NZ Sales: Stabilisation in sight

NEW ZEALAND’S new car sales market has been doing it tough. Month after month, sales figures suggest buyers have drawn the purse strings closed, the country’s economic conditions seeing record low new car sales – including in July.

Yet, according to the Motor Industry Association of New Zealand (MIA), July vehicle registrations of 9430 units suggest resilience, despite being down 8.6 per cent (885 units) on the monthly average.

As has been the case for some time, the Light Passenger segment (passenger cars and SUVs) remains hardest hit, down 29 per cent to 6345 units year-to-date from 2023 highlighting, the MIA says, broader economic challenges.

Light Commercial vehicle registrations are up to 2505 YTD sales, while Heavy Commercial vehicle registrations have grown, up to 643 YTD units from 613 a year prior.

Across the board, we find Toyota leading the pack in July with an 18.6 per cent market share (1758 units) ahead of Ford with 11.4 per cent (1071 units) and Mitsubishi with 10.9 per cent (1025 units).

Within the Light Passenger segment we note Toyota RAV4 at the top of the ladder (394 unit sales and 6.2 per cent share), ahead of the Kia Seltos (342 units and 5.4 per cent share), and Mitsubishi’s ASX (311 units and 4.9 per cent share).

As suggested by the upward move by Kia’s Seltos, Compact SUV models are making strides in July claiming a 32 per cent share of the Light Passenger segment (2028 units) ahead of Medium SUVs (30 per cent and 1905 units) and Large SUVs (11 per cent and 695 units).

On the Light Commercial front, we note a marked improvement to year-on-year sales with an improvement of 1309 units in July, though year-to-date registrations are two per cent lower than the same time last year.

Ford’s Ranger tops buyer lists in July, the model taking a 30.2 per cent slice of the market (757 units) ahead of the Toyota HiLux (23.5 per cent and 589 sales) and Mitsubishi Triton (10.8 per cent and 270 units).

Four-wheel drive pick-up and cab-chassis models remain most popular (1612 units and 66.4 per cent share) ahead of two-wheel drive models (494 units and 19.7 per cent) and vans (308 units and 12.3 per cent share).

Motive power preferences continue to favour traditional ICE vehicles (6656 units and 70.6 per cent share) with hybrid models ranking second (1978 units and 21.0 per cent share). Battery electric vehicles placed third in July with 566 unit sales (6.0 per cent share) ahead of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with 230 unit sales (2.4 per cent share).

Top 10 sales by Make (July passenger, SUV and commercial):

Top 10 sales by Model (July passenger and SUV):

Top 10 sales by Model (July commercial):

*All figures are supplied courtesy of the Motor Industry Association of New Zealand.