Tourists visiting New Zealand for a slice of our Kiwi summer have been credited with propelling new car registrations to its biggest December result ever.
A total of 11,570 new cars were registered on our roads in December according to Motor Industy Association (MIA) data, topping off a bumper year for the industry which surpassed 150,000 registrations in a year for the first time.
“A continued robust tourism sector, which in turn drove healthy sales of rental vehicles, helped to make the month of December the strongest on record,” said David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the MIA.
“The month of December was up 9.6 per cent (980 units) on December 2016 and took the 2017 calendar year to an all-time new record, the fourth year in a row with a total of 159,871 registrations on corrected figures.
“Registrations for the 2017 year were 9.0 per cent (13,118 units) above the 2016 outturn.”
The total registrations of passenger and SUVs for 2017 were up by 5.8 per cent (5,945 units) and commercial vehicles by 16.2 per cent (7,173 units) compared to the 2016 outturn.
Vehicle segmentation in 2017 reflected the changing patterns of new vehicle registrations with SUV’s and light commericals dominating the market, and only the small vehicle segment breaking into the top five spots with 12 per cent share.
SUVs were New Zealanders favourite segment in 2017. Photo / Andrew Warner
The top two segments for the year were SUV medium vehicles with 17 per cent share (26,515 units) followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment with 14 per cent (22,175 units). SUV large and SUV compact round out the top five spots with 11 per cent each of the market.
For the month of December, Toyota remains the overall market leader with 26 per cent market share (2,992 units), followed by Holden with 10 per cent (1,142 units) and Mitsubishi with 8 per cent market share (947 units).
Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a massive 29 per cent market share (2,397 units) followed by Holden with 8 per cent (669 units) closely followed by Mitsubishi also with 8 per cent market share (662 units).
The top selling passenger and SUV models in December showcased the strong demand for rental vehicles.
The Toyota Corolla (1,116 units) was the top selling model - 1,011 of which were rentals - followed by the Toyota RAV4 (516 units, 309 were rentals) and the Mitsubishi ASX (287 units).
In the commercial sector, Ford was the market leader in December with 19 per cent (657 units) followed by Toyota with 17 per cent (595 units) and Holden third with 14 per cent market share (473 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 17 per cent share (597 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 13 per cent share (442 units) closely followed by the Holden Colorado also with 13 per cent (439 units).
For the forth year in a row the Ford Ranger remained both the top commercial vehicle model, and for the third year the top model overall with 9,420 registrations compared to 8,106 for the Toyota Hilux and 7,797 registrations for the Toyota Corolla.
In the luxury sector, Mercedes-Benz came out on top with 2 per cent (194 units) of the passenger and SUV market, followed by Audi with 2 per cent (146 units).
Looking to 2018, David Crawford of the MIA said the record-setting pace of the new car sector in 2017 could continue into the new year.
“Distributor expectations for 2018 indicate maintenance of current levels of activity, but further steady growth in the new vehicle sector above 2017 outturn is not expected.” said Mr Crawford.
-Driven
Top 15 New Car Models - December
|
1 |
TOYOTA COROLLA |
1116 |
|
2 |
TOYOTA RAV4 |
516 |
|
3 |
MITSUBISHI ASX |
287 |
|
4 |
TOYOTA YARIS |
272 |
|
5 |
MAZDA CX-5 |
227 |
|
6 |
SUZUKI SWIFT |
188 |
|
7 |
TOYOTA HIGHLANDER |
182 |
|
8 |
NISSAN QASHQAI |
176 |
|
9 |
MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER |
160 |
|
10 |
KIA SPORTAGE |
159 |
|
11 |
HOLDEN CAPTIVA |
156 |
|
12 |
HONDA CRV |
144 |
|
13 |
NISSAN X-TRAIL |
142 |
|
14 |
TOYOTA CAMRY |
136 |
|
15 |
HYUNDAI TUCSON |
131 |