NZ sales: YTD haul tops 2016 total

NEW-VEHICLE sales in New Zealand this year have already exceeded 2016’s full-year total with one month of trading to go, with the year-to-date tally of 148,335 topping last year’s total of 146,753 by 1582 units.

Last month, 14,594 new vehicles were sold in New Zealand, up 6.2 per cent on November 2016 and standing as the strongest November result on record.

NZ Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said 2017 now marks the fourth consecutive year of record annual sales, and questioned what year-end total the market could potentially hit.

“With one month to go the question on everyone’s lips is whether the total for the year will break through the 160,000 mark for the first time. The 150,000 total mark for a calendar year is no longer a question,” he said.

The year-to-date total is 9.4 per cent, or 12,791 units, ahead of the first 11 months of 2016.

Passenger car and SUV sales have lifted by 6.2 per cent this year, while light-commercial vehicle sales have shot up by 16.9 per cent, largely on the back of increased interest in pick-ups.

Toyota was in no danger of being outpaced as the top selling car-maker last month with 3227 new registrations for a 22 per cent market share, with Ford following on 1546 units and 11 per cent share, while Holden took third with 1489 sales and a 10 per cent share.

While Ford’s Ranger (874) returned to the top of the model sales charts after being knocked off last month by the Corolla, Toyota’s dominance was clear, with the rest of the top five best-selling models being the Corolla (814), RAV4 (648), HiLux (620) and Highlander/Kluger (445).

The Colorado was Holden’s top model last month, finding 339 homes to sit in eighth position, while the ageing Captiva was its most popular SUV/passenger vehicle with 204 sales – not enough to make it into the top 10.

Mazda and Mitsubishi held onto fourth and fifth place respectively, with the CX-5 the third best-selling SUV in the country on 385 units and enough to place sixth, while the Triton outsold the Colorado by 16 units.

Hyundai held steady in sixth place overall with 675 sales – a 16.5 per cent dip over last November and a poor result that would have been deeper without the freshly launched Kona crossover, which added 218 sales and was the South Korean brand’s best-selling model.

Nissan’s Qashqai was the Japanese brand’s top pick with 212 sales, although it was outsold by the Kona – and the company dropped 14.1 per cent compared with November last year.

Suzuki sales lifted by 3.7 per cent to 501 units and took back eighth spot from Kia which recorded 489 registrations, an 8.0 per cent dip over the same month in 2016.

Kia’s top model was the Sportage SUV on 215, while Suzuki’s was the new-generation Swift hatchback with 196 units.

Volkswagen rounded out the top 10 with 428 sales, a 1.8 per cent dip.

Toyota has been dominating the all-important rental market in NZ, with the Corolla, RAV4 and Highlander making up the top three best-sellers last month, and also year to date.

Year to date, the Ranger is about 1200 units ahead of the HiLux at the top of the model sales charts with Corolla in third, followed by the RAV4 and Colorado.

In overall year-to-date sales, Toyota has almost doubled its closest rival Ford, 29,294 units to 15,963, with Holden (13,272), Mazda (11,346) and Mitsubishi (10,512) making up the rest of the top five.

NZ Top 10 makes November 2017

Rank	Make	Sales	Share %
1	Toyota	3227	22.1
2	Ford	1546	10.6
3	Holden	1489	10.2
4	Mazda	1092	7.5
5	Mitsubishi	1049	7.2
6	Hyundai	675	4.7
7	Nissan	633	4.4
8	Suzuki	501	3.4
9	Kia	489	3.3
10	Volkswagen	428	2.9