Car sales in Canada are hot in Canada these days. May was a record month for new car and truck sales, increasing 1.1 per cent, with 197,937 cars and light trucks sold.
In a note to clients, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants wrote “The Canadian new vehicle market remains to be on track for the best-selling year ever as the industry reported the highest monthly sales in history last month,”
The increase began early in the spring, increasing 2 per cent to 160,274 vehicles from 157,228 during March, the first month of the important spring selling season.
Sales climbed 5.7 per cent in April
Volkswagen Canada Inc. grew fastest in Canada with a 73 per cent gain that created a record March, and the second-best month in the company’s history. A snappy TV ad campaign may have helped with the Jetta and Rabbit models gaining popularity with young people.
Sales for Porsche Cars Canada Ltd, increased by 46 per cent. FCA Canada (formerly Chrysler) said sales rose 2 per cent, led by the mid-sized Chrysler 200 model.
GM Canada reported a 3.8 per cent increase in sales from a year ago with the biggest sales gain in May among Detroit auto makers, with 27,462 cars and trucks sold
Ford’s Canadian sales dropped 8.5 per cent from a year earlier, to 29,052 cars and trucks, as car sales fell 7.1 per cent, and truck sales dropped 9 per cent.
Debt increasing too!
Many of these sales, however, don’t necessarily reflect an improvement in the Canadian ecomony, and indeed they may be fuelling Canadians growing borrowing habits. According to a report from RBC Economics, Canadians racked up outstanding debt of $1.82 trillion by the end of April.
That’s a 4.6 per cent increase from April of last year and reflects an increase in the amount of money people are carrying on their credit cards and lines of credit.
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