Automakers sold an estimated 98,259 vehicles in January, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants . That’s up 7.5 per cent from the 91,411 units sold in the same month last year. It’s also the second consecutive January in which automakers sold more than 90,000 new vehicles and increased year-over-year sales.January 2022 had the strongest seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales of that year at 1.67 million. January 2023 was even better, at 1.79 million.
“We didn’t expect it to hit as well as it did. It should help boost the year,” he told Automotive News Canada. They could get there — and then into an overbuild situation — more quickly. But that would take an economic hiccup.HIGH INTEREST, HIGH DEMAND“Right now, people are still buying things, even with the higher interest rates,” Fiorani said. “Unemployment rates are still low. We’re not in the position where people aren’t consuming these vehicles, yet. If that were to change, we could be in an overbuild situation.