Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
International

Auto Sales On Pace For Record, Driven By Popularity Of Light Trucks

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 04 Jul, 2016 01:13 PM
  • Auto Sales On Pace For Record, Driven By Popularity Of Light Trucks
TORONTO — At least once a week, 76-year-old Ken Dacko makes the 200-kilometre round trip from his home in Alma, Ont., to the factory in Brampton, Ont., where he works.
 
Earlier this year, Dacko purchased a 2016 Jeep Wrangler. He says driving a brand-new vehicle that's reliable and guaranteed to start gives him peace of mind.
 
"Four-wheel drive is important for the winter time because I leave for work around three-thirty, four o'clock in the morning, and sometimes the roads this far north are not plowed," he says.
 
Dacko is one of thousands of Canadians snapping up new vehicles in droves, despite concerns about the economy and mounting consumer debt.
 
DesRosiers Automotive Consultants is expected to release figures later Monday showing how auto sales have fared for the first six months of the year.
 
The market research firm said last month that May sales dipped slightly from a year ago, but on a year-to-date basis they were still up 5.6 per cent, putting Canada on track for another record-breaking year.
 
Experts say cheap credit and economic strength in Ontario, British Columbia and to some extent Quebec are helping drive sales.
 
"Interest rates are incredibly low, and as we all know, vehicles are one of the big purchases in people's lives," says Charlotte Yates, an automotive industry expert and vice-president academic at the University of Guelph.
 
In recent years, consumers have been gravitating away from passenger cars and towards light trucks, a category that includes pickups, SUVs, minivans and crossovers. So far this year, that trend has continued.
 
Automotive analyst Dennis DesRosiers says crossovers have become especially popular in recent years, displacing the minivan as the family vehicle of choice.
 
"They fit everything, so the boomer has a vehicle that they can load up with their sports equipment and head out to the beach, and grandma and grandpa that are babysitting have a vehicle that they can put the kids in," DesRosiers says.
 
Their height also makes them convenient for people who may have mobility issues.
 
"They're much easier to get into and out of as opposed to a small sedan," says Scotiabank economist Carlos Gomes.
 
Yates says the relationship that Canadians have to the outdoors is another reason why sales of light trucks have been on fire.
 
"I do think there is a kind of iconic culture around the SUV, the crossover, the truck," says Yates. 
 
"We live a paradoxical existence. More and more of us live in cities, but we still have the myth that we need the four-wheel drive because we're going to the country. ... It's about expressing a kind of lifestyle choice, and I think that it's been very, very powerful."

MORE International ARTICLES

Indian-Origin BBC Reporter Sima Kotecha Faces Racist Abuse In UK

Indian-Origin BBC Reporter Sima Kotecha Faces Racist Abuse In UK
Sima Kotecha was reporting on the aftermath of the June 23 referendum from the town of Basingstoke when she heard someone saying "Paki", a racist term used for South Asian origin migrants in the UK.

Indian-Origin BBC Reporter Sima Kotecha Faces Racist Abuse In UK

Indian-Origin Dentist Banned For Having Affair With Married Patient In UK

Indian-Origin Dentist Banned For Having Affair With Married Patient In UK
Dr Parag Patel's case came up before a UK General Dental Council (GDC) misconduct hearing this week over his conduct with the female patient, referred to only as Patient 1.

Indian-Origin Dentist Banned For Having Affair With Married Patient In UK

Docs 'The Pearl' And 'the Pearl Of Africa' Chronicle Lives Of Transgender Women

Docs 'The Pearl' And 'the Pearl Of Africa' Chronicle Lives Of Transgender Women
The East African country is notorious for anti-LGBTQ laws which criminalize same-sex relations. After Kambugu was outed by a tabloid, she went into hiding, relying on her family to bring food and supplies.

Docs 'The Pearl' And 'the Pearl Of Africa' Chronicle Lives Of Transgender Women

'Bregret' After 'Brexit': Nearly 2.3 Million Britons Regret Voting For 'Leave' Says Survey

'Bregret' After 'Brexit': Nearly 2.3 Million Britons Regret Voting For 'Leave' Says Survey
Nearly 2.3 million people in the UK regret voting for Brexit from the EU in last week's historic referendum, a trend which has come to be referred to as "Bregret", a new survey said today.

'Bregret' After 'Brexit': Nearly 2.3 Million Britons Regret Voting For 'Leave' Says Survey

Malala Yousafzai Becomes Millionaire With Book Sales, Lectures

Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her family have become millionaires as a result of income from her memoir describing life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's picturesque Swat valley and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

Malala Yousafzai Becomes Millionaire With Book Sales, Lectures

US Asks China To Allow Muslim Citizens To Worship Freely

US Asks China To Allow Muslim Citizens To Worship Freely
The US today asked China to protect religious freedom and allow citizens to worship freely amid reports that the Communist country had banned fasting in its Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region.

US Asks China To Allow Muslim Citizens To Worship Freely