New-vehicle sales climb

There were 8,426 new passenger vehicles registered in March, which was up 11.8 per cent from 7,539 units in the same month of last year.

Toyota’s RAV4 was last month’s top model on 703 units, down from 789 in March 2024, and accounted for 8.3 per cent of the market.

Next on the monthly chart was Mitsubishi’s ASX with 364 registrations and a 4.3 per cent market share, the marque’s Outlander on 352 and 4.2 per cent.

Kia’s Seltos and the Toyota Corolla, pictured, completed the top five after selling 295 and 218 units respectively.

The Corolla was among the best performers last month after its registrations jumped 96.4 per cent from 111 a year ago.

The RAV4 is the leading model this year after selling 2,442 units and boasting a 10.2 per cent share of activity.

The Outlander is second on the year-to-date chart with 993 units, followed by the Seltos on 941, the ASX with 933 and the Suzuki Swift on 614.

Toyota topped the marques’ ladder in March with 1,711 registrations – up 9.3 per cent from 1,566 in the same month a year ago – and 20.3 per cent of the market. 

Kia was second with 851 sales and 10.1 per cent and Mitsubishi came third on 822 and 9.8 per cent.

Honda and Mazda were next on the ladder with 555 and 422 units respectively.

Toyota is the leading marque year-to-date with 4,913 units and a 20.9 per cent market share.

Kia is second with 2,382 registrations and 10.1 per cent, with Mitsubishi third on 2,268 and 9.7 per cent.