Record new cars for Sept

David Crawford, CEO of the Motor Industry Association says “record strong immigration, high levels of economic activity in Auckland and elsewhere, and record-low interest rates are combining to give consumers and business confidence to purchase big-ticket items. “There were 13,884 new vehicle registrations in the month of September, making it the highest month of September on record, and second highest month of any month ever. September registrations are up 11.3 per cent on September 2015. Year-to-date the market is 7.6 per cent up on this time in 2015 and heading for another record year.” For the month of September, there were 9704 passenger and SUV vehicle registrations and 4180 commercial vehicle registrations. Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of September with 17 per cent market share (2422 units), with Holden second on 12 per cent (1636 units) and Ford third with 10 per cent (1454 units). Toyota remains the passenger car and SUV market leader for the month of September with 17 per cent share (1692 units), with Holden second on 12 per cent (1197 units) and Mazda third with nine per cent (883 units). Ford retained the commercial vehicle market with 20 per cent share (835 units) followed by Toyota with 17 per cent (730 units) and Holden third with 11 per cent (439 units). Year-to-date, Ford has 21 per cent (7050 units) of the commercial market with Toyota on 20 per cent (6783 units). The Toyota Corolla was the top selling passenger model for the month of September with five per cent market share (481 units), followed by the Hyundai Tucson on four percent (345 units) and the Kia Sportage on three per cent (288 units). The Ford Ranger is again both the monthly top selling commercial model for September with 18 per cent market share (761 units), and the overall top selling model for the month of September. The Toyota Hilux was the second-best commercial model with 13 per cent market share (554 units) with the Holden Colorado at 10 per cent (422 units). Year-to-date, the Ford Ranger stretches its lead as the top selling commercial model with 19 per cent market share (6406 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux, with 14 per cent market share (4787 units). The SUV segments accounted for 36 per cent of vehicle registrations for the month of September followed by passenger segments with 33 per cent and the light commercial segments with 25 per cent share. “If registrations of new vehicles continue at this pace, then it is possible we could see more than 140,000 new vehicles registered in a year for the first time,” says Crawford.