RAV4 best-selling new car

The RAV4 has secured the title of New Zealand’s best-selling new car with a dominant 12 per cent share of last year’s passenger vehicle market.

Toyota’s compact crossover SUV recorded 10,530 registrations in 2024. That was 1,211 units behind Ford’s Ranger, which finished on 11,741, to make the RAV4 more popular than the Hilux on 7,295.

There were 87,392 new cars registered last year, which was down by 20.8 per cent from 110,350 in 2023, according to data published by the NZTA on January 1.

The 12 per cent market share for the RAV4 last year compares to 7.9 per cent in 2023 when it had 8,753 registrations.

The second best-selling car of 2024 was Mitsubishi’s ASX on 3,763 for a market share of 4.3 per cent, and the marque’s Outlander was third with 3,248 and 3.7 per cent.

The Kia Seltos came fourth with 3.6 per cent thanks to 3,136 registrations. Suzuki’s Swift completed the top five with 2,698 units and 3.1 per cent.

Next up were Mitsubishi’s Eclipse Cross with 2,393, Ford’s Everest on 2,337 and Toyota’s Corolla with 1,852. The Toyota Yaris Cross came ninth on 1,840 and the top 10 was completed by the Kia Sportage on 1,727.

Marque extends dominance

Toyota claimed 23.7 per cent of 2024’s new-car market with 20,697 registrations. That was up compared to a market share of 19.8 per cent in 2023 on the back of 21,909 sales.

Mitsubishi came second on the marques’ ladder with 9,915 for a market share of 11.3 per cent. Its figures for 2023 were 10,282 and 9.3 per cent.

Last year’s third spot went to Kia with 8,673 and 9.9 per cent. Next up were Suzuki with 5,192 units and Ford with 4,659 for market shares of 5.9 and 5.3 per cent respectively.

The best-selling German luxury marque was BMW on 1,486 with second spot claimed by Mercedes-Benz with 1,368. Audi was third on 1,102.

Other notable brands on the ladder included Tesla selling 1,287 units in 2024, BYD 908, Omoda 468, Cupra 360 and Jaecoo 237. 

Sales decrease in December

Sales of new cars came in at 7,209 during December. That was down by 15.7 per cent versus 8,547 during the same month of 2023.

The RAV4 was the most popular model on 996 units. It was followed by the Eclipse Cross on 603 and ASX with 239. Toyota’s Land Cruiser Prado was fourth on 201 and the Everest was fifth with 179.

Toyota was December’s top marque with a market share of 25.6 per cent thanks to 1,849 units. Second spot went to Mitsubishi on 996 and Kia claimed third with 587.