With one month remaining in 2016, new car sales have already surpassed 2015 numbers, helped by a record month in November and continued strong sales of SUVs.
Motor Industry Association chief executive officer David Crawford said the market shows steady 9.5 per cent growth for the year to date.
“The new vehicle market for 2016 has already surpassed last year’s full year outcome with one month yet to go and is racing towards the 140,000 mark for full year.”
He said last month’s new registrations of 13,740 vehicles make it the strongest November on record. “Year to date there have been 135,544 new vehicles registered in New Zealand compared to 134,234 for the whole of 2015.”
Registrations of new vehicles last month was up 18.2 per cent on November 2015 with a tally of 9722 passenger and SUV registrations, and 4018 commercial vehicle registrations.
Toyota remains the market leader for November with 17 per cent market share. Holden and Ford shared second place, on 11 per cent market share.
Toyota also continues to command the passenger and SUV market with Holden second and Mazda third. Ford retains the commercial vehicle market with 21 per cent share for November, Toyota was second with 18 per cent and Holden third with 10 per cent.
Year to date, the Ranger continues its stand as the top-selling commercial vehicle with 7949 registrations, while the Toyota Corolla hit 5370 registrations for 2016 so far.
The Corolla was the top-selling passenger vehicle in November with 581 registrations, followed by the Hyndai Tucson (381) and the Kia Sportage (352). Rental market sales accounted for the Corolla’s continued dominance in this category (303 registrations with 10 per cent market share).
Kia Sportage / Photo Ted Baghurst.
There is no stopping the popularity of SUVs in the passenger vehicle market, making up six of the top 10 spots. The Tuscon and Sportage sit in second and third respectively, the Holden Captiva is fourth, Mitsubishi Outlander fifth and Mazda CX-5 sixth.
The medium SUV market makes up 14 per cent of registrations year to date, with small and commercial taking up 13 per cent each.
In the premium vehicle market Mercedes-Benz maintain its lead, recording 205 registrations in November, moving its total to 2288 for the year to date. BMW follows on 1737 and Audi 1694.