New car sales jump 13%

There were 9,137 new passenger vehicles registered in August, which was up by 13 per cent from 8,088 units in the same month of last year.

Toyota’s RAV4 was the leading model last month after selling 886 units and accounting for 9.7 per cent of the market. However, its total was down by 14.6 per cent from 1,038 registrations in August 2025.

The Toyota Corolla Cross was next with 597 sales for a market share of 6.5 per cent, followed by Mitsubishi’s ASX and Outlander on 475 and 386 units respectively.

Another Toyota, the Land Cruiser Prado, pictured, completed the top five after 243 registrations in August, up 89.8 per cent from 128 a year ago.

August’s overall tally for new-vehicle registrations also increased 4.9 per cent from 8,713 sales in July this year.

There have been 69,224 sales year-to-date, which is up by 15 per cent from 60,209 at the same stage a year ago.

The RAV4 is the best-selling model so far in 2026 with 4,801 sales and a 6.9 per cent market share. The ASX is second on 2,461 and 3.6 per cent and the Corolla Cross third with 2,393 and 3.5 per cent.

Toyota topped the marques’ ladder in August with 2,387 registrations – up 20.4 per cent from 1,983 in the same month last year– and 26.1 per cent of the market. 

Mitsubishi was second with 917 sales and 10 per cent, and Kia came third on 860 and 9.4 per cent. 

Toyota is the leading marque year-to-date with 12,801 registrations and an 18.5 per cent slice of the market.

Next is Kia with 6,104 registrations and 8.8 per cent, and Mitsubishi on 5,606 and 8.1 per cent.

BYD was a notable climber in the August statistics and was the eighth most-popular marque. It sold 336 units compared with 62 in the same month of last year.