08:28 AM EDT, 08/06/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian new vehicle sales rose 6.9% year over year to around 172,000 units in July, or around 1.9 million units annualized, noted Bank of Montreal (BMO).

That makes last month the strongest July going back to 2019, when sales hit 174,000.

Meantime, United States light vehicle sales in July rebounded after a couple of sluggish months, with annualized volumes nearing 16.9 million units. Not counting the rMach/April front-loading of new vehicle purchases related to the threat of auto tariffs, July was the strongest month for auto sales since this past

December.

Auto sales have been resilient in both Canada and the U.S. largely because new vehicle prices have yet to fully reflect the U.S. administration's new tariff policies, stated the bank.

That bodes well for Q3 growth estimates, but prices are likely to

increase later this year as more automakers shift to 2026 models and are left with limited alternatives to absorb the effects of tariffs, added BMO. Higher prices will in turn weigh on volumes.