How March sales went for new vehicles

Like the month before, March sales were up compared to the previous year — but it’s not like there was a high bar to jump over.

DesRosiers Automotive Consultants noted the positive in its report: The market was up in March 2023 compared to 2022 with an estimated 146,000 units sold. But it was a modest 3.7 per cent increase over “what was a fairly dismal month last year,” it said.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate for the month came in at 1.59 million, which is noticeably lower than what January and February posted at about 1.7 million.

“The market has now put together five back-to-back months of gains, but there is a decided lack of momentum, and the gain in March was less than we saw in January and February,” said DesRosiers managing partner Andrew King.

Looking at quarterly data, sales are estimated to be 348,000 units from reporting companies, which is an increase of 5.2 per cent from last year.