The trusted voice of the industry
for more than 30 years

Highest sales ever for January

Posted on 02 February, 2017

2017 began with a bang as the Motor Industry Association (MIA) reported the highest January vehicle sales ever. New vehicle registrations were up 16 per cent from January 2016 and 9.5 per cent on the previous month to 13,823 unit sales. Passenger and SUV registrations grew 14 per cent on January 2016 to 10,150 vehicles, and commercial registrations were up 23 per cent to 3,763 vehicles. “This is the strongest ever start to a new sales year with record levels of new vehicles purchased by New Zealand businesses and consumers across the passenger and commercial sectors,” said MIA CEO David Crawford in a statement. “As 2017 gets underway, nothing has changed with the economic environment that existed for most of 2016,” he added. Toyota retained its grip on the passenger market it a 17 per cent share, followed by Holden with 13 per cent, and Ford on 11 per cent. In the commercial sector, Ford was the market leader with 21 per cent, narrowly beating out Toyota, on 19 per cent. Mazda followed with an eight per cent market share. The Ford Ranger, which was the best-selling model for 2015 and 2016, began 2017 at the top of the table with 741 units. The Toyota Corolla came second for January with 590 units, followed by the Toyota RAV4 with 556 units. The RAV4 was the top-selling rental car for January, with 418 new registrations recorded. The global dominance of SUVs in new car sales is also prominent in New Zealand, accounting for 40 per cent of January registrations. The SUV medium segment accounted for 17 per cent of the total market for January, followed by the small passenger segment with 13 per cent and the large SUV with a 12 per cent share.