Despite months of lockdown in New Zealand’s biggest city and severe supply shortages nationwide, 2021 emerged as a winner for the new-vehicle industry: it was the biggest sales year on record, with 165,287 registrations.
That puts 2021 38.3 per cent up on Covid-hit 2020, although it’s better context to compare it with the previous-best year, 161,519 back in 2018.
December was also a record month, with 12,097 registrations representing an increase of 44.3 per cent over December 2020.
While electrified vehicles were the hot topic of 2021, sparked by the Government’s Clean Car Discount for plug-in cars, old favourites still topped the charts. The Ford Ranger was the top vehicle of any kind with an incredible 12,580 registrations (despite a new model due this year), followed by ute rival Toyota Hilux at 8430.
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Electric vehicles did make a bigger impact, though: the Mitsubishi Outlander (which is available in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle form) was the third most popular model for the year. Overall sales of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) grew from 1554 in 2020 to 6899 in 2021, while PHEVs rose from 756 to 2461.
The top BEVs for the year were the Tesla Model 3 (3271), MG ZS (872) and Hyundai Kona (825). The Tesla was also notable for making it into the overall top 10 list for 2021, in ninth place ahead of the Mazda CX-5. It’s the first time a pure-electric vehicle has featured in the annual rankings.
The top selling hybrid models were all Toyotas: the RAV4 (4596), Corolla (1987) and Highlander (942).
“The strongest December on record solidified 2021 as the strongest year for passenger and SUV’s, second strongest for commercials and strongest year ever overall,” says Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford.
“For 2022 the order book remains strong with long wait lists for popular models.”
NZ’s TOP SELLING CARS FOR 2021
Ford Ranger (12,580)
Toyota Hilux (8430)
Mitsubishi Outlander (6506)
Toyota RAV4 (6212)
Mitsubishi ASX (5036)
Mitsubishi Triton (4963)
Toyota Corolla (4766)
Nissan Navara (3574)
Tesla Model 3 (3271)
Mazda CX-5 (3128)