The Daily. Tuesday, August 14, 2001

New motor vehicle sales

In June, sales of new motor vehicles rose 1.5% from the previous month, reaching 133,766 units. June's increase followed a 2.0% decline in May.

Partly owing to incentives introduced very early in the year by some manufacturers to reduce inventories, new motor vehicle sales have been on the rise since the start of this year. Previously, sales had been slowing since the fall of 2000, following fairly stable sales since the start of that year.

Fourth consecutive monthly increase for cars

In June, new passenger car sales rose 0.7% to 73,451 vehicles. This was the fourth consecutive monthly increase. June's increase is mainly attributable to North American-built cars, up 1.8%, whereas sales of overseas-built cars declined 2.0%. However, that decline followed two strong gains in May (+7.3%) and April (+6.8%).

With the increases in recent months, overall sales of new cars have maintained an upward movement since the start of the year, after a period of declining sales that began in the fall of 2000. Previously, sales had been generally moving upward since the end of 1998.

Note to readers All the data in this release are seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted provincial data from January 1991 are available on CANSIM. Passenger cars include those used for personal and commercial purposes, such as taxis or rental cars. Trucks include minivans, sport-utility vehicles, light and heavy trucks, vans and buses. North American-built new motor vehicles include those manufactured or assembled in Canada, the United States or Mexico. All other new motor vehicles are considered to have been manufactured overseas. For reasons of confidentiality, data for the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included in the figures for British Columbia.

New truck sales in June were up 2.4% from May to 60,315 vehicles. This gain followed two strong monthly fluctuations that cancelled each other out. Part of June's increase resulted from various incentives introduced by manufacturers to stimulate sales.

New truck sales, which had been relatively flat since the start of the year, began edging upward in June. This follows a downward trend that began in the summer of 2000. Previously, sales had been generally stable since the summer of 1999.

Car sales grew faster than truck sales in the second quarter

In the second quarter, new motor vehicle sales were up 4.2% from the first quarter, when they advanced 0.7%. This year's second-quarter sales were 0.6% higher than last year's second-quarter sales.

Quarterly sales of new passenger cars grew faster than truck sales in the second quarter of 2001, rising 6.0% compared with a 2.0% gain for trucks. The increase in car sales followed a 2.1% decline in the first quarter, whereas for trucks the increase followed a 4.1% gain.

Truck sales down in the first six months of 2001

In the first six months of 2001, the number of new motor vehicles sold was 1.4% lower than in the first half of 2000. Over the same period, truck sales were down 4.0% - marking the first semi-annual decline since 1995. As for new passenger cars, sales were 1.0% higher than they were in the first half of 2000. This was the fifth straight year of rising sales in the first half of the year for new passenger cars.

Monthly sales solid in Newfoundland

In June, new motor vehicle sales varied substantially from one province to another. Newfoundland recorded the largest monthly increase (+15.6%). The only other provinces to report gains in June were Alberta (+5.4%), Ontario (+2.5%) and Quebec (+1.6%).

Looking at cumulative sales of new vehicles for the first six months of 2001, the only provinces to post year-over-year increases were Alberta (+6.3%), Quebec (+1.8%) and Saskatchewan (+1.7%).

Available on CANSIM: tables 790001 and 790002 and matrix 64.

The June 2001 issue of New motor vehicle sales (63-007-XIB, $13/$124) will be available soon.

For general information, or to order data, contact Client Services (1 877 421-3067; 613-951-3549; retailinfo@statcan.gc.ca). For analytical information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Michael Scrim (613-951-5668; michaelscrim@statcan.gc.ca), Distributive Trades Division.

New motor vehicle sales