Auto sales fall in 2018, but number still strong

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January 8, 2019 by Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

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[h=1]Auto sales fall in 2018, but number still strong[/h]

Just under two million vehicles were sold, making it the second best year ever. Further declines, though, are expected


An eight per cent drop in December auto sales solidified last year’s overall decline in light vehicle sales from the record hit a year earlier, said DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.The auto consultant said 114,289 vehicles sold in December, compared with 124,247 in the same month last year, for a 10th straight month of declines including 12.1 per cent for passenger car sales and 6.5 per cent for light trucks.Total light vehicles sales for 2018 came in at 1.985 million, down 2.6 per cent from the record 2.039 million vehicles sold a year earlier.The drop is a hit to the market but still shows fairly robust sales, said Dennis DesRosiers, president of the consultancy.“Any negative is difficult for the market, but to put it into perspective, it was only four or five years ago that if you got to 1.5 million you were nirvana. And now we complain about almost two million.”The industry should expect a similar drop for this year, likely somewhere between a two and four per cent decline in sales, he said.“We see no signs of any upside, any positive, be there’s also a lot of potential out there that it’s hard to see any free fall. So we think it will be more of the same next year.”Light truck sales, which include pickup trucks and various types of SUVs, rose 0.6 per cent in 2018, while generally more fuel efficient passenger car sales dropped 9.7 per cent year over year.General Motors, which has faced criticism for plans to close its Oshawa Assembly Plant, saw sales drop 30 per cent in December from a year earlier. The automaker came second in total number of vehicles sold for the year.Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also saw a steep drop in December at 32.5 per cent, while Ford Motor Co. was down 8.4 per cent. Toyota sales were up 28 per cent and Honda sales were up 11.2 per cent.Ford ended the year as the top-selling brand in Canada with 297,902 vehicles sold, driven by sales of its F-150 pickup truck despite a 3.4 per cent overall decline for the year, said the automotive consultancy.Volvo had the highest percentage growth in the industry with a 29.8 per cent climb to 9,217 vehicles sold.​

 

[Summitric]

Given the trends in vehicle demand witnessed over the last 12 months, it probably wasn’t surprising that sales were down overall in 2018.For the first time in over a decade, automotive sales fell slightly in Canada in 2018 with final figures coming in at 1,984,992 down 2.6 percent from 2018. December contributed to the overall lower numbers for the year with 114,289 units sold for the month down 8 percent.According to the most recent Scotiabank Global Economics Auto News Flash, the lower volumes seen in 2018 were driven by rising interest rates, slower economic growth and modest employment gains.The 2018 sales tally follows on from a period of record demand for new vehicle sales, culminating in a peak of 2,038,798 in 2017.Scotiabank says that vehicle demand is expected to continue softening in 2019 to around 1.93 million units, as a result of expected interest rate hikes, tighter lending rules and largely flat job growth.Among automakers, Ford led the way in terms of overall sales in 2018, driven by its ever-popular F-Series pickups. Even still, Detroit automakers saw their share of the Canadian marketplace decline from 43.1 percent to 40.9 percent.FCA in particular, witnessed sizeable volume declines, with 2018 sales totals down by 32.5 percent year-over-year. Production setbacks with its RAM pickups, as well as steep declines in minivan and sedan sales contributed to the lower volumes.On the import nameplate front, the Honda Civic continued as Canada’s best-selling car, while OEMs peddling import brands saw a two percent increase in market share during 2018.“Given all of the political and economic turbulence—combined with interest rate increases – it is difficult to classify the 2018 as disappointing from a sales perspective,” said David Adams, President of Global Automakers of Canada.Adams also noted that, “members of Global Automakers of Canada, had better-than-market results for each month of 2018, and made impressive gains in market share.”During 2018, trucks accounted for 70.1 percent of the market, up from 68.6 percent in 2017.​