NZ new vehicles sales in August hit by Covid

The Ford Ranger was the top selling vehicle overall with 964 units registered. Photo: Ford

It comes as no surprise that new vehicle registrations were down in New Zealand in August considering the largest market, Auckland, was in Level 3 for most of the month.

Figures just released by the Motoring Industry Association (MIA) saw registrations down 15.8 per cent compared to August 2019 with 10,610 vehicles sold last month.

MIA Chief Executive David Crawford says that August 2020 registrations of new vehicles were adversely affected by the Covid-19 restrictions, especially the Alert Level 3 in Auckland.

“Year to date the market is down 23.6% in a year that remains heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Crawford.

Registration of 7076 passenger and SUVs for August 2020 were down 16.8 per cent (1,430 units) on 2019 volumes, while commercial vehicle registrations of 3534 were down 13.8 per cent (567 units) compared to August 2019.

As the building trade was generally unaffected in August in Auckland, commercial vehicles dominated sales as companies added to fleets.

The Toyota RAV4 was the top selling passenger vehicle in August with 638 units. Photo: Toyota

The top three models for the month of August were;  the Ford Ranger  ute with 964 units, followed by the Toyota RAV4 (638 units) with the Toyota Hilux ute in third place (524 units).

Toyota was the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 19 per cent  market share (1,363 units) followed by Kia with 10% (735 units) and then Suzuki with 8% market share (558 units).

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota RAV4 (638 units) followed by the Kia Sportage (313 units) and the Kia Seltos (243 units).

Overall the top segments for the month of August were dominated by SUV’s. The top spot went to the SUV medium vehicles with 22 per cent share followed by the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 18 per cent and then SUV Compact with 19 per cent market share.