Following on from a weak July, new car registrations have bounced back with the strongest month of August on record.
The Motor Industry Association’s David Crawford says that the record-breaking 14,690 registrations are largely due to shipments arriving allowing back orders to be filled, and that the month’s impressive tally bucks a recent softening market trend bought on by rising costs of living, high fuel prices, continued vehicle supply constraints and a weakening New Zealand economy.
Registrations of 10,940 passenger cars and SUV’s were up a massive 138.6% (6,355 units) on the same month last year – August 2021 was affected by Covid lockdowns – while registrations of 3,750 new commercial vehicles were up 73.5% (1,589 units) on the same month in 2021 and close to what they were before the introduction of Clean Car Discount fees.
Richard Bosselman/Stuff
The Ford Ranger is back on top for August, but the Toyota Hilux remains the overall sales leader year-to-date.
Year-to-date the market is now slightly ahead of this time last year, up 1.3% (1,396 units), with 2021 ending up being the biggest year on record for new car registrations in New Zealand.
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The introduction of a new Ford Ranger has no doubt helped boost the numbers for utes, with Ford yet again claiming the overall top spot for the month, selling 934 units of the new model. Although Toyota’s Hilux was a very close second (897 units) and the Tesla Model 3 in third place overall with 745 units registered.
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A shipment of cars from Tesla has bumped the Model 3 back into the top ten for the year and made it the best-selling passenger car for August.
August was a noticeably strong month for registrations of electric vehicles, with 2,560 units going to new owners. The top-selling EVs for August were the Tesla Model 3 (745 units) followed by the Tesla Model Y (581 units) and the BYD Atto 3 (448 units).
Registrations of plug-in hybrids were steady with 627 units registered for the month. The top-selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (198 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (191 units) and then the MG HS (98 units). Meanwhile 1,626 hybrids were registered, led by the Toyota RAV4 (342 units) ahead of the Kia Niro (166 units) and the Toyota Highlander (154 units).
The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Tesla Model 3 (745 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (677 units) and then the Tesla Model Y (581 units), marking the Model 3’s return back into the top ten best-sellers year-to-date.
