June brought solid domestic pickup sales and ‘best-evers’
By Lawrence Papoff
The Detroit 3 and its pickup offerings made the best of a 26-day sales month as truck sales helped make it one of the best Junes ever.
Sales of light vehicles hit 171,608, up 1.3 per cent compared with the 169,459 vehicles sold in June 2012.
Light truck sales led the way with a jump of 6.7 per cent to 96,587. Passenger car sales dipped by 4.9 per cent to 75,021.
Top of the heap again was Ford with year-to-date sales increasing by 3.2 per cent to 146,700 total vehicles. Its monthly total wasn’t as encouraging though, as a June slide of six per cent.
The Blue Oval boasted F-150 were up six per cent to date over last year, though they were off by 1,689, slipping from 12,740 in May to 11,051 in June.
GM Canada argued it too had a great pickup truck month, though it posted limited individual model sales totals. June was the month the “all-new from hood-to-hitch” 2014 Silverado and Sierra pick-ups debuted and sold along with the current generation.
The result? An increase of over 10 per cent for the month as compared to last-year month.
Chrysler’s Ram pickups did very well, posting 7,176 sales, still behind Ford by roughly 3,900. Ram sales were up 16.5 per cent from last year June when about 6,100 were sold. To date, that’s 41,228 or 19.5 per cent over last year’s YTD totals.
By contrast, Toyota Canada called its 956 Tacoma sales a record for June, bringing its total pickup sales for the first half of 2013 to 5,115. A very respectable total, but nowhere near numbers like Chrysler’s 7,176 for June or Ford’s 11,051. Meaning at least for now, when it comes to pickup sales Chrysler, Ford and GM are still the Big Three.
Toyota boasted a best-ever with its RAV4 sales of 3,193, up nearly 39 per cent. They stood at 16,660 for the first half of the year, up 36.3 per cent over last year’s totals.
Subaru Canada called its 3,274 sold for June a 27.1 per cent increase over last-year month and the year-to-date totals of 17,258, another best-ever.
June brought Volkswagen Canada its 18th consecutive record sales month. VW dealers sold over 5,600 cars and trucks, two per cent over last year with year-to-date sales of 31,337 also at record-setting levels, nine per cent over last year’s halfway mark total of 28,862.
But, as is often the case in the retail race, not everything was coming up roses.
Chrysler reported Fiat 500 sales are slipping. June sales were 522 sold or 61 units fewer than last June. That a 10.2 per cent slip over June 2012. Current year totals are just over 2,800 versus last year’s of 3,500 or 20.5 per cent off. Could be the bloom is off the rose.
Mazda Canada admitted its June sales of 5,617 were a 24 per cent drop over last-year June. Total YTD sales stood at 35.941 or four per cent down from last year.
On the premium side, Cadillac sales for June were up 27 per cent, though GM supplied no June numbers.
Mercedes-Benz Canada called June a record-breaker for and its dealers with 3,493 vehicles delivered in June and 17,521 YTD.
Car sales totaled 1,912 or 9.3 per cent more than last-year month and the best June ever.
On the other hand, June brought BMW Canada sales of 3,298, a slight decrease of 1.5 per cent under last June. Similarly, the automaker’s YTD totals of 18,156 units were 1.5 per cent lower than last year’s.
But MINI endured sales of 707 or 9.4 per cent decrease in June versus last year month. YTD totals of 2,811 units were a similar 9.4 per cent sales decrease YTD. Audi Canada sales increases for June of 1,917 or 23.3 per cent over last June’s totals of 1,555 and YTD totals of 10,353 over last year are contributing.
June totals were not cause for celebration at Infiniti where sales of 693 units were down 8.3 per cent over last-year June. But YTD sales of 4,344 units represented an 8.5 per cent increase over last year’s YTD stats.
Finally, Porsche Cars Canada celebrated record June sales of 346 units, up nearly 19 per cent over last June’s totals of 346. YTD totals are likewise solid: 1,825 units or 24.1 per cent over last year’s total of 1,470.
