NZ new car sales soften, EVs still strong

With increased fuel prices and high cost of living, new car registrations were down in June but with the Government’s clean car rebate available, electric vehicle sales were dominant.

The Motor Industry Association’s Mark Stockdale said that 12,049 registrations of new vehicles for the month of June show the market is weakening in the face of “rising costs of living, high fuel prices, continued vehicle supply constraints and a weakening New Zealand economy”. 

Registrations of 9563 passenger cars and SUVs were down 7.2 percent (743 units) in the same month last year. Registrations of 2486 new commercial vehicles were down 48.5 percent (2,343 units) on June last year and are likely to remain subdued in the coming months due to the effect of the clean car taxes.

Overall, registrations of new vehicles were down 20.4 percent (,086 units) on June 2021.  Year to date the market has now slipped below 2021, down 3.1 percent (2,595 units) compared to the first six months of 2021. 

There were 558 pure electric vehicles, 759 PHEVs, and 1166 petrol hybrid vehicles sold for the month, with them all getting a rebate.

It’s the third-highest month of EV sales year-to-date after March’s phenomenal 1209 registration thanks to the delivery of 949 Tesla Model 3.

 The top-selling EV models were the Hyundai Kona (152 units) followed by the Polestar 2 (103 units) and the Kia EV6 (65 units). 

 The top-selling plug-in hybrid models were the Mitsubishi Outlander (273 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (205 units) and then the MG HS (65 units). 

While in the hybrid segment, the top sellers were Toyota’s RAV4 (227 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (180 units) and the Toyota Highlander (156 units). 

Toyota retained the overall market leader with an 18 percent market share (2,209 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 17 percent (2,006 units) and Kia in the third spot with a 12 percent market share (1,408 units). 

Market share year to date, Mitsubishi retains the lead with 17 percent (13,768 units), followed by Toyota's 16 percent share (12,911 units) and then Ford with 8 percent (6,562 units). 

The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander (903 units) followed by the Kia Sportage (661 units) and the Mitsubishi ASX (435 units).

The Toyota Hilux took the top spot for the month of June as the bestselling commercial model with 31 percent share (771 units) followed by the Ford Ranger with 9 percent share (225 units) and the Toyota Hiace in third place with 5 percent market share (122 units).