Following suit with its parent companies, Chrysler Canada Inc. announced Wednesday it has changed its company name to FCA Canada Inc.
The naming scheme falls in line with the FCA global parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., which changed its name in October. FCA Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of FCA US, which rebranded in December.
The rebranding follows FCA Canada’s January sales figures announced on Tuesday, where the then-named Chrysler Canada sported the most vehicles sold of any automaker in the country.
The company says it sold 18,054 cars and trucks in January, roughly 2 percent more than the same month in 2013. Out of that amount, year-over-year, truck sales increased by 8.5 percent while passenger car sales dropped 34.7 percent.
The used market isn’t the only facet of the Canadian automotive industry where trucks reign supreme. According to the Market Snapshot from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc., the numbers from 2014 reflect the same trend in the new-vehicle segments.
Overall truck sales eclipsed one million units for the first time ever, according to the report, while also accounting for 58.7 percent of the entire market. The Ford F-Series remained the stalwart champion of the Canadian market, with 126,277 units sold last year. The number two truck – the Ram Pickup – even outsold Canada’s favorite passenger car, the Honda Civic, by 34 percent, with 88,521 and 66,057 units sold, respectively.
While truck sales, as a whole, were up 11 percent year-over-year, they had a solid December with a 19.5 percent increase year-over-year. Although passenger vehicles also had a December increase, of 10.7 percent, their year-long results saw a decrease in sales of 0.1 percent compared to 2013.
According to DesRosiers, it’s unclear whether or not lower gas prices had anything to do with the changes in sales.
“Large sport utility vehicles were up 61.8 percent in December, three times their growth rate earlier in the year,” said Dennis DesRosiers, in his company’s report. “However, at the same time, some of the most fuel efficient vehicles in the market, subcompact cars, also had a relatively strong month. Obviously it is too early to say if lower gas prices will lead to a long-term change in the mix of vehicles bought by Canadians, and the impact of this dynamic will likely vary greatly by segment and by region.”
Several other vehicles had a big year in Canada. Compared to 2013, the Nissan Rogue showed the biggest improvement, breaking into the top-10 trucks sold with a 70.8 percent increase in sales in 2014. In the passenger-vehicle market, the Hyundai Accent saw a 22.7 percent year-over-year increase in sales. Overall, total sales in Canada increased 6.1 percent in 2014, increasing to 1,851,373 total units (1,087,581 trucks, 763,792 passenger cars).
It may be starting to sound like a broken record, but there’s no denying that Canada is the land of the F-150. Ford’s flagship truck remained the top dog in just about every possible category in TradeTracker’s December 2014 Used Vehicle Market Report, maintaining its No. 1 position as the most appraised vehicle for December, the last three months, and the past year overall.
Aside from the Dodge Grand Caravan, which has held steady onto the No. 4 most-appraised vehicle spot over the last 3 months, the remaining three spots out of the top five maintained the trend of Japanese manufacturer dominance, represented by the Honda Civic sedan in the two spot, the Toyota Corolla in third, and the Mazda3 in fifth. All four of these vehicles have been shuffling for dominance, behind the F-150, as the most appraised vehicles throughout 2014.
While the F-150 and the Corolla remained the top domestic appraised by domestic dealers and top import appraised by import dealers, respectively, another Ford offering held firmly onto the honor of being the domestic vehicle most appraised by import dealers – the Escape. The American compact crossover continued to be the domestic vehicle with the most interest from import owners looking for a new ride, perhaps reflecting a success in Ford’s recent shift to incorporate more European design cues in its some of its "smaller" vehicles.
On the flipside, the Mazda3 remained the vehicle most appraised at domestic dealerships for the entirety of 2014. Domestic owners looking to switch to a foreign model were most interested in the Toyota Rav4 in December, continuing a three-month trend the vehicle has maintained since overtaking the Corolla a few months prior.
TradeTracker’s brand of the month was Acura, providing a more in-depth glance at the action going on with the luxury arm of the Honda giant. Interestingly enough, all three of the top off-make vehicles appraised at Acura dealers for the month of December didn’t stray too far from home – they were all Hondas. The Civic sedan was the most appraised vehicle at Acura dealerships last month, followed by the CR-V and the Accord coupe, respectively.
As for Acura’s most interesting vehicles to trade-in customers, the MDX took the top spot, followed by the TLX and the RDX.
