NZ sales: Mid-year records fall

JUNE marked the biggest monthly new-car sales haul in New Zealand’s history as the country’s automotive market hit a half-yearly high, driven by huge gains, particularly in the light-commercial vehicle segment.

A total of 15,985 vehicles were registered in NZ last month, outpacing the previous record month of October 2016 when 14,709 cars, SUVs and LCVs found homes. The overall result was also 16.6 per cent ahead of June 2016’s haul of 13,699.

New Zealand Motor Industry Association chief executive officer David Crawford said the record figure was the result of a number of factors combined.

“While the 2017 Agricultural Fieldays held at the beginning of June has boosted the volume of new vehicles sales for the month of June, low interest rates, strong net immigration, strong New Zealand currency and a healthy tourism market (car rentals) continue to underpin the sales of new vehicles” he said.

While passenger car and SUV sales grew by 10.8 per cent over June 2016 to hit 10,181 units, LCVs had a massive month in NZ, increasing by 28.6 per cent to 5804 units.

Year to date, New Zealanders snapped up 22.7 per cent more LCVs than January to June last year, with 26,198 registrations, as passenger car and SUV sales crept up by 10.8 per cent to 52,933 units.

In terms of overall year-to-date sales, the NZ new-car market hit 79,131 sales, which is a 14.6 per cent – or 10,095-unit – increase over the first six months of 2016.

The Australian-developed Ford Ranger pick-up maintained its solid form and topped the mid-year individual model sales charts, with the ute’s haul of 4976 likely to ensure another year-end victory for the Blue Oval.

Arch-rival Toyota’s HiLux grabbed second place with 4065, followed by Holden’s resurgent Colorado that found 2384 homes, with the Toyota Corolla the only non-LCV in the top five, taking fourth spot with 2334 sales, and Mitsubishi’s Triton in fifth with 2130.

Outside the top five, Toyota’s RAV4 (2002) was in sixth spot, followed by the Kia Sportage (1814), Nissan’s Navara pick-up (1706) and then Mazda’s CX-5 SUV (1562), with the Toyota HiAce (1561) van rounding out the top 10 and ensuring Brand T had no fewer than four offerings in the year-to-date model rankings.

The top five best-selling models in June replicated the YTD list place for place, but there were a couple of surprises further down the list, including a strong month for the Toyota Highlander (dubbed Kluger in Australia) with 451 sales to finish sixth, while the recently-refreshed Isuzu D-Max pick-up grabbed eighth spot with 335 sales.

Toyota grabbed the top three spots on the top-selling rental cars list to the end of June, led by the RAV4 with 994, then the Corolla (638) and Highlander (425), with Holden’s Captiva (272) and Commodore (252) rounding out that list.

The Japanese car-maker leads the market so far this year, with 13,823 sales, representing a 19.3 per cent lift over the same period in 2016, with Ford still well behind on 8855 (+7.5%).

GM Holden’s fortunes appear to be better in New Zealand than Australia, with the Lion brand increasing its YTD sales by 14.6 per cent to 7119 units, while Mazda lifted by 10.7 per cent to 6016.

Mitsubishi hit 5629 units, a 24.5 per cent boost, and Hyundai lifted slightly by 3.2 per cent to 4336, while Nissan remained steady, with a barely noticeable 0.4 per cent lift (or 17 units) to grab 4099 sales.

Suzuki turned around its first half 2016 result with a strong January to June 2017 on the back of new product including the Ignis and new-gen Swift, hitting 3834 units – a massive 43.7 per cent increase.

Replicating its trajectory in Australia, Korean car-maker Kia has been the biggest improver so far this year, with an impressive 210 per cent lift from 1099 units to 3409 to the end of June this year, thanks largely to the popularity of the Sportage SUV.

Kia’s result was enough to push Volkswagen into tenth spot, with the German brand recording its own significant increase of 23.8 per cent over the first six months of 2016, with 3147 vehicles sold.

NZ top 10 makes June 2017

Rank	Make	Sales	% Share
1	Toyota	3310	20.7
2	Ford	1689	10.5
3	Holden	1352	8.4
4	Mazda	1142	7.4
5	Mitsubishi	1133	7.0
6	Hyundai	913	5.7
7	Suzuki	683	4.2
8	Volkswagen	662	4.1
9	Nissan	652	4.0
10	Kia	626	3.9

NZ top 10 makes YTD end June 2017

Rank	Make	Sales	% Share
1	Toyota	13,823	17.4
2	Ford	8855	11.9
3	Holden	7119	8.9
4	Mazda	6016	7.6
5	Mitsubishi	5629	7.1
6	Hyundai	4336	5.4
7	Nissan	4099	5.1
8	Suzuki	3834	4.8
9	Kia	3409	4.3
10	Volkswagen	3147	3.9