New vehicle sales in Alberta dropped by 7.6 per cent in November, says ATB Economics.
Car and truck sales shrank by 1,174 vehicles compared to the same month in 2019, and the value of cars and trucks sold also fell by 6.5 per cent in November 2020.
ATB Economics said the drop in sales compared to 12 months earlier likely reflected reduced confidence in the economy as the second wave of the virus pushed up the number of new cases in the province.
Heading into December, year-to-date sales were down by 20 per cent in terms of units sold (-41,648) and 16.6 per cent in dollar value (-$1.6 billion).
The national picture was similar with the number of new units sold down by 9.9 per cent (-14,514) on a year-over-year basis in November and the dollar value off by 6.7 per cent (-$434.1 million).
Over the first 11 months of 2020, national sales were down by 403,718 units (-21.9 per cent) and by $15.2 billion (-19.1 per cent).