NZ Sales: August sales well down

NEW ZEALAND’S Motor Industry Association (MIA) says tough economic conditions are the primary cause of a ‘soft’ August sales month in which the country recorded just 9808 new vehicle registrations.

The figure is 33.2 per cent lower than the same month in 2022, 28.7 per cent lower than the monthly average for last year, and 22.4 per cent lower than the average for the first eight months of 2023.

Year to date registrations are 6.3 per cent (or 6774 units) below those recorded at the same time in 2022.

MIA chief executive, Aimee Wiley, says August’s result is likely caused by several contributing factors including the continuation of market rebalancing from June’s record month, tougher economic conditions, and hesitation to purchase a new vehicle in the lead up to the NZ election which may introduce even stricter transport policy changes.

For August 2023, new vehicle sales in the New Zealand market favoured SUV and LCV models, much as they did in Australia. Light passenger models – including SUVs – tallied 6982 units, light commercial models 2083 units, and heavy commercial models 743 units.

NZ’s most popular segments virtually mirrored those across the ditch, with SUV Medium the flavour of the month (27.3 per cent), SUV Compact in second place (18.6 per cent) and 4x4 Pick-Up/Cab-Chassis third (14.2 per cent).

Like Australia, Toyota topped the model ladder in New Zealand for August taking an impressive 24.9 per cent share of the total new car market (2442 units) ahead of second-place Ford (14.7 per cent and 1444 units) and third-place Kia (8.2 per cent and 803 units).

Across the Light Passenger segment (which includes SUVs), New Zealand buyers again showed a preference for Toyota-badged models, the Big T selling 1734 units (24.8 per cent) ahead of Kia’s 803 units (11.5 per cent) and Mitsubishi’s 645 units (9.2 per cent).

The top-selling passenger vehicles for the month of August were the Toyota RAV4 (773 units), Mitsubishi Outlander (321 units) and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (233 units).

Altogether, battery electric vehicles comprised 863 (or 12.4 per cent) of the total Light Passenger models sold with the BYD Atto 3 (131 units) and MG 4 (96 units) placing first and second, followed by a tied third place between the MZ ZS and Tesla Model Y (72 units each).

Plug-in hybrid vehicles continue to sell strongly in New Zealand, with August sales totalling 780 units (or 11.2 per cent). The top three models in the Light Passenger segment are the Mitsubishi Outlander (261 units), Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (144 units) and Kia Sorento (131units).

Toyota took all three places on the hybrid vehicle podium in August with the RAV4 placing first (760 units), Highlander second (182 units), and Corolla third (172 units). In all, hybrid vehicles made up 34.6 per cent (2417 units) of the Light Passenger segment for the month.

The remaining 41.9 per cent share (2922 units) of Light Passenger sales were ICE-powered vehicles.

As was the case with passenger vehicle registrations, commercial vehicle registrations were also down in August, the total of 2826 units some 24.6 per cent lower (or 924 units) than August 2022.

On a year-to-date basis, commercial vehicle registrations are down 11.7 per cent (or 3795 units) compared with the same period in 2022.

Overall, Ford took the market lead in August 2023 with a 32 per cent slice of the action (912 units), the majority its popular Ranger (842 units). Toyota placed second with a 25 per cent share of the market (708 units), the majority its evergreen HiLux (465 units), while third place went to Mitsubishi with a five per cent share – all 153 unit sales being its Triton.

Top 10 sales by Make (August passenger, SUV and commercial):

Top 10 sales by Model (August passenger and SUV):

Top 10 sales by Model (August commercial):

Note: all figures are supplied courtesy of the Motor Industry Association of New Zealand.