For the new car industry, July will officially be known as the month of heavy metal, and they’re not talking about Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden, instead it means lots of expensive vehicles were sold.

In the luxury and exotic segment, Ferrari sold four new vehicles, Bentley had three sales, Maserati eight, while Aston Martin, McLaren, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce registered one each. This follows an exceptional June where Bentley sold seven vehicles, and Porsche had 39 sales, but the German brand struggled in July due to supply with six registrations.

For the premium brands, Audi recorded 169 sales, BMW 167 and Mercedes-Benz had 192.  

But the winner was Jaguar Land Rover with 54 sales for Jaguar and 173 for Land Rover, thanks to the newly launched Defender.

Jaguar Land Rover followed on from a strong June with plenty of its most expensive vehicles, new and used, sold. But July showed confidence in the brand. It sold 65 Defenders, 32 Discovery, 24 Range Rover Sport, 22, Jaguar E-Pace and 18 Jaguar F-Pace.

“Even with the economic uncertainty, in this post lockdown world it's reassuring to see our customers' confidence in the Jaguar and Land Rover brands but also their unwavering support and loyalty they continue to show us,” said Jaguar Land Rover general manager, Steve Kenchington.

Moving out of Covid-19 lockdown and the economic uncertainty it has created has not had a negative impact on Jaguar Land Rover sales, said the brand. 

The main reason behind the high sales of luxury and premium vehicles is that New Zealanders are unable to travel internationally so are splashing out on expensive cars.

Luxury vehicle customers are moving towards Jaguar and Land Rover models as they embark on local travel and a desire for a vehicle that aligns with exploring New Zealand travel destinations, says the brand.

July also saw the launch of the new Land Rover Defender, the most anticipated launch for the Land Rover brand. 

The vehicle stopped production in 2016 and the return of the iconic nameplate launched led to 65 new Defenders registered across the country. 

The Defender had impressive pre-sale numbers, resulting in the vehicle being almost sold out just days after launch and many orders being placed for the 110 and 90 derivatives. Although, sales in July have been buoyed on the arrival of the Defender but not totally reliant on it. Land Rover experienced strong sales across the range especially in Discovery vehicles and July was also the biggest selling month of Discovery Sport ever. 

The Jaguar brand experienced similar sales interest with the ever-popular Pace family – most notably the performance driven by the Jaguar SUVs: F-Pace and E-Pace. Also, the all electric SUV I-Pace which was last year's World Car of the Year remained a popular choice.