The results of November’s Dealertrack Technologies TradeTracker Used Vehicle Market Report remain relatively on point with the year’s trends.
The Ford F-150 remains the top most-appraised vehicle and top most looked-at domestic vehicle by domestic owners for the month of November, a trend that has remained prevalent for the last three months and year-to-date. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic sedan continue to be the second and third most appraised vehicles, respectively, which has been the case for the majority of the year.
The Corolla did lose its place in November as the import vehicle most looked at by import owners, replaced by its crossover cousin the RAV4, which also remains the import vehicle most looked at by domestic owners. Speaking of crossovers, Ford’s Escape continues to be domestic vehicle with the most influence on imports, on both sides of the business, continuing the trend of being the top domestic vehicle appraised by import dealers as well as the top domestic looked at by import owners.
The Dodge Grand Caravan maintained its three-month trend of being the fourth most appraised vehicle, while the Escape rounds out the most appraised vehicles as No. 5 for the month. Import dealers continued to notice an increase in Civic Sedan appraisals, while the Mazda Mazda3 continues to be the stalwart constant as the import vehicle most appraised by domestic dealers.
The TradeTracker brand of the month laid focus on Mazda, revealing the following details from its dealerships:
Top 3 Off-Make Vehicles Appraised by Mazda Dealers:
- Nissan Altima
- Nissan Rogue
- Honda Civic Sedan
Top 3 Vehicles Looked at by Trade-In Customers at Mazda Dealers:
- CX-5
- Mazda3
- Mazda6
Nissan Group hit 100,000 new-car sales in Canada in a calendar year as of Nov. 13. This is the first time the company has met this goal since arriving in Canada.
With this milestone comes a 27-percent year-over-year sales spike, which has been achieved in just over 10 months.
The company reports the massive increase in sales has been driven by “Nissan Group's commitment to provide marketing, dealer support and a strong product line-up — all tailored specifically to Canadians.”
Christian Meunier, president of Nissan Canada Inc., said, "This sales accomplishment was a culmination of several factors: high-quality products offering exceptional value, a totally reinvigorated dealer network, and individually tailored marketing strategies to meet the diverse needs of Canadians.
"I applaud each and every one of NCI's employees and our dealers. Across Canada, Nissan and Infiniti dealers have delivered on their steadfast commitment to welcoming new customers to the Nissan and Infiniti family, and delivering an outstanding ownership experience to our loyal customers,” he continued.
Nissan has been ramping up its presence in the entry-level compact segment as of late, with the launch of the all-new Nissan Micra, and the continued success of the Versa Note.
Together, the two vehicles served to grow Nissan's presence in the sub-compact segment by 76 percent.
"With the new Nissan Micra joining our line-up, Canadians now have several great options to choose from in the hotly-contested entry-level segment — and they are choosing Nissan in record numbers," said Meunier. "As Canadian customers move through their lives and need more room, power or functionality, Nissan has something for everyone."
The Nissan Rogue crossover is another unit that may have pushed the automaker toward its most recent milestone. The crossover is the top-selling product in its portfolio, with 24,359 units sold at the end of October, representing a year-over-year increase of 76 percent.
Nissan LEAF sales are also up by a whopping 122 percent, with 918 sold in Canada.
The automaker’s luxury brand, Infiniti, is also growing and has been named “a crucial catalyst” for the company's growth.
Infiniti Canada sales are up 13 percent year-over-year with sales totaling 8,642 at the end of October.
"As we continue to see strong demand for the complete range of our products, we also look forward to welcoming all-new models to our portfolio next year including the Murano crossover, the Maxima sport sedan, and the Nissan Titan truck," Meunier said. "This is an exciting era of change and evolution for Nissan in Canada, and I am proud to continue to lead this team into our next chapter of success."
Carfinco Financial Group Inc. — who recently penned a deal to be acquired by Banco Santander for $300 million — announced its third quarter results today, showing record loan originations and low delinquencies.
Highlights for Q3 included what company management is calling record loan originations of $64.4 million.
This represents a 19.2 percent jump from Q2’s originations of $54 million. And this number is also 38.5 percent above the $46.5 million in loan originations for the third quarter of 2013.
The rate of loan originations during the quarter pushed Carfinco to achieve finance receivable portfolio growth of $17.2 million with finance receivables of $269.4 million. This is up $28.5 million from Q3 of 2013.
