Toyota nails sales hat-trick

There were 7,381 used-imported passenger cars registered in New Zealand last month, a drop of 17.1 per cent when compared to 8,900 in January 2024.

However, monthly sales to start 2025 were up by 3.4 per cent from the 7,136 in December last year.

Toyota took out the top three spots on the models’ ladder in January as its Aqua, pictured, led the pack on 695 units and a 9.4 per cent share of the market.

The Prius was next on 462 and 6.3 per cent and the Corolla recorded 359 sales for a 4.9 per cent market share.

Despite being out front, sales of the Aqua and Prius fell year-on-year. Numbers for the Aqua were down by 20.1 per cent from 870 units a year ago, while the Prius slipped 28.9 per cent from 650 sales.

In contrast, first-time registrations for used-imported Corollas increased 9.1 per cent from 329 units in January last year.

Completing last month’s top five was the Honda Fit on 306 units, up from 303 a year ago, and Mazda’s Axela with 265, a drop of 40.2 per cent from 443 sales.

A notable riser for registrations in January was the Nissan Leaf. Its figures went from 34 a year ago, when EV sales slumped in the first month following the end of the clean car discount, to 110 last month.

Toyota was number one on the marques’ ladder last month with 2,652 sales for 35.9 per cent of the market. Its sales fell 19.8 per cent from 3,308 in January 2024.

Nissan was the second-most-popular marque last month with 973 units, a market share of 13.2 per cent, and Mazda was third on 903 registrations, or 12.2 per cent. 

Their monthly figures were also down from a year ago, with Nissan’s falling 23.7 per cent and Mazda’s dropping 32.1 per cent.

Honda and Subaru recorded year-on-year increases to complete the top five with 762 sales each.