Outlook for 2015 in the New Brunswick Car Business

Another year has just started and I wanted to update my clients on the outlook for 2015. I am personally looking forward to a good year coming up. The economic prospects for 2015 are somewhat daunting here in New Brunswick. As everyone knows the economic situation here in our province is not a shining star but that said we all need to simply go to work with the view that there is no place better to live, work and play. We must all support our local businesses so that we have a sustainable future and have the services we all want available locally.

For most local businesses 2014 was a good year. Talking to my friends and contacts in the New Brunswick car industry it seems that most dealerships saw some small increases in sales last year. Everyone is excited about the new vehicle products that are being introduced some of which are truly amazing. Looking ahead to 2015 I believe the automotive market place will see some significant shifts. The ever dropping price of oil, falling currency rates vs the US dollar will mean that all the European marketers (Benz, BMW, Audi Porsche and so forth) will have to dig deep to maintain prices and sustain their current sales volumes. Importing of cars from the US market will be virtually non-existent with foreign exchange rates on top of import duties adding upwards of 20% to any purchase being contemplated in the USA. We are starting to see a trend of US dealers are shopping Canadian Auto Auctions and with a 15% price advantage. These US dealers are buying up a ton of prime retail pre owned cars and trucks. This will definitely have an impact on our costs to purchase these prized 2 and 3 year old pre owned vehicles. In 2015 we will also see a continuing glut of 3-5 year old cars with and excess of 100,000 kms. The retail Canadian consumer is shunning these vehicles in huge numbers yet the inventory of this product is ever increasing with the prices are dropping like a stone. In 2015 the best bargains I believe will be for those consumers who realize that a vehicle with 125,000 is not worn out. I personally feel that these vehicles that have been properly maintained and reconditioned have another 150,000 kms of life expectancy at reasonable costs and highly reduced depreciation rates.

Follow our blog in 2015 for straight talk and sound advice about car buying in our local market.