Record March for new vehicles sales in NZ

Toyota’s Hilux was the top selling new vehicle for March 2021. Photo: Liz Dobson

As predicted, March was the strongest month on record for new vehicle sales in New Zealand, but there are still issues with supply.

According to the Motor Industry Association (MIA) March 2021 registrations of 15,498 were 86.3% up on March 2020.

MIA Chief Executive David Crawford said comparing March this year to March 2020 “is a statistical challenge due to lost delivery time as we entered in full lockdown and current month arrivals are mainly fulfilling long waitlists”. 

“Despite March 2021 being the strongest March on record for sales of new vehicles … our sector is still operating under disrupted supply arrangements and computer chip supply shortages,” said Crawford.

“As shipments arrive, vehicles are going straight through Customs, distributor pre-delivery inspections and entry compliance to the franchised dealer and onto the new owner, who invariably has been on a waitlist.”

Year to date the market is up 27.6% (9,046 units) compared to the first quarter of 2020.

The commercial sector led the way with the top three selling vehicles in March being utes. The end of the financial year will account for this with businesses replacing their fleets.

The top three models for the month of March were the Toyota Hilux (1019 units), followed by the Ford Ranger (828 units) with the Mitsubishi Triton in third place (691 units).

There were 424 pure electric vehicles, 150 PHEV’s and 855 hybrid vehicles sold for the month. 

Toyota remains the overall market leader with 15% market share (2352 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 11% (1743 units) and Ford in third spot with 9% market share (1367 units). 

Toyota was the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 11% market share (1106 units) followed by Kia with 10% (1054 units) and then Mitsubishi also with 10% market share (1018 units). 

The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander (467 units) followed by the Kia Sportage (345 units) and the Mazda CX-5 (339 units).

The top spot for March 2021 went to the SUV Compact vehicles with 21% share followed by SUV Medium also with 19% market share and then the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 17% share.