NZ Sales: Ford Ranger tops record year

NEW ZEALAND has set a record for new-vehicle registrations in 2021, beating its previous best figure – set in 2018 – by 3768 units, and topping last year’s sales figures by 38.3 per cent.

Motor Industry Association (MIA) CEO David Crawford says December sales were particularly impressive with the month the strongest on record with 12,097 vehicles registered, up 44.3 per cent (or 3714 units) on the same month in 2020. 

The Ford Ranger was the country’s best-selling vehicle for the month of December and the year’s most popular selling model.

Overall, New Zealand registered 165,287 new vehicles for 2021, 45,837 more than in 2020.

Mr Crawford says New Zealand’s fleet mix is changing with more hybrid and electric vehicles in the mix than ever before. He said 2021 was also the strongest year for passenger and SUV sales, and the second strong year for light-commercial vehicles.

Vehicles with some form of electrification (hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric) grew strongly in 2021. In total, 13,794 hybrid vehicles were sold, 5127 more than in 2020, alongside 6899 battery electric vehicles, 5345 units more than in 2020, and 2461 plug-in hybrid vehicles, a 1705-unit increase.

For the year, the top selling electric models were the Tesla Model 3 (3271 units), MG ZS (872 units) and Hyundai Kona (825 units). 

In terms of segmentation, it was small and medium-passenger vehicles that took the majority sales share in 2021 comprising 56 per cent of all vehicles sold. 

For the month of December, it was the Medium SUV that took the lead with a 19 per cent market share, followed by the Compact SUV (17 per cent) and Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 (16 per cent) segments.

Indeed, utility models sold particularly well throughout 2021. The Ford Ranger amassed 12,580-unit sales ahead of the Toyota HiLux with 8430-unit sales. Both light-commercial utility vehicles topped the year’s best-selling passenger car, the Mitsubishi Outlander, which had 6506 sales.

For the year, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Ford topped the sales charts with unit sales of 29,258 (18% market share), 20,140 (12% market share), and 17,286 (10% market share) respectively. 

2021 Top 10 vehicle sales by make:

2021 Top 10 passenger vehicle sales by model:

2021 Top 10 light commercial vehicle sales by model: