- July sales match June, massive improvement on early-2025.
- SUV and passenger cars down, light commercials up again.
- Ford Ranger once again the top-seller year-to-date.
Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Aimee Wiley says it's too soon to say new-vehicle sales are recovering after another strong month in July; but the signs are there, with 11,671 registrations nearly matching June, which presented a 26% uplift on May.
“It has been a challenging 18 months for our members in tight economic conditions, so it is good to see July sales holding steady with the June increase," says Wiley. It’s a sign that there may be some early signs of confidence returning to the new vehicle market, but it’s probably too soon to break out the champagne just yet.”
Light passenger vehicles (which includes SUVs) have been carrying the market in recent months, but they were actually down in July, from 8245 to 7635. However, that was offset by an improvement in light commercials, up from 3204 to 3532.
The Toyota RAV4 continued to dominate the light passenger vehicle class with 602 sales, but a newcomer rushed into second place: the Suzuki Fronx achieved 347 registrations, thanks partly to a launch-price special for the first 300 cars. The Mitsubishi Outlander (307) was in third place.
Tesla did not continue its strong June result, falling from 407 sales of its Model Y to 103 in July.
There was a change in the light commercial vehicle pecking order in July, with Toyota’s Hilux overtaking the long-standing leader, the Ford Ranger, by a narrow margin. Hilux registered 868 sales (also making it the top vehicle overall for the month), Ranger 838.
However, Ranger has also now overtaken RAV4 year-to-date again, as the top-selling vehicle overall for 2025.
BYD did not follow up its remarkable 413 result for June, falling from 3rd place to 5th behind the Nissan Navara (416) and Mitsubishi Triton (276) with 256 registrations in July.
Electric vehicle sales in general did not share the overall upwards momentum, with 638 registered during the month compared with 1073 in June. Plug-in hybrids recorded 749 sales compared to 912 in June. However, hybrid vehicles continued their run of increases, with 3434 sales compared to 3152 in June.
NZ'S TOP 10 NEW VEHICLES YEAR-TO-DATE
Ford Ranger (5225)
Toyota RAV4 (5184)
Toyota Hilux (4963)
Mitsubishi ASX (2448)
Kia Seltos (2155)
Mitsubishi Triton (1943)
Mitsubishi Outlander (1902)
Nissan Navara (1829)
BYD Shark (1375)
Ford Everest (1302)