NZ sales: March continues downward trend

NEW ZEALAND new vehicle sales are down again in March, marking the third consecutive month of below average performance.

Compared to the same time last year, registrations were down 23.8 per cent (5007 units), though Motor Industry Association principal technical advisor, Mark Stockdale, says some reduction is attributed to the introduction of Clean Car Discount (CCD) fees for light commercial vehicles in March of last year.

Interestingly, registrations of passenger cars and SUVs were up on the same month in 2022, the registration of 11,626 units marking a four per cent uptick (444 units). Commercial vehicle registrations declined sharply, however, with March numbers down 55.5 per cent (5451 units) on last March.

Mr Stockdale says the year-on-year comparisons illustrate the effect government policy can have in changing purchaser behaviours, and notes light commercial vehicle sales have struggled to regain momentum since the introduction of CCD fees in March of last year.

Light commercial vehicle sales for March 2023 saw Ford regain the market lead with a 33 per cent share (1439 units), of which the Ranger accounted for 1333 units. Toyota placed second for the month with a 25 per cent slice of the action (1072 units), the HiLux selling 834 units over the period, while Mitsubishi placed third in the segment with a seven per cent share (306 units) and 304 Triton sales.

On the heavier side of the commercial market, there were 763 registrations recorded for the month.

For passenger and SUV models the trend toward smaller vehicles continues with 60 per cent of vehicles registered for the month of March being in the Medium category or below.

The MIA says consumers are favouring SUV Medium segment vehicles over most others (31 per cent), the SUV Compact segment following in second place (18 per cent) and the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment in third place (13 per cent).

Across the board, Toyota scored first place with a 17 per cent market share (2605 units) ahead of Ford’s 11 per cent (1714 units) and Hyundai’s eight per cent share (1256 units).

On the passenger and SUV front, it was Toyota that regained the market lead in March with a 14 per cent share (1578 units), followed by Kia with 11 per cent (1255 units) and Hyundai with 10 per cent (1281 units).

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month of March were the Tesla Model Y (761 units), Hyundai Tucson (648 units) and BYD Atto 3 (617 units).

Unsurprisingly, those figures show a keen interest in battery electric vehicles among New Zealand buyers. There were 2656 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold during March, as well as 515 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and an impressive 2503 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

There were 2637 light passenger vehicle BEVs and 18 light commercial BEVs sold for the month, as well as one heavy commercial BEV. The top models were the Tesla Model Y (761 units) followed by the BYD Atto 3 (617 units) and MG ZS (307 units).

PHEV registrations for March included 176 examples of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, 131 examples of the Kia Sorento, and 31 examples of the MG HS.

Registrations of HEVs included 455 Toyota RAV4 variants (pictured) followed by the Honda Jazz (245 units) and Suzuki Swift (211 units).

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

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

Top 10 sales by Model (March commercial):

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