MAZDA HITS 26-MONTH RECORD AS FIGURES SHOW BUYING BOOM
Despite predictions the new vehicle market would slow by now, figures released this week show Kiwis are still confident in buying. Some marques are even celebrating a record sales month.
The Motor Industry Association’s (MIA) new vehicle sale numbers for last month showed registrations at record levels and Mazda New Zealand having a year-on-year increase for a record-breaking 26th consecutive month.
According to the MIA’s chief executive, David Crawford, New Zealand’s registrations for the month had the “market growing a pleasing 5 per cent year to date”.
“However, in recent months overall growth has slowed with registrations of new commercial vehicles plateauing,” said Crawford.
“Registrations of new commercial vehicles in July were down 4.6 per cent on July 2014, reflecting recent general economic indicators.”
Despite that downturn, the top-selling product across passenger and commercial vehicles for the month was Ford’s large Ranger ute with 460 sales, followed by Toyota’s Hilux ute (448), with the Toyota Corolla third at 354 registrations.
Total new vehicle registrations for July are up 1 per cent (53 vehicles) on July last year. Toyota remained the overall market leader for the month. New passenger car registrations of 7272 vehicles were up 2.8 per cent on the previous year, with Toyota remaining market leader followed by Mazda with 10 per cent (724 vehicles) and Holden with 9 per cent market share (647 vehicles).
Toyota, Holden and Mazda remain the passenger vehicle market leaders in the year to date. Mazda continues its power play in the market thanks to the popularity of the Mazda2, CX-3 and CX-5.
Mazda NZ’s managing director Andrew Clearwater said to achieve 26 consecutive months of year-on-year sales increases is an outstanding achievement.
“To be number two in passenger sales for the second time this year is also another great result and further highlights the comprehensive range of vehicles we have, and that they appeal to a wide range of the New Zealand motoring public,” he said.
The CX-5 led the way with 240 sold and remains the segment leader. The recently launched CX-3 was second in the small SUV segment as was the Mazda6 in the mid-size car segment.
Mazda popularity is set to continue for the rest of the year, with the launch this month of the new MX-5 and model upgrade for the Mazda BT-50 ute.
The SUV segment continues to dominate with 35 per cent market share. The ute segment is second one 21 per cent and the small passenger vehicle segment in third spot with 13 per cent.
Some car distributor leaders have been predicting a slowdown mid-year due to such economic factors as Fonterra payout declines.