New vehicle sales on a roll

David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says, “the traditional slowdown in new vehicle registrations during an election period failed to materialise in September. Monthly registrations of 14,507 vehicles was the strongest month of September on record. Registrations were 10.4 per cent (11,165 units) year to date above this time in 2016 and for the month were up 4.5 per cent (623 units) on September 2016.” Year to date, sales of passenger and SUVs were up by 6.8% and commercial vehicles by 18.6% compared to 2016. Toyota remains the overall market leader with 24 per cent market share (3,473 units), followed by Ford with 11 per cent (1,548 units) and Holden with 10 per cent market share (1,386 units). Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 2,320 units, for  market share of 24 per cent, Holden followed with 1,006 registrations and Mazda with a 9 per cent market with 875 sales. The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month was the Toyota Corolla with 957 sales, of which 742 were rentals. In the commercial sector, Toyota was again the market leader with 25 per cent of the market with 1,153 units, followed by Ford with 875 and Holden third with on 380 registrations. The Toyota Hilux was again the bestselling commercial model with 17 per cent share selling 791 units, The Ranger was close behind with 781 units registered. Ford Ranger remains both the top commercial vehicle model and the top model overall for 2017 with 7,098 registrations compared to 6,285 for the Toyota Hilux. “As the 2017 year progresses economic conditions of the last 18 months remain largely unchanged with low interest rates, strong net immigration, strong New Zealand currency and stable domestic economy. The combination of these factors underpins record sales of new vehicles.” said Crawford.