The many incentives from car dealerships to attract consumers paid off in the third quarter of 2020, but the impact of COVID-19 and the economic downturn is still being felt: new vehicle sales in the country are down 3 , 9% compared to the same period last year.
According to statistics from the Automotive News Data Center, 503,114 vehicles found buyers during the months of July, August and September compared to 523,607 in 2019. For the whole of 2020 to date, the Canadian automotive industry records a decline of 23.6%.
Among the brands that did the best in the third quarter, we note Cadillac (+ 23.4%), Porsche (+ 22.5%), Subaru (19.9%), Volvo (+ 19.7%), Buick (+ 16.4%), Kia (+ 14.7%) and Ford (+ 8.5%). Tesla (+ 2.6%), Hyundai (+ 2.5%), Mazda (+ 0.9%) and Toyota (+ 0.6%) have also published positive results.
Special mention to Subaru which has just had its best month ever in Canada and to Ford which remains the sales champion in the country.
On the other hand, the summer period was particularly difficult for Infiniti (-34.7%), Mitsubishi (-32%), Jaguar Land Rover (-25.2%), BMW (-25.1%), Chevrolet (-19%), Dodge (-19.4%), Jeep (-16.3%), Acura (-15.7%), Volkswagen (-13.3%), Nissan (-12.5% ) and Honda (-11.5%)
What does the rest of 2020 have in store? Several analysts view it with cautious optimism, while others prefer not to comment because of the too unpredictable nature of the economy and this famous second wave of COVID-19. Will some dealerships have to close their doors again? Nobody wants it, but the risk is there.
In the end, annual sales will certainly be significantly lower than the total for 2019. The Association of World Automakers of Canada (CMAC) expects a drop of more than 20%.