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