Canada October Sales Another Milestone

Another milestone fell in October as Canadian dealers delivered a record 162,724 new light vehicles, an average of 6,027 daily that bested prior year’s 154,750-unit October tally, 5,932 daily, by 1.3%

Although October’s rate was 13.4% shy of the prior month’s 6,960-a-day pace on volume of 174,004 vehicles, September’s performance was more heavily influenced by model-year-end incentives.

Canadian consumers’ ongoing love affair with light trucks again was evident last month as a record 104,739 units left dealer lots, an October record that bested the prior peak of 90,323 deliveries set just a year earlier by 11.6%.

Although October’s performance was a bit of a respite from the 111,524 light trucks sold in September, it still was 11^th best for any month in history, the benchmark having been achieved in May this year when 114,544 units were sold.

In their rush to buy light trucks, consumers left cars languishing in October, with just 57,985 units finding takers, down 13.2% from 64,341 a year earlier and 14.3% below the prior month.

In fact, car sales ranked only fifth for October in the last 30 years, equaling just 54.8% of the record 105,863 units sold in October 1985.  

With LV sales in the first 10 months reaching 1,621,076 units, October’s performance all but assures the industry will surpass its old annual record of 1,860,890 posted in 2014 sometime early in December, if not late this month, depending on whether or not dealers increase the pace at which light vehicles leave their lots in November.

Fiat Chrysler Canada continues to lead the market with LV sales 5.8% ahead of archrival Ford, up from year-ago when they were neck and neck with just a 0.1% spread.

General Motors, meanwhile, continues to close in on the No.2 spot with a 5.5% January-October sales spike that puts it within 5.3% of Ford, compared with a 16.6% shortfall in like-2014.

At the same time, fourth-place Toyota is maintaining its lead over fifth-place Honda by 19.3% for the year, although that is down slightly from 20.4% a year earlier.  

The largest percentage gain this year has been racked up by low-volume luxury car builder Tesla, sales of which of posted a 136.1% increase to 1,648 deliveries through October, compared with prior-year’s 698

Abinder @ wardsauto.com