Add the October new-vehicle sales of (in order of popularity) Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara, Isuzu D-Max, GWM Cannon, Mazda BT-50, Mitsubishi Triton, Volkswagen Amarok and LDV T60 together and you still can't reach the Ford Ranger's staggering October sales of 1627.
Ford's ever-popular one-tonne ute dominated the new-vehicle scene and helped Ford New Zealand to an all-time sales record of 2077 sales for the month, beating the previous record of 1884 back in June 2004.
"The bulk of this is actually just being able to fulfil a big back log of orders," says a Ford spokesperson. We’ve had key supply come in and despite all the lockdown challenges managed to get the vehicles off the wharf, to dealerships and ultimately to many patient customers.
"Important to note – the majority of the Ranger sales were orders from before the Government’s feebate announcement. We haven’t truly seen that spike yet since the majority of customers who may have been inspired to purchase on that news would still be waiting for delivery."
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The Toyota RAV4 was the second most popular new vehicle for October (861), followed by the Toyota Corolla (742).
After September's boom delivery month for the Tesla Model 3, where it was the number two vehicle overall, the China-sourced American sedan had settled back into business as usual. The Hyundai Kona Electric was the top Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) for October with 484 sales, followed by the MG ZS EV (97) and Model 3 (95).
The top Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (58), MG HS (54) and Mitsubishi Outlander (17). Hybrids were led by the RAV4 (738, the majority of RAV sales overall), Corolla (197) and Toyota Highlander (140).
Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford says that there were 13,870 sales of new vehicles for the month of October 2021, an increase of 16.8 per cent on the same month in 2020: "October is traditionally a strong month for new vehicle sales in NZ. While sales... were ahead of 2020 they were well behind October returns in each of the years from 2016 to 2019 inclusive.
"Stock levels remain low, with shipments of new vehicles going through customs, entry compliance and straight onto customers. There remain long wait lists for popular models. International and domestic logistic constraints due to Covid-19 and microchip shortages continue to adversely affect the sector."
NZ'S NEW VEHICLES FOR OCTOBER (CLICK FOR LISTINGS)
Ford Ranger 1610
Toyota RAV4 861
Toyota Corolla 742
Mitsubishi Outlander 693
Toyota Hilux 585
Nissan Navara 383
Nissan X-Trail 345
MG ZS 263
Hyundai Kona 237
Mazda CX-5 211
Isuzu D-Max 175