Sales steady for used industry

There were 7,604 used-imported passenger cars registered in New Zealand last month, an increase of 3.2 per cent when compared to 7,370 in January 2025.

Toyota took out three of the top four spots on the models’ ladder in January as its Aqua, pictured, led the pack on 781 units and a 10.3 per cent share of the market.

The Prius was next on 468 and 6.2 per cent and the Corolla was fourth after it recorded 341 sales for a 4.5 per cent market share.

Sales of the Aqua and Prius rose year-on-year – up 12.7 and 1.5 per cent respectively – while the Prius slipped 4.7 per cent from 358 sales.

Nissan’s Note, pictured. denied Toyota a clean sweep of the top three and was third on the ladder with 362 sales, up 58.1 per cent from 229 a year ago.

Completing last month’s top five was the Mazda Axela with 273, a climb of three per cent from 265 sales.

A notable riser for registrations in January was the Toyota Yaris. Its figures went from 49 a year ago to 118 last month.

Toyota was number one on the marques’ ladder last month with 2,640 sales for 34.7 per cent of the market. Its sales were flat and only 0.1 per cent lower than the 2,643 achieved in January 2025.

Nissan was the second-most-popular marque last month with 1,144 units, a market share of 15 per cent, and Mazda was third on 1,084 registrations, or 14.3 per cent. 

Their monthly figures increased year-on-year, with Nissan’s rising 17.7 per cent and Mazda’s growing by 20 per cent.

Subaru and Honda completed the top five with 712 and 604 sales respectively.