Paul Martin Business Update - July 16th, 2014
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It’s not often in the world of business that we see one month looking like an exact carbon copy of the previous one…but that’s exactly what happened in this province’s automotive sector in May.
Sales of new vehicles are one of those consumer confidence measures. It’s a big ticket item and strong sales reflect a positive outlook across the board. So when May’s figures on new vehicle transactions came out, confidence was overshadowed by consistency.
In April, local dealers moved 5,496 new units off their lots. In May it was 5,501…a difference of only five. The spread between sales of new cars from April to May was even closer – only three units difference.
And with 4,285 new trucks or vans going to new owners, the spread in this category was only two.
While April and May were virtually identical, they were quite a change from earlier in the year when buyers were sitting on their hands. Back in January and February – two months that quite similar – sales were only 3,300 a month, about 40 per cent lower than either April or May.