Kia is dominating new vehicle sales in New Zealand as April proves to be another record-breaking month for distributors.

Mitsubishi also had a strong month taking out the second spot in the passenger segment with 1187 vehicles registered in April, with Toyota in number one with 1260 and the third spot going to Kia with 1090.

Kia will be also be celebrating that the all-new Stonic was the top-selling passenger vehicle in April with 625 units, followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (531 units) and the Toyota RAV4 (477 units).

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that April 2021 was the strongest April on record for sales of new vehicles, which were boosted by arrivals of new stock.  

Comparing April this year to April 2020 is a statistical challenge due to April 2020 being in full lockdown. 

April 2021 registrations were 13,133 units compared to just 1039 units for April 2020.  Year to date the market is up 62.4% (21,140 units) compared to the first quarter of 2020.

A more useful comparison is the first four months of 2018, the strongest year for new vehicle sales. Year-to-date registrations of 2021 sales were up 8.3% (4196 units) on the first four months of 2018, largely due to long waiting lists being filled as shipments arrive. 

In the commercial segment, Ford regained the market lead with 27% market share (1162 units) followed by Toyota with 23% (975 units) and Mitsubishi third with 9% market share (402 units).

The Ford Ranger regained the top spot for the month of April as the bestselling commercial model with 24% share (1,026 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 18% share (781 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place with 8% market share (364 units). 

In the segment category, the top spot for April 2021 went to the SUV Compact vehicles with 26% share followed by SUV Medium also with 17% market share and then the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 17% share.