Sixth consecutive record month for Canadian new car sales

The automotive industry in Canada has seen its sixth consecutive monthly record. Sales of 133,860 units were up 6.5 percent from 2012, and 3,761 units above the previous record November (130,099 units) set in 2001, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. 

The SAAR for November reached 1.8 million and was the second highest in 2013. The 2013 YTD total is now up to 1.630 million units (up 4.0 percent).

Light trucks once again showed strong sales with 76,949 units (up 8.8 percent). Growth, however, was not exclusive to the light truck segment. Passenger car sales grew 3.5 percent with 56,911 units sold in November. Both the truck and car segments are up (6.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively) on a YTD basis.

Ford maintained its position as the top-selling brand with 19,660 units sold in November, although the company’s percentage increase of 1.2% for the month was below the market.  Chrysler was on a tear in November with 19,071 units sold (up 13.0 percent). The 589 unit gap between Chrysler and Ford is a fraction of what it was in 2012.

Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers delivered 17,482 vehicles in November 2013, an increase of nearly one per cent from November 2012.

Last month was an especially strong month for a number of the Japanese brands with double-digit growth for Subaru (up 22.0 percent), Nissan (up 19.9 percent) and Mitsubishi (up 16.1 percent) among others. The Korean nameplates continued their difficult year with monthly comparables down for both Kia and Hyundai.

Jaguar (up 142.9 percent) continued its chart topping performance in November with the company flirting with a 100% increase for the year overall.  Land Rover (up 26.7 percent), and BMW (up 22.3 percent) also put in strong monthly totals.  At the other end of the spectrum Lexus (up 3.4 percent), Volvo (up 0.6 percent) and MINI (up 2.4 percent) all underperformed the national average, with the latter two brands also showing reduced totals on a year to date basis.

For the 23rd consecutive month, Volkswagen Canada has reported record sales. In November, a total of 4,832 new vehicles were sold, 4% over the previous record set just last year (4,659).

Year-to-date Volkwagen sales of 58,590 are 6% ahead of last year (55,355).

www.desrosiers.ca