New car sales tumble

New passenger car registrations came in at 6,984 during August, which was down by 36 per cent from 10,921 in the same month of last year.

The Toyota RAV4, pictured, topped the models’ ladder with 773 units, an increase of 77.3 per cent from 436 in August last year. It also gave it a market share of 11.1 per cent. 

It was followed by two Mitsubishis, the Outlander on 321 and the Eclipse Cross with 233, with those models seeing registrations fall year-on-year by 52.6 per cent and 31.9 per cent respectively.

Ford’s Everest was fourth with 226 units followed by the Kia Seltos and Suzuki Swift being tied for fifth place on 214 registrations.

The RAV4 is the clear leader year-to-date and has sold 5,114 units for a 7.1 slice of the market. Suzuki’s Swift is next with 2,921 and four per cent, followed by the Eclipse Cross on 2,494 and 3.5 per cent.

Toyota was the marque with the most registrations in August. Its 1,734 units gave it a 24.8 market share and last month’s figures were also up by 6.4 per cent from 1,629 a year ago.

Next was Kia on 803 and 11.5 per cent of the market and Mitsubishi with 645 and 9.2 per cent. 

Ford was August’s big climber after leaping to fourth place with its 532 registrations representing an increase of 189.1 per cent from 184.

Toyota leads the way year-to-date on 12,599 units and a 17.4 per cent market share, followed by Kia on 7,737 and 10.7 per cent.

Mitsubishi with 6,721, Hyundai on 5,228 and Suzuki with 5,080 complete the top five for the first eight months of 2023.