Electricity helped give New Zealand new-vehicle sales a boost for September, with a big bounceback from Covid restrictions: it was the second biggest month on record for registrations, with electrified models making up 21 per cent of the 16,518 total.
"Electrification" includes hybrid vehicles of course, but a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV, or pure-electric) was also headline news: the Tesla Model 3 was the second biggest-selling vehicle of any type, behind the Ford Ranger but ahead of the Mitsubishi Outlander. Incredibly, the Tesla also outsold Toyota mainstays such as the Corolla, Hilux and RAV4.
The Model 3 helped BEVs make a big impression overall, with 1512 pure-electric vehicles sold, ahead of 1456 hybrids and 537 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
The most popular type of vehicle overall for the month was the Compact SUV (22 per cent share), followed by Medium SUV (19 per cent) and Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 (4WD utes to us non-industry people) with 14 per cent.
READ MORE
Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive David Crawford says the sales results are "remarkable given Auckland was at Alert 3 for the month".
Year to date there have been 123,016 new vehicles sold, an increase of 40.6 per cent over Covid-affected 2020.
NZ'S NEW VEHICLES FOR SEPTEMBER (CLICK FOR LISTINGS)
Ford Ranger 1408
Tesla Model 3 1066
Mitsubishi Outlander 963
Toyota Corolla 744
Toyota Hilux 648
Toyota RAV4 575
Mitsubishi ASX 472
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross 427
MG ZS 329
Mazda CX-5 296