New car and truck sales in Alberta and Canada continue to suffer from a combination of reduced inventory, economic uncertainty and the rising cost of borrowing.

The number of new vehicles sold in Alberta was down by 4% on a year-over-year basis in June. Nationally, the number of units that rolled off lots was down by 10%.

Higher prices pushed the value of sales up in Alberta by 8% compared to June 2021, but by only 2% nationally.

Sales, moreover, remain down compared to where they stood before the pandemic.

In Alberta, the number of new cars and trucks sold between January and June of 2022 was 19% lower than over the same period in 2019. And, despite inflation, the dollar value of sales was down by 5%.

The picture is similar in Canada as a whole with the number of vehicles sold over the first half of 2022 down by 21% compared to the first half of 2019 and the value of sales down by 8%.

Even if the global shortage of computer chips that has been hampering vehicle production eases, auto dealers now face the specter of higher interest rates and their dampening impact on consumer spending.

Answer to the previous trivia question: On Oct. 8, 1974, President Ford gave a speech in which he declared inflation to be “public enemy number one.”

Today’s trivia question: How many electric cars (including plug-in hybrids) were sold globally in 2021?