NZ Clean car fee hits ute sales, hybrids and EVs up

The Polestar 2 was the top selling electric vehicle for April. Photo: Liz Dobson

The introduction of the Clean Car Discount fees has had an impact on the light commercial sector of the New Zealand new vehicle market.

Motor Industry Association (MIA) figures just out for April see a high level of hybrid and PHEV vehicles but utes not making the top three for the first time in a decade.

MIA Chief Executive David Crawford says that as anticipated following the introduction of the Clean Car Discount fees that became operative on 1 April, registrations of 9,756 vehicles for the month are the weakest month of April since 2015. 

Registrations of 8,536 passenger cars and SUV’s were the second strongest month on record, largely due to sales of hybrid vehicles that are now eligible for a discount. 

However, registrations of 1,220 new commercial vehicles were down 72% with sales of light commercial vehicles coming in at just 730 units for the month.

It is anticipated sales of utes will gradually recover as the year progresses. 

Overall, registrations of 9,756 new vehicles were down 25.7% (3,377 units) on April 2021.  Year to date the market is up 3.4% (1,853 units) compared to the first four months of 2021.

There were 572 pure electric vehicles, 1,113 PHEV and 2,145 hybrid vehicles sold for the month. 

The top-selling EV models were the Polestar 2 (81 units) followed by the Nissan Leaf (71 units) and the Hyundai Kona (70 units). 

Registrations of plug-in hybrids were strong with 1,113 units registered for the month. The top-selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (497 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (479 units) and then the MG HS (28 units). 

As anticipated sales of petrol hybrid vehicles recovered in April with some purchasers delaying their purchase to take advantage of the rebate these vehicles now attract under the Clean Car Discount. 

There were 2,145 hybrids registered in the month of April, with the top-selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (525 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (461 units) and the Toyota Corolla (198 units). 

Toyota regained the overall market leader with 18% market share (1,744 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 17% (1,623 units) and Suzuki in the third spot with 8% market share (797 units). 

Market share year to date, Mitsubishi (17%) is ahead of Toyota (13%) and Ford (9%). 

The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander (837 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (716 units) and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (544 units).