Strong July for new vehicle sales in NZ

The Toyota RAV4 (above) was the top selling new vehicle last month. Photo: Toyota NZ

Many motoring distributors will be celebrating after a strong July with record sales for some brands as the market is up 3.1 per cent on the same month last year.

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that July 2020 registrations came in at 12,263, up 366 units on the same month this time last year, making it the second strongest ever registrations for the month of July.

“Year to date the market is down 24.8 per cent in a year that is heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic which makes July a surprisingly strong result given the worldwide economic conditions. Sales of both passenger and commercial vehicles were up in the same month in 2019,” said Crawford.

“Returning cashed up Kiwi’s and alternative spending to international travel is thought to be behind the July result. However, as the year progresses the economic outlook is for a continuing tightening market.”

Toyota remains the overall market leader with 18 per cent market share (2217 units), followed by Ford with 10 per cent  (1246 units) and Mitsubishi in third spot with 8 per cent  market share (1041 units). 

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota RAV4 (796 units) followed by the Kia Sportage (320 units) and the Mitsubishi ASX (265 units).

Overall the top segments for the month of July were dominated by SUV’s. The top spot went to the SUV medium vehicles with 22 per cent share followed by SUV Compact with 19 per cent market share and the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 16 per cent.   

There were 90 pure electric vehicles, 69 PHEV’s and 1045 hybrid vehicles sold for the month.

Toyota New Zealand chief executive officer, Neeraj Lala says that no-one could have anticipated the level of sales in July, given that it is a month usually known for cooling off from the big sales months of May and June.

“The level of new orders across our entire range has surpassed our expectations,” he said at the Yaris virtual launch yesterday..

“When the product is right and it resonates with customers, it definitely delivers sales through our retail channels.”

Hybrids continue to outsell traditional gas models, with the current percentage sitting at a 54 per cent hybrid.

It was the second highest month of sales for Toyota NZ.

But Lala said during the Yaris press conference that sales may decrease during the last quarter of the year, or first quarter of 2021 as the Government’s wage subsidy finishes.

While we have seen a record 160,000 new vehicles sales in recent years, industry experts have told AutoMuse that they have forecasted for between 100,000 to 120,000 new vehicles registrations this year.

“At worse, we could have 90,000,” said Lala, “but I think more like 95,000 to 100,000.

The experts have sited Kiwis wanting a new car to travel around New Zealand, or no overseas travel for the foreseeable future so instead people are spending on vehicles.