New-vehicle sales were down 13.3 per cent in April compared to the same month a year earlier when the semiconductor shortage first started to significantly hamper sales, says DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
The consultancy estimates that 140,785 new light vehicles sold in the month, barely higher than the 140,460 that sold in March and well off the April sales for 2021.
Monthly figures are an estimate now that so many automakers report sales only on a quarterly basis. DesRosiers uses a proprietary method to estimate monthly sales.
DesRosiers says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales for April came in at 1.44 million for the month, down from the 1.66 million for April a year earlier when sales first plummeted from the adjusted sales 1.92 million in March before supply shortages hit.
Andrew King, managing partner of DesRosiers, says supply issues have dominated the market for the past year with few short-term signs of improvement.
The auto industry has been struggling with computer chip shortages caused by a combination of manufacturing disruptions due to the pandemic and heightened demand for the critical chips in other industries.
Looking back, April 2019 sales came in at about 185,000 units after over a year of demand-related declines in sales.
BRANDS STILL REPORTING
New-vehicle sales for just about every brand still reporting monthly figures plunged in April.
Of the eight brands that reported sales through May 3, only the luxury line Genesis posted an increase, up 111 per cent to 582.
Toyota Canada sales fell 13.5 per cent while Honda sales plummeted 32 per cent when compared with the same month a year ago.
Toyota sold 20,319 new vehicles while Honda sold 8,715.
Hyundai, Kia, Subaru and Mazda also reported losses, year over year.
The Honda brand suffered a 31 per cent decline. Of Honda’s 11 models for sale in Canada, only the HR-V managed a gain, up 29.5 per cent to 1,208 units.
Civic and CR-V sales were off 11.4 and 56.2 per cent, respectively.
Luxury Acura sales were down 38.5 per cent with MDX sales down 62 per cent to 234 and RDX sales off 33 per cent to 370 for the month.
The Toyota brand sold 17,793 new vehicles, down 14 per cent from April 2021, while the Lexus line sold 2,526, down six per cent from the same month last year. The automaker didn’t provide a breakdown of sales by model.
Volvo and Mazda had not yet reported by end of day May 3.
Excess demand, scarce inventory and rising interest rates worked together to keep sales down.
“We expect limited inventory to persist and continue masking fundamental demand, while underpinning price pressures on new and used vehicles in Canada and the U.S. over the foreseeable future,” Scotiabank Economics said in its monthly global auto report.
The financial institution forecasts automakers will sell 1.74 million new vehicles in Canada this year.
Scotiabank said in its report that new-vehicle prices rose 1.6 per cent in March, which marks the bank’s most recent data — April figures aren’t yet available. Scotiabank didn’t note the average price for new vehicles.
“Even with shipping prices declining in 2022, the ongoing recovery in complex supply chains, coupled with high raw material prices and rising labour costs will likely continue to keep pressure on new vehicle prices,” Scotiabank said.
The Canadian Press and Greg Layson of Automotive News Canada contributed to this report.
