New vehicle sales in New Zealand slipped 30 units year on year in May to 10,034 units but the market year to date was up 6% (2,925 vehicles) to 52,562 cars and commercial vehicles.
Toyota remained overall leader last month with a 16% share followed by GM’s Holden (11%) and Ford (10%). The three remained leaders for the year to date in that order.
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New passenger car registrations of 6,843 vehicles in May were up 41 units year on year. Toyota topped that segment (14%) followed by Holden (11%) and Mazda (10%). Year to date, same automakers, same order.
New commercial vehicle registrations fell 71 units to 3,191 last month with Toyota leading for the month and year to date (21%). But the Ford Ranger remained the monthly top selling commercial vehicle model with 511 vehicles sold followed by the Toyota Hilux (404). Year to date the Ranger remains the top selling commercial vehicle model with 15% market share followed by the Hilux (14%). That may change as the redesigned Hilux arrives soon to challenge the recently updated Ford.
The Ranger was also top model overall in May followed by the Hilux and Nissan Navara. Light commercial vehicles were the top four best selling models last month. The Corolla was top selling passenger car and fifth overall.
Year to date top sellers were the Ranger (2,307), Hilux (2,102) and Corolla (1,963) followed by Navara (1,531) and Holden’s Colorado (also a pickup, 1,326).
Sports utility vehicles remained the dominant vehicle segment with 34% share last month and 32% year to date. Eight of the top 15 passenger vehicle models in May were SUVs.
The pick-up/chassis cab segment continued to increase share with 23% last month and 21% YTD year to date versus 20% in 2014.
The small passenger vehicle segment was third biggest but slipped to 13% last month and 14% year to date, down from 18% in 2014.
“While sales of new commercial vehicles dropped slightly for the month of May compared to May 2014, New Zealanders’ love affair with utes [utilities/pickup trucks] continues to see these models gaining market share” said Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford.
