Vancouver, B.C. - Sales of cars and light trucks in June were down 5.7 per cent from the same month last year to 159,529 vehicles, a decline of about 10,000 vehicles, reports industry analyst, Dennis Desrosiers. “But then last year was the best June on record so it was going to be very difficult to eclipse,” said Desrosiers.

“In keeping with high gas prices, passenger car sales were actually up 4.3 per cent while light truck sales were down 17.6 per cent. GM and Ford are light truck heavy in their fleet make-up so their sales were off 23.8 percent and 13.7 percent respectively. Chrysler is a little more focused on passenger cars so their sales were up 0.1 percent.”

Year-to-date, import brand nameplates accounted for 52.4 per cent of sales, and have sold more vehicles than GM, Ford and Chrysler with a 51.2 per cent market share. Toyota/Lexus was the Number 2 automaker in June outselling Chrysler and Ford by a few hundred units.
Mercedes continued their runaway year with sales up 46.6 percent (25.8 per cent YTD). Subaru (up 34.9 percent) and Mitsubishi (up 20.8 percent). Numerous others recorded single digit growth.

Said Desrosiers, “Most OEMs are complaining about their inability to secure smaller fuel efficient vehicles for their dealers in Canada so I suspect that sales could have been higher if supply was on the ground. This actually bodes well for the next few months as some pent up demand for these products are likely to carry over to the summer selling period. The market is slowing though and we don’t expect the strong sales from the early months to continue. In fact sales were down for three of the last four months. We still think that come the end of the year that sales will be slightly behind last year’s number although the market could surprise us by coming in a little stronger.”

Canada June light vehicle sales: