Record month for new sales
The Motor Industry Association says that 14,690 sales of new vehicles made for the strongest month of August on record.
Chief executive David Crawford reports this was “largely due to shipments arriving allowing back orders to be filled”.
He adds: “The month’s tally bucks a recent softening market trend brought on by rising costs of living, high fuel prices, continued vehicle supply constraints and a weakening New Zealand economy.”
Registrations of 10,940 cars and SUVs were up by 138.6 per cent and 6,355 units on the same month of last year with August 2021 being affected by Covid-19 lockdowns.
Sales of 3,750 new commercials rose by 73.5 per cent or 1,589 units over the same timescale, with this part of the market “recovering near to what it was prior to the imposition of clean car discount”.
Overall, registrations of new vehicles were up by 117.7 per cent and 7,943 units on the coronavirus-impacted August 2021. Year to date, the market has recovered to now be slightly ahead of this time last year – up by 1.3 per cent and 1,396 units.
Crawford notes August was also noticeably a strong month for registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with 2,560 going to new owners.
Of those 2,530 were passenger vehicles, 27 were light commercials and three were heavy vehicles. In addition, 627 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and 1,626 petrol hybrid vehicles were sold last month.
The top three models for the month of August were the Ford Ranger on 934 units. It was followed by the Toyota Hilux with 897 and Tesla’s Model 3 on 745. Year to date, the top three are the Hilux on 6,634, Ranger with 6,408 and Mitsubishi’s Outlander on 6,272.
Toyota was August’s overall market leader with a market share of 18 per cent and 2,678 units. Next up was Mitsubishi with 12 per cent and 1,697 units, with Kia third on 11 per cent and 1,574 units.
When it comes to year-to-date market share, Toyota has regained the lead with 17 per cent and 18,466 units. Mitsubishi is second on 16 per cent and 16,871, with Ford on eight per cent and 8,443.
Business electric
There were 2,557 light and three heavy BEVs registered in August. The top-two selling models were Teslas – the Model 3 on 745 and Model Y on 581 units. A newcomer to the market, BYD, came third selling 448 units of its Atto 3, pictured.
Registrations of PHEVs were steady with 627 units registered in August. Mitsubishi claimed a one-two with its Eclipse Cross on 198 and Outlander with 191. The MG HS was third with 98.
There were 1,626 petrol hybrids sold last month with the top three being Toyota’s RAV4 on 342 units, Kia’s Niro with 166 and Toyota’s Highlander on 154.
