New vehicle sales in Canada dropped in July

RICHMOND HILL, Ont. — The latest DesRosiers Automotive report shows new vehicle sales in Canada saw a 2.6 per cent decline in July compared to the same month last year.

The Richmond Hill, Ont.-based market research group says 173,304 vehicles were purchased last month, the second month where sales were down — the last being May, when there was a 1.6 per cent drop.

Sales of new light vehicles, however, were still up 4.6 per cent year-to-date.

In terms of growth by brand, DesRosiers reported that Jaguar was the fastest growing brand in July after observing a 218.3 per cent surge — 331 vehicles sold compared to 104 last year.

DesRosiers says Jaguar’s new vehicles in the intermediate luxury and luxury SUV market have been the primary contributors to that growth.

A number of other brands registered double-digit increases in July, including Volvo (up 33.5 per cent), Land Rover (up 16.5 per cent) and Audi (up 14.7 per cent).

The Detroit 3 had mixed results in July sales figues. Ford reported a total of 29,778 vehicles sold in July, up 9.6 per cent compared with the same month in 2015. FCA Canada reported sales of 24,669 units, down 14 per cent compared with sales in July 2015 of 28,534. General Motors resports it sold 21,255 vehicles in July 2016, down 6.8 percent compared with 22,826 units in July 2015.