New Zealand's new car market has continued its record setting pace during the month of March, despite a stink bug infestation that caused car-carrying ships to be turned away from local ports, triggering fears of stock shortages nationwide.
While passenger and SUV registrations were slightly down year-on-year, strong commercial vehicle results lead by the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger pushed new car registrations over 14,000 units in March.
“March new vehicle registrations of 14,028 vehicles were up 1 per cent (159 units) on March 2017 reflecting a stable market," said David Crawford, CEO of the Motor Industry Association.
"Registrations of 9050 passenger and SUV vehicles for the month of March were down 2 per cent (180 units) on March 2017. However, registrations of 4,978 commercial vehicles continues to grow strongly being up 7 per cent (339 units) on March 2017."
Toyota remains the overall market leader with 17 per cent market share (2,421 units), followed by Ford with 11% (1,551 units) and Mitsubishi with 8% market share (1,104 units).
Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 13 per cent market share (1,196 units) followed by Mazda with 9 per cent (858 units) and Mitsubishi with 8 per cent market share (722 units).
In the commercial sector, Toyota remained the market leader with 25 per cent market share (1,225 units) followed by Ford with 21 per cent (1,047 units) and Holden with 9 per cent market share (427 units).
The top four selling models in March were all light commercial vehicles. The Toyota Hilux was back at the top of the bestselling vehicle model table with 915 units, closely followed by the Ford Ranger with 912 units and the Holden Colorado with 427 units.
In the passenger and SUV segment the newley-introduced Holden Commodore topped the sales table with (310 units), followed by the Mazda CX-5 (303 units) and Toyota Corolla (287 units), Suzuki Swift (276 units) and Toyota Rav4 (267 units).
Read our first drive of the 2018 Holden Commodore
The SUV medium segment regained the top segment for the month of March with 18 per cent market share. This was followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment also with 16 per cent of the market, and the SUV compact with 13 per cent market share.
BMW topped luxury sales with 232 units, followed by Mercedes-Benz (200 units) and Audi (193 units).
“The market for new vehicles is mature and remains strong. The economic factors of the past two years are still largely present with strong net immigration, affordable prices and strong economy.” said Crawford.
"Year to date, the new car market is also up 2 per cent (916 units) compared to the first three months of 2017.”
Total Vehicle Sales - March 2018
| Marque and Model | Sales |
| Toyota Hilux | 915 |
| Ford Ranger | 912 |
| Holden Colorado | 427 |
| Mitsubishi Triton | 382 |
| Nissan Navara | 315 |
| Holden Commodore | 310 |
| Mazda CX-5 | 303 |
| Toyota Corolla | 287 |
| Suzuki Swift | 276 |
| Toyota Rav4 | 267 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 264 |
| Toyota Hiace | 263 |
| Kia Sportage | 258 |
| Isuzu D-MAX | 215 |
| Honda CRV | 214 |