New-vehicle gross sales plunged an estimated 10.2 per cent throughout the second quarter, nevertheless it wasn’t dangerous information throughout the board for automakers as a handful managed positive factors.
Low-volume sellers Audi, Porsche, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Smart, Jaguar and Land Rover haven’t but reported their gross sales. Volkswagen additionally hasn’t launched its gross sales.
Automakers which have reported their figures offered 396,274 autos April by way of June, down 44,924 throughout the identical three-month interval a 12 months in the past.
One analyst referred to as the numbers “disappointing, but not entirely surprising.”
“Even before Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we had been anticipating a slow, multi-year recovery in auto production [and inventory] that would constrain sales over the course of this year and into next,” Scotiabank Vice-president, Head of Inclusion and Resilience Economics Rebekah Young wrote in an e-mail to Automotive News Canada. “With inventory levels still low at dealerships across the country, product is still impacting sales activity.”
Young cautioned that bumps — a few of them comparatively new — stay on the street forward.
“Recent economic developments, including sky-high inflation, rapidly rising interest rates [with even more to come], and vehicle purchase and operating costs still ticking up, are adding headwinds to our auto sales outlook,” she mentioned. “So, we are likely to see less accumulation of pent-up demand as we look out into 2023 and beyond.”
Young famous that Scotiabank’s 2022 auto gross sales outlook has stood at 1.75 million autos since late 2021.
“We think this is still a reasonable assumption,” Young mentioned.
JUNE DROP
On a month-to-month foundation, gross sales had been down 11.5 per cent in June alone in contrast with a 12 months earlier as provide challenges persist, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants mentioned. However, month-to-month gross sales are an estimate now that so many automakers have turned to quarterly reporting.
“Clearly, vehicle shortages remain severe and dominate the market environment,” DAC Managing Partner Andrew King mentioned in an announcement. “Indeed, last month saw the lowest June sales level since the recession year of 2009 when sales were under 140,000.”
DAC mentioned provide challenges, linked largely to semiconductor chip shortages created by the pandemic, proceed to restrict a rebound in gross sales.
HOW SOME AUTOMAKERS FARED
FCA Canada, a division of Stellantis, reported whole second-quarter gross sales of 47,184 autos, a rise of 16.6 per cent versus the identical interval final 12 months. Its retail gross sales, which exclude fleet gross sales, had been up 18 per cent in contrast with the identical quarter in 2021, the automaker mentioned.
Through the tip of June 2022, FCA Canada gross sales had been up 3.7 per cent with 89,771 autos offered, versus the identical six-month interval final 12 months.
“I’m proud of the work our team is doing every day to counteract supply chain and shipping headwinds in order to deliver vehicles to our customers nationwide,” FCA Canada CEO David Buckinghanm mentioned in an announcement, with out elaborating on how the automaker is dealing with the challenges. “Demand continues to be very strong for our vehicles, as evidenced in the second quarter by sales increases for the Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Alfa Romeo brands.”
FCA Canada gross sales had been led by the Jeep model. Its second-quarter gross sales of 18,374 represented a 28.6-per-cent enhance over 2021. Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Wrangler noticed document retail gross sales within the quarter, alongside document Jeep Gladiator whole gross sales of 1,708 models offered.
Ford Canada’s whole gross sales had been up 9.5 per cent within the second quarter to 72,093. The automaker additionally made the primary deliveries of the all-new, all-electric F-150 Lightning to Canadian clients in June.
“The F-150 Lightning is the most important vehicle launch for Ford Motor Co. since the Model T, and I am beyond excited to see the first Canadian customers driving their very own all-electric Ford pickup,” Ford Canada CEO Bev Goodman mentioned in an announcement.
On the premium car facet, Lincoln posted a gross sales enhance for the third consecutive quarter, up 8.6 per cent to 2,387.
General Motors noticed gross sales slip within the second quarter, down 6.6 per cent to 62,505. Honda took one of many larger hits, down 37.5 per cent to 26,583 whereas Toyota gross sales fell 11.2 per cent to 63,785.
Several luxurious and all-electric manufacturers managed to publish strong positive factors within the second quarter: Genesis (up 67.5 per cent), McLaren (up 6.3 per cent), Tesla (up an estimated 17.3 per cent), Bentley (up 5.7 per cent) and Lamborghini (up 4.8 per cent).
Source: canada.autonews.com
