Best July on record for Canadian new car sales

The new vehicle market in Canada surged forward in July, entering the second half of 2013 with a 7.3 percent year-over-year sales increase. With 158,993 new light vehicles sold last month, the market experienced its best July ever, beating the previous peak (154,830 units in July 2005) by over 4,000 units.

A number of brands built significant volume through July. Chrysler took top honours last month as the country’s top seller of vehicles, delivering 26,066 units (+8.4%) to second place Ford’s 25,149 units (-10.0%). General Motors staked out the third position (19,164 units / -0.2%), its unit total and overall YTD market share (13.5%) nearly unchanged from 2012.

Japanese brands Honda/Acura (+35.4%), Toyota/Lexus (+12.1%), Nissan/Infiniti (+53.8%), Mitsubishi (+16.4%) and Subaru (+37.6%) all rallying to double-digit sales gains.

Mazda (+4.0%) showed a mild increase but did not participate in the month’s momentum. A similar trend maintained at Hyundai (+5.9%) and Kia (-0.9%), both brands underperforming relative to the national market. Volkswagen Canada sold 5,107 new cars and light trucks at its 136 dealerships. This was 6% above last year’s total of 4,807 and marks the nineteenth consecutive record-setting month. Year-to-date sales of 36,444 are 8% over last year (33,669).

Luxury buyers drove Mercedes-Benz/smart (+18.8%), Porsche (+30.0%), Land Rover (+17.9%) and Jaguar (+125.5%) to high growth rates in July. Sales of BMW/MINI vehicles (-0.9%) declined slightly, while the market continued its move away from Volvo (-17.5%).

 Total Light Vehicles in Canada

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