The rental segment boosted the new vehicle market in New Zealand in August, with registrations up by 2.1% on the same month last year.

In the rental segment, volumes were up 71.2% or 612 units compared to the same month last year, according to the Motor Industry Association.

August sales to rental companies represent the highest rental volumes this year. On a year-to-date basis, 2024 registrations are down 18.7% or 18,846 units compared to the same period in 2023.

Average monthly Light Commercial vehicle registrations remain stable at 2,967 YTD, marginally above the 2,959 monthly units recorded in 2023.

There were no surprises with the top three sellers in August; Ford Ranger was number one, with 826 registrations, Toyota Hilux second (687) and Toyota’s RAV4 in third with 541.

All the RAV4s sold were hybrids, destined for the rental market, and hybrid segment was strong in August. The RAV4 was number one, followed by Toyota Yaris Cross (190 units), Suzuki Swift (188 units), Toyota Yaris (136 units) and Honda HR-V (126 units).

The top five vehicles in the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) segment were the Tesla Model Y (116 units), Nissan Leaf (59 units), MG 4 (39 units), BYD Atto 3 (36 units), and BYD Dolphin (28 units).