New car sales strong in July, says Desrosier

July has been a strong month for sales with nearly 160,000 units sold. Entry level automobiles account for the lion’s share of the growth with a 12.6 percent increase.

The Canadian light vehicle market saw growth of 2.9 percent in July 2013, with all regions outperforming their respective sales from July 2012.

Quebec (-0.5%) was the only market to drop in comparison to the national average with Ontario (+1.8%) and New Brunswick (+2.3%) underperforming slightly.

The Prairie Provinces observed ample growth as the 7.8 percent gain in sales matched Alberta’s (+7.8%) year-to-date progress. Both Saskatchewan (+2.1%) and Manitoba (+3.4%) saw sales growth relative to 2012, however they both fell short of their year-to-date gains of 6.0 percent and 12.6 percent respectively.

Atlantic Canada has continued to see a surge in sales with PEI posting the month’s strongest sales gains (31.9%), followed by Nova Scotia (13.8%) and Newfoundland (10.6%).

From a brand perspective, compact cars continue to lead passenger car sales in July 2013 with the Civic (+35.7%), Elantra (+25.2%), and Corolla (+22.5%) showing exceptional gains. The Civic and the Elantra continue to battle for the top place in the segment. The 656 unit gap between the two has been the largest lead the Civic has experienced since March.

The F-Series (-1.3%) maintained its lead in July with sales numbers of 10,144 units. Dodge’s Ram Pickup (+20.6%), on the other hand, continued to pick up speed in the month of July with 7,854 units sold.

Other competitors in the compact segment saw mixed results with the Cruze (+2.2%) and the Mazda3 (-1.0%) underperforming the national average. Volkswagen’s Jetta (11.9%) saw positive sales and year-to-date growth. Ford’s Focus (+17.7%) witnessed sales growth but lost 5.8% when compared to their respective year-to-date numbers.

Honda’s facelift of the Accord (+152.1%) is resonating with consumers as it more than doubles the OEM’s units total relative to 2012. Sales growth in the intermediate segment is echoed in the Fusion’s (+22.4%) success last month. There was also demand for import nameplate sport utility vehicles as the Honda CR-V (+39.2%), Toyota RAV4 (+25.6%) and Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (+13.0%) enjoyed sales boosts. The RAV4 was the only one of the three to drop when compared to 2012’s year-to-date figures.