NZ sales: Tumble down in July

NEW ZEALAND new vehicle sales have softened significantly across July as the effects of rising living costs, high fuel prices, supply constraints and a weakening economy impact buyer sentiment.

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) says the 11,101 registrations of new vehicles for the month of July are “significantly softer” when compared to the same month last year.

Registrations of 8049 passenger cars and SUVs were down 19.4 per cent (1935 units) on the same month last year.

Registrations of 3052 new commercial vehicles were down a staggering 39.8 per cent (2017 units) over the same period and likely to remain subdued in coming months because of clean car taxes, say the MIA.

Overall, registrations of new vehicles were down 26.3 per cent (3952 units) on July 2021.

Year to date, the market has now slipped below 2021, down 6.6 per cent (6547 units) compared to the first seven months of 2021.

Registrations of light commercial vehicles remain subdued following the impost of Clean Car

Discount taxes from 1 April this year, the MIA says, noting that Toyota retained the lead in the commercial vehicle sector with a 37 per cent market share (1121 vehicles), ahead of Ford’s 19 per cent (595 vehicles) and Mitsubishi in third place with an eight per cent market share (242 vehicles).

The Toyota Hilux again took top spot for the month of July as the bestselling commercial

model with 31 per cent share (957 units) followed by the Ford Ranger with 19 per cent share (580 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place with six per cent market share (179 units).

Year to date market share figures show the Toyota Hilux has regained the lead (20% share and 5739 units) ahead of the Ford Ranger (19% share and 5475 units) and Mitsubishi’s Triton (16% share and 4640 units).

Registrations of heavy vehicles remain steady with 572 units for the month.

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota RAV4 (690 units)

closely followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (685 units) and the Toyota Highlander (335

units).

Mitsubishi retains the market share lead for passenger and SUV sales year to date with a 16 per cent share (10,194 units), followed by Toyota with 14 per cent share (8793 units) and Kia with an 11 per cent share (6812 units).

However, Toyota retains its position as the overall market leader in July with a 26 per cent market share (2891 units) ahead of Mitsubishi’s 13 per cent (1411 units) and Ford’s seven per cent share (754 units).

Market share year to date shows Toyota has regained the lead with 17 per cent (15,792 units), followed by Mitsubishi’s 16 per cent share (15,177 units) and Ford’s eight per cent (7315 units).

On a segment-by-segment basis, the tops spots again feature the SUV medium segment with 23 per cent ahead of SUV compact vehicles (21%) and Pick Up/Chassis 4x4s (14%).

New energy vehicles including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid vehicles saw podium finishes for BEV models including the Peugeot 208 (92 units) followed by the Polestar 2 (80 units) and the Kia EV6 (40 units).

Registrations of plug-in hybrids were steady with 635 units registered for the month. The top selling models were the Mitsubishi Outlander (280 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (164 units) and then the Hyundai Ioniq (35 units).

There were 1773 hybrids registered in the month of July, with the top selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (530 units) followed by the Toyota Highlander (227 units) and the Toyota Yaris (123 units).

Top 10 sales by make (July 2022):

Top 10 sales by model (July 2022):

Top 10 commercial sales by model (July 2022):