Tracy Graf, chief executive officer of Carfinco, acknowledged that as the Canadian non-prime auto finance market becomes more and more competitive, “Carfinco continuously evaluates the competitiveness of our credit policies and programs, as we strive to focus more heavily on the long-term strength of our finance receivable portfolio and future earnings growth potential, rather than short-term gains.”
Graf went on to mention that the company is working to add financing programs that are beneficial to dealer customers, such as a loyalty program designed to retain its customers who have established a positive payment history with Carfinco.
These initiatives may be playing a role in the company’s recent boost in loan originations.
During the quarter, the annualized loss rate on finance receivables was relatively stable, though it did show a slight increase.
In Q3, the rate came in at 15.7 percent from 14.6 percent in the second quarter of 2014, and 15.2 percent in the first quarter of the year.
The company pointed out, historically, the annualized loss rate has ranged from as low as the 11.2 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 to as high as 20.7 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, during the height of the economic downturn.
“Management estimates the annualized loss rate to range from 13 percent to 16 percent on a normalized basis depending on the company's portfolio mix,” Graf said.
Delinquencies, or accounts 31 or more days overdue, also increased slightly, but still remain low. For Q3, delinquencies came in at 4.6 percent, an increase from the 3.5 percent recorded in Q2.
Though most results illustrated success for the quarter, net earnings were down a bit in Q3.
Net earnings came in at $4.4 million for the quarter, a decrease from the $5.4 million seen in Q2. That said, this number is still an improvement from 2013 rates, when the company brought in $4.3 million for the third quarter of 2013.
Graf explained the drop from Q2 is mostly related to legal fees incurred related to recent acquisitions as well as the addition of $825,000 to the allowance for credit losses during Q3 versus $725,000 in Q2.
“This increased allowance requirement was a result of the portfolio growth achieved in the current quarter,” Graf said.
During the third quarter, the company announced a deal to be acquired by Banco Santander, and Carfinco expected the completion of the deal to occur near the end of the fourth quarter or early in the first quarter of 2015.
Prices for all segments in the lanes were falling last month, but one more fuel-efficient SUV segment lead the pack with a sizeable drop.
According to the ADESA Canada Used Vehicle Price Index, compact SUV prices fell by 7.6 percent, or $891, in September.
This was by far the largest decline after the index fell last month after being adjusted for seasonality.
Overall, according to the index, wholesale prices fell by an average of 0.4 percent.
The second-largest price drop was seen among the full-size pickups, which saw a decline of 4.5 percen, or $816.
Midsize cars were up next with a 2.8 percent or $222 decline, followed by the midsize SUVs with a 2.5-percent, or $295, decline.
Wrapping up the pack were minivans, with a 1.6-percent or $142 drop, and the midsize cars, showing a 1.2-percent or $108 decline.
According to ADESA Canada chief operating officer Trevor Henderson’s commentary on last month’s Index movement, the COO pointed out even though used prices were down, new-vehicles sales in Canada soared in September.
New-vehicles sales last month were up 12.6 percent year-over-year to sit at 167,919.
Year-to-date, overall sales are up 5.5 percent to a total of 1,424,568 vehicles sold.
And this past September wrapped up a third quarter that pushed the Canadian market to operate at a 2 million SAAR rate for the first time ever, Henderson noted.
According to an Ernst & Young report that cited LMC sales data, sales in Canada for Q3 came in at just over 515,000 units, which is up 17.3 percent year-over-year and up 9.4 percent from the second quarter.
“Numerous automakers broke sales records for the month of September with light trucks driving sales. The economy, as measured by GDP, has shown growth along with higher consumer confidence,” said Randy Miller, global automotive and transportation leader at Ernst & Young. ”Unemployment rate went down in the third quarter, and employment is expected to continue rebounding.”
Miller pointed out these factors should push sales up through the rest of the year. According to the report, sales for the full year are expected to break records with an annual increase of 3.9 percent, or 1.8 million units, versus 2013.
And as new sales and leasing continue to grow, this means more supply for the used market, which will lead to lower used prices in the lanes.
And looking at fall’s auction price environment so far, it seems these declines have already begun.
Toyota introduced the Prius to Canada 15 years ago — and this week, the automaker reported it has reached the milestone of 100,000 hybrids sold in Canada.
