Canada LV Sales Hit All-Time Record
Executive Summary
Canadian new light-vehicle sales soared to an all-time record in May, topping the 200,000-unit mark for only the second time in history.
Canadian dealers sold an all-time-high 216,257 new light vehicles in May, an average of 8,650 on each of 25 selling days.
It was only the second time in history LV sales topped 200,000 units, surpassing by 3.2% the 7,416 units delivered on each of 27 days in April 2016, when 200,242 vehicles were driven off dealer lots.
Powering the May sales express were the 130,592 light trucks delivered during the month, also an any-month benchmark that surpassed April’s 130,666 units by 8.4%,
In comparison, April 2106 ranked third in light-truck volume at 127,503.
Sales of 74,673 new cars were up 13.4% from April, but despite a volume increase from prior-year’s 72,641 they trailed year-ago by 1.3% in daily rate.
A rebound in consumer confidence due to rising employment numbers, low interest rates and continued strength in the housing industry was credited with helping push May sales to record territory, aided by low- or zero-interest financing incentives by several manufacturers.
Ford, with a 12.8% over-over-year gain, again held the top spot in the Canadian market, both in May and for the year.
Second-place FCA recorded an 0.2% dip in its May selling rate, although it surpassed year-ago by 4.0% in total volume.
Third-place General Motors posted a 30.4% gain over year-ago, while fourth-ranked Toyota saw a 3.5% increase and No. 5 Honda posted a 7.4% gain.
Industry LV sales in the first five months totaled 833,074, an increase of 4.5% compared with January-May 2016’s 797,265 units, prompting some market prognosticators to raise year-end forecasts to levels equal to or just a notch under 2016’s record 1.98 million units.
