NZ Sales: Market continues upward trajectory

WHILE no records were broken this time around, the New Zealand new car market has posted its third-strongest June on record with 15,135 registrations marking an 82 per cent sales jump on the corresponding month last year (8313).

The strong performance also rounded out a record-setting first six months for the Kiwi market with 84,569 vehicles sold in total, a year-on-year sales increase of 57.7 per cent, or 31,000 units.

Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive David Crawford said the performance was both a reflection of the market opportunities as well as the constraints still being faced by disrupted supply chains.

“As has been the case for the year to date, the market continues to be logistically challenging with worldwide shipping capacity still a long way off pre-COVID-19 levels and

manufacturers still grappling with a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips,” he said.

“Within these constraints the New Zealand market, year-to-date, continues to perform

exceptionally well.”

As usual it was Toyota that once again topped the overall manufacturer sales chart in June with its 2153 sales netting a 14 per cent market share, though it didn’t have things all its own way as Mitsubishi posted 2119 monthly sales – just 34 units shy of the top spot.

There was a sizeable gap back to Ford (1272 units and 8.0 per cent share) in third place, which in turn finished 253 units clear of Kia (1019/7.0 per cent) in fourth.

Just six sales separated fifth, sixth and seventh place last month, with Mazda (841/6.0 per cent) getting the better of Nissan (836/6.0 per cent) and Suzuki (835/6.0 per cent) respectively to round out the top five, the latter two being split by just a single unit.

Hyundai cruised home to a comfortable eighth place with 745 new registrations (5.0 per cent share), followed by Volkswagen (636/4.0 per cent) in ninth and Isuzu Ute (427/3.0 per cent) in tenth.

A lot like in May, the top 10 best-selling models were given something of a shake-up in June, although most of the changes were towards the bottom of the standings with the Ford Ranger (912) retaining its crown for the third month running.

In a surprise upset, it was Mitsubishi’s ASX compact SUV nabbed second spot with its 740 sales forcing the usually dominant Toyota HiLux down into third (632).

Not too far off the pace in fourth was the Mitsubishi Triton (569), however the triple-diamond brand’s workhorse found itself in a Toyota sandwich given the RAV4 (487) rounded out the top five.

The New Zealand market can’t seem to get enough of the current-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, despite the fact it is due to be replaced this year.

Mitsubishi’s mid-sized family chalked up 408 sales last month, just a one unit clear of Kia’s pint-sized Stonic crossover (407) in seventh.

Eighth and ninth went to the Nissan Navara (383) and Isuzu D-Max (321) respectively – the D-Max accounted for more than 75 per cent of Isuzu Ute’s sales tally – while the diminutive Suzuki Swift rounded out the top 10 (289).

For the sixth month in a row, compact SUVs proved the most popular vehicle segment with a 25 per cent market share, despite only two offerings making it into the top 10.

Somewhat unsurprisingly given there were five within the top 10, off-road utes usurped medium SUVs as the second-most popular segment – occupying 17 per cent of the market – while the bigger high-riding family haulers claimed a 15 per cent slice of the action.

In terms of electrification, 1507 new green vehicles were registered last month, of which 1113 were hybrids, 52 were plug-in hybrids with the balance made up by 342 battery-electric vehicles.

NZ Top 10 Brands June 2021

NZ Top 10 Models June 2021