Canada May Sales Second Best

May sales of new light vehicles in Canada totaled a second-best 194,437 units. That they didn’t top prior-year’s record volume of 197,440 was due only to the fact there were just 24 selling days this year compared with 26 days in May 2015.

In fact, consumers bought 8,102 LVs daily last month, 6.7% more than the 7,594 delivered year-ago, and 9.4% more than April’s 7,408-a-day pace on its any-month record volume of 200,022.

Not surprisingly, consumer interest remained focused on light trucks, driving volume to a May record of 121,608 units, at a daily rate of 5,067 that was 15.3% better than the prior-year’s 4,396-unit daily rate on sales of 114,285 vehicles.

Car buyers also picked up the pace in May vs. April, taking home 3,035 units daily, up 13.3% from the prior month’s 2,679 deliveries and pushing May sales to 72,829 from 72,344 in April despite the shorter selling period.

Still, car deliveries failed to match the prior-year tally of 83,155 in May 2015, when there were 27 selling days, and ranked among the worst May performances in history. Only the 72,419 cars sold in May 2010 and the 68,141 delivered in 2011 were less.

FCA Canada returned to first place in LV sales after losing that spot to rival Ford in April, thanks to an 18.6% month-on-month increase to 31,513 units. Ford’s 28,925 May units failed to match its April tally, although it saw an 8.5% selling-rate gain.

Industry sales in the first five months of the year totaled 796,295 units, 5.6% ahead of the 753,885 LVs sold in like-2015.

That included a 14.1% increase in light-truck deliveries to a record 516,844 vehicles from 452,899 a year earlier, while car sales languished at 279,451 units,7.2% less than prior-year’s 300,986, despite the relatively strong May performance.

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