NEW ZEALAND: 2013 sales highest since 1984

New Zealand’s new vehicle importers sold 113,117 cars and light commercials in 2013, up 12.2% year on year and the best result since 1984, the Motor Industry Association (MIA) said.

“Final registration data for 2013 is in and it confirms a strong finish to the end of a strong year for new vehicle sales,” said MIA CEO David Crawford in a statement.

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“2013 will likely be remembered as the year in which the NZ economy finally left the starting line on the path to economic recovery from a number of setbacks including the 2008/09 financial crisis and restrictions on supply of new vehicles following 2011 floods in Thailand and the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

“Commercial registrations of 2,405 were a massive 45.8% (756 units) ahead of December 2012 and were the highest December registrations ever. December passenger car registrations of 6,371 were the highest monthly total since 1976, the year after the MIA began collating industry numbers” he added.

Toyota, as usual, dominated the market in December with a 23.7% share (1,512 units) of passenger car registrations. General Motors’ Holden held on to second place with 979 registrations (15.4%) followed by Ford (621; 9.7%).

But Ford topped commercial sales last month with 619 registrations (25.7%) though Toyota was a close second (603; 25.1%).  

Toyota topped the full year 2013 market for the 26th consecutive year with combined registrations of 23,705 vehicles (16,172 passenger and 7,533 commercial). The rest of the top five was as follows:

In commercials, Toyota’s Hilux and Ford Ranger light trucks (known locally as utes or utilities) continued their year-long battle for sales primacy. The Ranger was the best selling commercial model in December with 573 units (24%) while the Hilux reached 458 units (19%).  However, the Toyota once again was the top selling commercial in 2013 with 5,041 registrations (16.4%), ahead of the Ranger (4,924; 16%).

BMW topped the luxury car segment with 1,907 sales ahead of Audi (1,820) and Mercedes-Benz (1,482).

Crawford noted “SUVs continue to dominate the New Zealand market (as is now the case in most markets) accounting for just over one out of every four sales (27%) with a total of 30,478 registrations”.

The top selling segments for the year included:-

The top selling models included:-

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