As financial markets around the world tanked last month, what did Canadians do? Apparently, they went car shopping. And they weren't out buying the cheap stuff, either. Canadians went shopping for expensive cars.
“I must say that I am absolutely completely surprised by the Canadian performance,” auto analyst Dennis Desrosiers says in a note accompanying his release of the October sales data. “Did Canadians not open their investment statements in October?? or are they kidding themselves or did they enter the market in the summer and ordered their new vehicle and September and October are just showing the deliveries from these earlier in the year sales? I don't know.”
Overall, sales for last month were up 1.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2007. And sales for the year are on track, Desrosiers says, to be 1.4 per cent better this year than last. By comparison, Americans will buy 5 million fewer cars or light trucks this year.
And what was hot last month? How about Mercedes-Benz? Mercedes saw sales jump 32 per cent last month compared to the year-earlier period. Audi was up 67 per cent. BMW up 27 per cent. OK, Porsche only sold 114 cars in Canada last month, down 27 per cent from 156 sold in October 2007. But still …
Meanwhile, Desrosiers reports that Toyota could take the number two position in Canada by year's end for total sales of cars and light trucks. For the first 10 months of the year here's the ranking for units sold (with per cent change compared to first 10 months of 2007):
- General Motors: 314,543 (-9.4%)
- Toyota: 201,614 (+16.1%)
- Chrysler: 193,927 (-0.7%)
- Ford: 188,862 (-7.4%)
- Honda: 151,579 (+9.2%)