New vehicle sales are a rough-and-ready gauge of the general state of the overall economy. It’s a good sign when individuals and businesses are in a buying mood and a bad sign when they are not.

As such, the dial is pointing in the right direction with monthly sales in Alberta increasing three months in a row.

As of July, the number of new vehicles sold in Alberta was more than double what it was in April when the pandemic and the oil price crash were keeping droves of Albertans away from car and truck lots. Just 8,201 new vehicles were sold in April compared to 17,509 in July—an increase of 113 per cent.

The wounds left by the pandemic and trouble in our oil patch, however, will take more time to heal.

On a year-over-year basis, sales in July were off by 11 per cent. This is a huge improvement over April when sales were down by 61 per cent compared to 12 months earlier.

Nonetheless, total sales over the first seven months of the year are down by 30 per cent compared to last year.

So while new vehicle sales in July suggest that things are moving in the right direction, we still have a fair amount of ground to make up.