Wheels of change: Pickup trucks no longer Alberta’s favourite vehicle

Sport utility vehicles (SUV) topped pickup trucks as the most popular type of vehicle purchased in Alberta last year, according to a report from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.

The numbers showed 244,300 total new light vehicle sales in 2017, up 11 per cent from the previous year’s sales.

Light vehicles include both cars, trucks and SUVs.

In 2017, over 98,000 SUVs were sold, accounting for just over 40 per cent of total new vehicle sales. Almost half of those vehicles were crossovers (or compact sport utility vehicles), which are larger than a car but smaller than a traditional SUV.

For many years, large and small pickup trucks reigned supreme in Alberta but last year they made up 35 per cent of the market and fall to the second best-selling passenger vehicle in the province.

Cars (including compact, sub-compact, intermediate, luxury and sports cars) made up less than 19 per cent of the market.

Vans and mini-vans — which held top spot for much of the 1980s and 1990s — now make up only 5.7 per cent of sales.

ATB Financial released the report results on Monday, noting the increase in vehicle sales from 2016 supports “the notion that consumer confidence in our province is improving.”