Desrosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. detailed another year-over-year decline in its May market snapshot report, noting that this is the eighth consecutive month that light vehicle sales have been lower than the previous year.
May sales were estimated to be 184,000 units, down 1.7% from the 187,000 units sold in May of 2025.
“There had been hopes that the market may crack the 190K barrier in what is traditionally the biggest sales month of the year but, alas, that elusive mark (last reached in May 2019) remains out of sight,” said Andrew King, managing partner of DAC, in the report email summary. Last week, Statistics Canada announced the Canadian economy is in a technical recession, as real gross domestic product declined for two consecutive quarters.
According to DAC, sales performances varied between double-digit percentage declines and modest sales losses, as the first 2,910 Chinese EVs arrived in Canada under the new trade agreement and “ZEV sales softened from April for a number of the other high-volume models.” The SAAR for the month was 1.78 million, representing the continuing decline seen throughout 2026.
