Toyota happy driving sales

Registrations of new vehicles by Toyota NZ continue to dominate the market with its biggest month under its Drive Happy project for retail sales.

While the company says it competed well across its “diverse portfolio” of compact cars, SUVs, utes and vans, its new-vehicle sales for the seven months of 2020 are down by 20 per cent compared to the previous year-to-date. The overall market is 25 per cent lower than this time in 2019.

Toyota’s market share for the month of July was 18.8 per cent, while year to date it’s sitting at 17.6 per cent.

When it comes to the passenger market, the new RAV4 leads the way so far this year with 3,052 units, of which 2,137 have been hybrids – or 70 per cent of RAV4 sales. It was also the top-selling vehicle for July with 798 units for its biggest month since its launch in 2019. Also in July’s top 10 is the Hilux at third place with 637 vehicles. The Corolla is ninth on 232 units.

Neeraj Lala, chief executive officer of Toyota NZ, says no one could have anticipated the level of sales during July, given that it’s a month usually known for cooling-off from big sales in May and June.

“The level of new orders across our range has surpassed our expectations,” he says. “When the product is right and resonates with customers, it definitely delivers sales through our retail channels.”

Hybrids continue to outsell traditional models with the current percentage sitting at 54 per cent hybrid and 46 per cent non-hybrid split year to date for passenger cars, and 56 per cent hybrid and 44 per cent non-hybrid when it comes to SUVs.

Lala adds: “The retail channel performed strongly in July with 1,755 vehicles. This is a 29.5 per cent increase on July 2019. These results make it the biggest retail month since the launch of the Drive Happy business model in April 2018.

“Parts and service rates have also increased and improved, and we continue to hold a 95 per cent service rate despite Covid-19.”