Providing an interesting illustration, Toyota Canada said the fuel saved by Canadian drivers using Toyota and Lexus hybrids over the past 15 years would fill more than 103 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The two brands have seen the largest surge in hybrid interest in Canada since the turn of the millennium.
According to Toyota Canada, Lexus and its mainstream vehicles account for more than three quarters of all hybrids sold in Canada since 2000.
"The fuel needed by Toyota hybrids is over 30 percent less than vehicles with conventional gas engines," said Seiji Ichii, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Canada Inc. "That means since 2000, Toyota and Lexus hybrids have avoided more than 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions while saving over 259 million liters of fuel.”
Currently, there are six Toyota and soon-to-be six Lexus hybrid models available in Canada. Coming soon, the Lexus NX 200h will be introduced to Canada.
This summer has proved a popular season for the Ford F-150, as it notched the No. 1 spot for most appraised vehicle in Canada once again in July.
The truck is also tops for year-to-date appraisal trends, as well.
The Dodge Grand Caravan, a newcomer to the top three, came in as the second most appraised vehicle last month, according to the July TradeTracker Used Vehicle Market Report.
The Mazda 3 took the No. 3 spot, followed by the Honda Civic Sedan and the Toyota Corolla, respectively.
The Caravan and Mazda 3 bucked trends seen earlier this year as the F-150, Civic and Corolla have held the top three spots for most of 2014.
For year-to-date trends, the Corolla and Civic round out the top three, respectively.
These reports are provided monthly to Auto Remarketing Canada and are a result of Dealertrack Technologies' Trade Tracker solution, which is an online, trade-in evaluation tool that allows dealerships to create instant, accurate appraisals and gain insight into their used-car business.
The report also breaks down the vehicles by market, as follows:
- The top domestic vehicle appraised by domestic dealers was the F-150.
- The top import vehicle appraised by import dealers was the Corolla.
- The top domestic vehicle appraised by import dealers was the Ford Focus.
- The top import vehicle appraised by domestic dealers was the Mazda3.
The report also narrows down the top vehicles being looked at by trade-in owners.
Within this group, the top domestic vehicle looked at by domestic owners was once again the F-150.
For import owners, the top import vehicle looked at was the Corolla.
And when it comes to domestics, import owners looked at the Ford Escape the most in July.
Lastly, the top import vehicle looked at by domestic owners was the Corolla.
The TradeTracker reports also include a Brand of the Month section, which highlights appraisal trends by an individual brand each month.
The brand highlighted in July was Ford.
The top three vehicles looked at by trade-in customers at Ford dealerships were not surprisingly the F-150, Escape and Focus, respectively.
The top three off-make vehicles appraised by Ford dealers were the Mazda 3, Grand Caravan and Chevrolet Silverado.
May’s new-car market notched a Canadian record, posting a new monthly sales record last month.
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association reported more than 195,000 new cars and trucks were sold across Canada last month.
This number represents the best sales month in history of the Canadian new-vehicle market.
"This is great news for our dealer network, obviously, but also for the economy as a whole and for Canadian consumers," said Michael Hatch, chief economist of CADA. "Consumers are responding to an optimistic and rebounding industry, with high levels of product affordability and the best product choice we've ever seen. New car prices have mostly defied regular inflationary pressures in the past decade and we're seeing that manifested in record levels of demand."
Hatch explained the main drivers of rising new-car sales this spring are “historic levels of new vehicle affordability and quality combined with solid consumer demand.”
This comes as welcome news to the automotive industry, as the recession of 2009 and the subsequent changes in the North American vehicle industry have just leveled out to some semblance of normalcy.
"Coming out of a record sales year in 2013, it would have been easy to predict a less enthusiastic consumer this year," continued Hatch. "The month of May was always going to be key in determining whether or not we'd continue to see the kind of sales growth we saw in 2013, or whether the consumer would pull back and flatline car sales and other important indicators,” said Hatch.
He explained May “is the start of the spring selling season,” and consequently, its outcome is crucial to the full-year results.
“It's (May) the month that always has the highest sales of the year. A weak May can hurt an entire year's results. Obviously we have seen the very opposite this year: a better month than we've ever seen, setting the stage for what is now sure to be another record year in the Canadian car market,” Hatch continued.
After the dealership network in Canada experiences some setbacks during the economic downturn, Hatch says rising new-car sales shows consumers are more confident in the economy.
