Last year will be remembered as yet another tumultuous 12 months on the part of the local motoring industry. The Clean Car Discount was heavily revised and then canned altogether. Supply shortages continued to batter some carmakers more than others. And rising cost of living and the looming election meant peak levels of customer uncertainty.
Despite all these hurdles, some brands still managed to record incredible sales figures in 2023. Here are the year’s ten biggest four-wheeled winners.
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The BYD Atto 3’s first full year on the market saw it enter the ground floor of the top 10.
10. BYD Atto 3
Chinese carmaker BYD notched up its first full year on the market in New Zealand, with its foundation nameplate – the Atto 3 – predictably grabbing the second-best-EV sales mantle for the year and earning a slot in the top 10.
A growing national dealership network, the addition of a new flagship grade called the Tachyon, and numerous over-the-air updates helped keep the Atto 3 fresh over the course of the year. The model also became the first Chinese car to win a major local award, collecting the New Zealand Car of the Year grand prize back in February.
Will the Atto 3 be able to repeat this performance in 2024? It certainly seems like next year will be an uphill struggle, with the Clean Car Discount no longer there to provide a helping hand and two new BYD siblings – the Dolphin and the Seal – set to share the spotlight.
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Around half of the MG ZS’s local registrations can be attributed to the fully electric flagship.
9. MG ZS
Whilst all eyes were on the launch of MG’s new MG4 electric hatchback last year, in the background the marque’s trusty ZS line-up continued to soldier on, once again recording robust local sales and finishing in ninth position for the second year in a row.
MG’s rising star in Australasia can be put down to several things. Its reputation as an affordable EV leader has lifted the rep of its full line-up, its seven-year unlimited kilometre warranty is reassuring, and the rise of the cost of living undoubtedly helped push a few customers towards cut-price models like the ZS.
The departure of the Clean Car Discount is both good and bad for the ZS. With no big discount its electric flagship is likely to suffer, but sales of its currently penalised petrol grades could grow as those penalties disappear. That MG4 could steal a few sales, too. They’ve been selling like hot cakes since they landed in September.
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An all-new Mitsubishi Triton hits the market in 2024.
8. Mitsubishi Triton: 3,103 registrations
Mitsubishi’s double-cab ute had a bizarre 2022, notching up more than a third of its yearly total in sales in a single month before seemingly copping Clean Car Discount sales-itis more than any other ute on the market. By comparison, 2023 was a much more steady year, with Triton registrations creeping up throughout.
This year, an all-new Triton is set to arrive in showrooms, bringing with it plenty of buzz amongst dealers, sharp pricing, and a nationwide marketing blitz. Combine this with the removal of the Clean Car Discount, and it’s likely that the Triton has a huge year ahead of it.
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The amount of Mitsubishis in the local registration top 10 list dropped from four to three last year.
7. Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross: 3,641 registrations
The Eclipse Cross finds itself one spot up on where it landed on this list last year, the gap between it and its outdated rental-car-company-favourite ASX cousin having grown significantly.
The popularity of the Eclipse Cross should not surprise. This is one of the most affordable plug-in hybrid options on the market, undoubtedly amongst the cars buoyed by the Clean Car Discount.
Sadly for the Eclipse, that discount is gone for 2024. What’s also gone for 2024 is its 5-star ANCAP safety rating, which could see its popularity with safety-focused fleet companies drop this year.
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The Suzuki Swift remains the sole surviving hatchback in the national top 10.
6. Suzuki Swift: 3,919 registrations
Yes, in this age of SUV dominance, a hatchback was one of New Zealand’s most popular passenger vehicles of the year.
For the second year running, the Suzuki Swift was the best-selling hatchback in the country and the only hatch to crack the top 10 (the Toyota Corolla again narrowly missing out). A plucky, tried and true nameplate, the Swift’s popularity was also likely buoyed by the cost of living crisis driving some customers to smaller, cheaper cars.
Although a new-look Swift was revealed in late 2023, it may not reach our shores until 2025 according to local Suzuki representatives.
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Tesla started delivering the Model Y two years ago, now its 2023 model is under investigation from US transport authorities.
