NZ sales: Softer in September

NEW ZEALAND has seen a softening of the new car market in September, the month’s 14,879 vehicle registrations representing a 9.9 per cent (or 1639 unit) decline over the same month last year.

Overall, the Kiwi market is down 0.2 per cent (or 244 units) year-to-date on the first nine months of 2021, however the Motor Industry Association (MIA) says the month was bolstered by strong sales of battery electric vehicles.

According to the MIA, strong deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) helped swell sales number, with 2418 BEVs finding new homes. In all, 2355 passenger BEVS were sold in New Zealand in September alongside 45 light commercial BEVs, 18 heavy commercial BEVs, 491 PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles), and 1674 petrol-electric hybrid vehicles.

The top selling BEV models were the Tesla Model Y (1502 units), followed by the BYD Atto 3 (221 units) and the MG ZS (178 units).

In fact, the Tesla Model Y outsold every other vehicle in New Zealand in September, finishing in first place ahead of the Ford Ranger (1043 units) and Toyota HiLux (989 units).

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle sales favoured team Mitsubishi in September with the Eclipse Cross PHEV (167 units) and Outlander PHEV (138 units) trouncing Hyundai’s Ioniq (41 units).

Hybrid vehicle sales favoured those from Toyota, with the RAV4 Hybrid (246 units) and Yaris Cross Hybrid (184 units) pipping the Hyundai Ioniq (150 units) at the post.

Elsewhere, SUV and passenger vehicle sales favoured Mitsubishi with a 16 per cent share of the market (1649 units) ahead of Tesla’s 15 per cent (1554 units) and Toyota’s 14 per cent (1509 units).

The top-selling SUV and passenger models for the month were the Tesla Model Y (1502 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (867 units) and Mitsubishi ASX (410 units).

Mitsubishi retains the market share lead for SUV and passenger vehicles year-to-date with a 15 per cent share (13,205 units) ahead of Toyota’s 14 per cent (11,929) and then Kia with an 11 per cent share (9180 units).

Unsurprisingly, SUVs dominate passenger vehicle sales in New Zealand with the SUV Medium segment enjoying a 29 per cent share ahead of SUV Compact vehicles with 21 per cent and the Pick-Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 14 per cent.

Year-to-date, SUV Medium and SUV Small segments comprise 59 per cent of the total market.

The MIA says that registrations of 10,601 SUVs and passenger cars in September were down 10.7 per cent (or 1273 units) on the same month last year, bit is still ahead of 2021 year-to-date figures by 2.2 per cent (or 1872 units).

Registrations of 4278 new commercial vehicles were down 7.9 per cent (or 366 units) on September last year. Year-to-date sales of commercial vehicles is down 5.4 per cent (2114 units) on the first nine months of 2021.

The market for light commercial vehicles has strengthened over recent months with Toyota maintaining the sector lead with a 27 per cent market share (1159 units) followed by Ford with 25 per cent (1063 units) and Mitsubishi with 10 per cent (445 units).

Ford’s new Ranger took top spot for the month of September as the best-selling commercial model (24% and 1043 units) followed by the Toyota HiLux (23% and 989 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place (9% and 379 units).

Market share year-to-date figures show Toyota’s HiLux on the top rung of the light commercial vehicle market with a 21 per cent share (7621 units) ahead of Ford’s Ranger (20% and 7450 units) and then the Mitsubishi Triton (14% and 5316 units).

Registrations of heavy vehicles remain strong with 746 units for the month.

Top 10 sales by make (September 2022, passenger, SUV and commercial):

Top 10 sales by model (September 2022, passenger and SUV):

Top 10 commercial sales by model (September 2022, commercial):