The head of New Zealand’s new car importers group has said the local motor industry “isn’t out of the woods yet” after October’s new passenger vehicle sales were up ony fractionally on September’s results and well below October 2008.
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“While we are satisfied that the new car market appears to be holding, showing a minimal increase in passenger car sales from September to October, we are still cautious about prospects for the remained of the year and are taking a slow but steady approach,” said Motor Industry Association (MIA) CEO Perry Kerr.
October sales figures for new passenger cars showed that 5,680 were registered, the highest month recorded so far in 2009. Sales were up fractionally by 1.6% on September, though still down 24.1% on the same month a year ago.
Commercial vehicle sales took a drop in October, with 1,218 registrations, down 16.2% on September.
“The October sales results were to be expected and still remain within the industry’s projections. The end of 2008 saw the start of a drop in sales, we anticipate year end numbers to be in line with those results,” Kerr said.
Toyota remained market leader with General Motors’ Holden and Ford rounding out the top three brands in the new passenger vehicle sector.
Toyota also topped commercial vehicle sales followed by Ford and Nissan.
Year to date, Toyota also still led with overall total market share of 21.35%, followed by Ford with 12.38% and Holden with 9.43%.
October saw the Toyota Corolla again top selling passenger model, followed by the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.
Year to date, the Corolla was the country’s best-selling model with sales of 4,145 units, ahead of the Commodore (2,539) and Suzuki Swift (1,969).
