Paced by record light-truck deliveries, Canadian dealers delivered 6.0% more new light vehicles daily in September compared with August, driving the month’s tally to a record 167,578 units, a gain of 7.9% from the 148,824 sold in September 2013.
LV sales for the month averaged 6,982 on each of 24 selling days, up from August’s 26-day rate of 6,585 and 6,471 units on each of 23 days a year earlier.
Once again, it was consumers’ appetite for light trucks that powered the industry to its September peak.
Light-truck sales reached a September benchmark of 100,916 units, the first time ever deliveries for the month breeched the 100,000-unit mark, and edged past the 100,851 sold the prior month despite fewer selling days.
It was the fifth time this year that Canadian light-truck deliveries topped 100,000 units, driven by year-over-year increases of 18.0% for the Detroit Three, 13.0% for Asian brands and 18.6% for European makes.
Car sales also strengthened in September, rising 2.6% from August, but trailed the prior year by 2.8%.
At 66,662, September car sales ranked only sixth-best for the year and 18th for the month out of the last 29 years. The all-time record was posted in 1986 at 86,273 units.
Despite trailing its prior-year tally by 0.3%, Ford edged past rival Fiat Chrysler to claim the top sales spot in both September and year-to-date, despite FCA’s 14.8% September gain on year-ago.
General Motors sales outpaced those of September 2013 by 28.8%, allowing it to capture the No.2 spot for the month, although it remained third for the year.
In other rankings, Toyota-Lexus remained fourth both for the month and year, while Honda-Acura ran fifth, followed by Nissan-Infiniti in sixth place.
