Canadian new vehicle sales declined in May, according to the latest Scotiabank Motor Vehicle Sales Outlook.
A decline of eight percent last month represents a third consecutive year-over-year drop based on the report. Much of that is due to falling passenger car sales which saw a 9.4 percent year-over-year decline.
Detroit-based OEMs Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors saw overall sales volumes decline by 4.5 percent, largely due to reduced demand for passenger cars. On a brighter note, light truck sales continue to see growth, with demand increasing 4 percent year-over-year. This compares with a 2 percent increase the previous month.
Scotiabank estimated overall vehicle purchases for the month to see an increase over April (around 2.05 million units) up from less than 2 million.
South of the border in the U.S., new vehicle sales grew by 0.7 percent in May (16.8 million annualized units). Countering that however was the fact that the total represented only the second time since September 2017 that U.S. new vehicle sales had totaled less than 17 million units.
In the U.S. market, Detroit automakers fared better than in Canada last month, with two of them posting double-digit gains. Overall however, the report said these gains were countered by lower sales from overseas OEMs.
In terms of segment gains, light trucks and SUVs continued to gain market share at the expense of passenger cars during May. A total of 11.6 million light trucks were sold (representing an 8.3 percent year-over-year increase). Passenger car volume meanwhile, dropped by 13 percent year-over-year.
