March New Vehicle Unit Sales Surge
Last year, the Canadian automotive sector demonstrated resilience despite low growth and economic struggles, recording 1.69 million units sold, a notable increase from the previous year.
This growth trend has continued into the first quarter of 2024, with Canadians switching to full March madness car shopping mode.
The number of new vehicles sold in Canada in March 2024 reached new post-pandemic heights at 172,104 new vehicles sold in a single month, according to a new release from Statistics Canada.
This is up from 136,622 vehicles sold in February 2024, and it represents a 26% increase month-over-month.
Looking back to previous March sales in the heavily seasonal new car industry, we find that 152,943 and 146,950 vehicles were sold in March 2023 and 2022, respectively; these are figures well below the 2024 unit sales numbers.
Dollar Value of Sales Up Even More
We know that because of inflation, the dollar value of new vehicle car sales will always skew upwards, however, March 2024 saw an exceptional jump to $9.25 billion dollars in sales in one month alone, up from $7.5B the month prior.
This represents a month over month increase of 23% — way above inflation.
When we look back at a year earlier we find that new vehicle sales in Canada are up 12% year over year.
Dollar Sales Only 4.3% Short of Smashing the All-Time Record
New vehicles sales in Canada in March were only 4.3% short of breaking through the all time sales record set in May 2023.
Given that April, May and June are the busiest months for car sales, its highly likely that this summer is going to see fresh new records set in the Canadian automotive industry.
Buckle up.
