Sales: The Decline Continues

The latest report from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants shows a decline of almost 20% in new vehicle sales in Canada during March.

This 19.8% decrease means that 140,460 units were sold during this month compared to more than 175,000 vehicles sold in the same month last year. All Canadian provinces saw a decline in sales of more than 10%. The smallest declines were in Prince Edward Island (10.8%) and Ontario (12.8%).

Light vehicle deliveries in Quebec, the second largest market for new vehicle sales in Canada, declined 26.5% in March. This decline shows a first quarter sales deficit of 12.7% compared to the previous year’s results.

Deliveries totalled 34,859 units in March in Quebec, while Ontario put 57,371 new vehicles on the market during the same period.

According to the report, some manufacturers are doing better in this downturn, but available volumes are still greatly affected by the chip shortage. For the first quarter of 2022, sales lag 12.7 percent nationwide.