NZ Sales: January sales down on 2021

NEW ZEALAND’s new-car sales dropped marginally last month (January) with 13,514 unit sales recorded – a decrease of 379 units (2.7 per cent) on the same month in 2021.

Motor Industry Association (MIA) CEO David Crawford said that despite the weaker figure, the NZ market remained buoyant and that tighter lending restrictions for private purchases, coupled with low stock levels, were behind the lower sales total that was recorded in January.

Mr Crawford said that recent shipments of new vehicles have helped to alleviate some of the long waiting lists for popular models, but that other brands continued to suffer from ongoing supply constraints related to the Covid-19 pandemic and industry-wide microprocessor shortage.

Passenger vehicle sales were down 7.8 per cent on January a year ago – 8953 passenger vehicles were sold in NZ last month, with small and medium vehicle segments comprising 56% of sales. 

The top passenger-vehicle segments for the month of January were SUV Compact (22%) followed by SUV Medium (22%). 

Mitsubishi’s Outlander remains the country’s top-selling passenger vehicle. The Japanese marque was also New Zealand’s overall market leader with a 21 per cent share ahead of Ford (9%) and Toyota (9%).

In fact, Mitsubishi took the market lead for passenger car and SUV registrations with a 19 per cent market share (1677 units), followed by Kia with 12 per cent (1085 units) and Hyundai with an eight per cent market share (734 units). 

The top selling passenger-car and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander followed by the Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS.

Electrified model sales tallied 454 light vehicle and 16 heavy vehicle sales for January. The country’s top-selling BEVs were the Hyundai Kona (78 units), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (59 units) and  BMW i models (42 units).

There were 208 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) registered in January – the top selling models were the MG HS (53 units), followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (46 units) and the Kia Sorento (20 units). Meanwhile, 828 hybrid vehicles were sold and the most popular models were the Honda Jazz (149 units), followed by the Toyota Yaris (87 units) and Toyota RAV4 (77 units). 

As for commercial vehicles, 4561 vehicles were registered in January, with the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 holding an overall market share of 19 per cent. Mitsubishi took the market lead with a 25 per cent market share in January (1137 units), followed by Ford, with 21 per cent (976 units) and Toyota, with a 15 per cent market share (669 units).

The Mitsubishi Triton took the top spot for the month of January as the bestselling commercial model with a 25 per cent share (1118 units), followed by the Ford Ranger with a 21 per cent share (6953 units) and the Toyota Hilux in third place, with an 11 per cent market share (507 units). 

Top 10 sales by make (January 2022):

Top 10 passenger sales by model (January 2022):

Top 10 commercial sales by model (January 2022):