By the numbers: luxury car sales boom in B.C.

New car sales have broken all-time highs every year in B.C. for the past three years

And with this month’s auto show at the Vancouver Convention Centre expected to break 100,000 in attendance, 2016 is looking to keep up. “There was the biggest implosion in our industry globally in 2008,” says Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. “Now we have some of the lowest prices in a generation and crazy interest rates, and people are taking advantage.” But it’s not just bargain seekers driving the local market: sales of supercars in B.C. are more than 40 per cent higher than the Canadian average. “The Vancouver market does tend to be skewed toward the luxury end,” says Qualey. “You just have to go out on the street and see how many are around now, whether it’s a Lamborghini, a Bentley or a Ferrari.”