Ongoing problems in the supply chain that are reducing inventories, combined with strong inflation that is dampening consumer enthusiasm at the start of 2022, have had a major impact on new vehicle sales in Canada.
Combined, automakers sold 337,039 units in the first quarter according to statistics compiled by Automotive News Research & Data Center, which represents a 12% drop from the same period in 2021. It must be said that the industry was experiencing a solid recovery at that time after going through the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, we note that this quarterly performance is also 2.9% lower than that of the previous one, 347,277 new vehicles having found takers from October to December 2021.
The firm AutoForecast Solutions predicted in its last monthly bulletin that the situation for the Canadian market should recover during the second half of 2022, if not the beginning of 2023.
Who is doing the best?
The hardest hit automakers are the major pickup truck and SUV makers, namely General Motors (-23.7%) and Ford (-20.5%). They are followed by Honda (-16.7%), Mazda (-14.1%), Mercedes-Benz (-13.1%) and Toyota (-12.9%). The worst result, however, is that of Jaguar Land Rover, whose sales fell by 53.4%.
The Volkswagen Group suffered a 7.6% decline, which isn’t bad under the circumstances, but the Volkswagen brand itself sold 25.1% fewer vehicles than in the first quarter of 2021.
In addition, the enthusiasm for electric vehicles is confirmed with the 17.3% increase in Tesla sales in the first quarter, the Californian manufacturer also seeming less affected than the others by the shortage of semiconductors. But what about the performance of Mitsubishi, which has just climbed 37.1% compared to the first three months of last year. This is his best quarter ever in Canada.
At the brand level, Chrysler (53.7%), Genesis (38.1%), Porsche (29.7%) and Lincoln (18.5%) experienced the most significant increases at the start of 2022.