Sales of new vehicles in Canada fell in July compared to the same time last year, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
An estimated total of 155,657 units were sold last month, a drop of 5.7 per cent from July 2020. That dropped the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 1.71 million. While that’s an improvement from June, it’s well down from March’s number of 1.92 million, says DesRosiers.
It’s a far from normal time in the new sales sector, even as pandemic restrictions ease and normalcy returns in other industries.
“For the automotive industry, however, ‘normalcy’ remained an elusive goal as semiconductor shortages persisted, some dealer lots resembled barren wastelands and the industry continued to battle its supply/demand mismatches,” DesRosiers’ statement about July sales said.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, noted Andre King, the consultancy’s managing partner. Some carmakers saw increased sales compared to the previous year.
“These disparities in performance are the real story for the month and will likely persist for the remainder of the year as the impact of the semiconductor shortages continue to vary greatly by model and by manufacturer,” he said.
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