6. Tesla Model Y: 3,932 registrations
Sixth is where we find New Zealand’s most popular dedicated electric vehicle, the Tesla Model Y. Despite a, shall we say, turbulent year in the limelight for Tesla’s CEO, its Model Y had a huge 12 months of sales worldwide in 2023.
The Model Y helped lead Tesla to its biggest year of sales yet, helped in part by aggressive (some might say, too aggressive) price cuts in the face of enormous worldwide inflation. Locally, this helped the Y grow the pricing gap to its EV SUV rivals, many of which start at $79,990.
Expect this year to be another big one for the Model Y, even with the Clean Car Discount heading out the door. A face-lifted Model Y is likely on the cards in 2024, too, with styling cues set to be lifted from the recently face-lifted Model 3.
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The Outlander lost its spot at the top of the passenger vehicle rankings, with registrations dropping by more than half.
4. Mitsubishi Outlander: 4,055 registrations
The most popular passenger car of 2022 had a comparatively mild 2023. Dropping from third overall to fifth only tells part of the story. The Mitsubishi Outlander’s sales figures plummeted year-on-year, dropping by around 50%.
Why? Well, the Outlander was amongst the models most impacted by supply shortages – denying the nameplate a shot at backing up its passenger vehicle sales accolades from last year and denying Mitsubishi the chance to repeat its memorable tussle 2022 with Toyota.
As far as 2024 goes, the Outlander is likely to carry on as a local SUV favourite. Popularity of its PHEV variant could take a hit with no Clean Car rebate to prop it up (PHEVs account for almost half of 2023’s Outlander sales), but sharp pricing should see its competitiveness continue.
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A more powerful Toyota Hilux variant, the GR Sport, landed in showrooms in late 2023. A hybrid version is coming this year.
3. Toyota Hilux: 8,049 registrations
The dependable Toyota Hilux once again carved itself a spot in the national new-car top three, ending 2023 one spot shy of where it landed in 2022.
Hilux registrations were more consistent but less plentiful over the course of the year, a sign of less kinks in the supply chain, but perhaps less thirst for utes amid the Clean Car Discount levies they’ve been getting slapped with.
Perhaps just as telling as anything else, 2023 marked the first time in a long, long time that the Hilux wasn’t Toyota’s best-selling model in New Zealand. The brand has previously said that it aims to temper Hilux sales for environmental reasons. Perhaps the days of the Hilux leading Toyota’s local line-up are over?
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After a yo-yo 2022, the Toyota RAV4 recorded a much more consisted 12 months of sales in 2023.
2. Toyota RAV4: 8,753 registrations
Taking over the Hilux as Toyota’s new top dog was the RAV4. It might be some six-years-old now, but the current RAV4 is unwavering in its popularity, with the brand even today still advising customers of the model’s supply delays on its website; a sign of a lengthy waiting list.
Despite a few new mid-size hybrid SUVs entering the market in 2023 – like the Nissan X-Trail ePower, Mazda CX-60, and Honda’s ZR-V and CR-V stablemates – the RAV4 marched on untouched, accumulating more than double the sales of the next most popular passenger car.
This year, the RAV4’s greatest rivals could potentially be internal. Toyota is set to launch no less than four new SUVs in 2024, including the similarly sized bZ4X, the smaller C-HR, and the gruff Land Cruiser Prado and Land Cruiser 70 Series.
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The Ford Ranger was once again the country’s best-selling new vehicle in 2023.
1. Ford Ranger: 9,908 registrations
Yup. For the ninth year on the bounce, the Ford Ranger was New Zealand’s most popular new vehicle. The Blue Oval’s leading light faced a few challenges this year. Volkswagen launched its platform-sharing Amarok and the Clean Car Discount continued to whittle away at the commercial vehicle sector. But, the Ranger seemed to take it all in its stride.
In 2023, Ford added more depth to the Ranger line-up with the launch of the Wildtrak X, Platinum, and Raptor. And more depth could be coming at the end of this year, with the Ranger PHEV plug-in set to hit showrooms either late this year or early next.
Truth be told, Ranger sales actually dropped quite significantly year-on-year, falling by approximately 14.5%. But, with those Clean Car levies already out the door, sales of the Ranger – and the ute segment at large – are likely to return to form in 2024.
