Canadian Auto Sales Reach Record High While U.S. Sales Suffer

Canadian car and light truck sales have experienced a boost in the first month of the year to an all-time high.

In January, 110,945 light vehicles were sold in the Great White North compared to the 108,572 sold in January last year. The results are also the highest in the month of January since 2002 when 110,266 vehicles were sold in Canada.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles narrowly edged out Ford to hold the largest market share of any automaker, 16.6 per cent compared to Ford’s 15.5 per cent. However, sales of both brands did increase over the same month last year.

Speaking of the results, president of market research company DesRosiers, Dennis DesRosiers told Reuters “It is too early to comment with certainty on how the market will perform this year, as January is rarely a reliable indicator, but this is at least a positive start.”

While Canadian vehicle sales rose, the same can’t be said of the United States.

As a matter of fact, car and light truck sales in the U.S. fell by 1.8 per cent last month due to lower rental, government and business fleet sales and consumer’s continued interest in SUVs and crossovers.

Last month, 1.14 million vehicles were sold throughout the States. Autodata’s seasonally adjusted figures therefore suggest that this year, 17.61 million vehicles may be sold in the U.S. compared to the 17.9 million of 2016.