Though April 2019 New Zealand registration figures of 10,640 vehicles were up 2% on the same month in 2018, continuing the fluctuating monthly trend for 2019 year to date, April sales set a record, albeit by five units.
Sales for 2019 were down 2.5%.
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Registrations of passenger and SUVs for April 2019 were down 1% while commercial vehicles were up 8% year on year.
April also saw record sales for the month of light and heavy commercial vehicles and took year to date registrations to a tiny rise of 0.7%.
Toyota remained overall market leader (17%) followed by Ford (11%) and Mitsubishi (9%).
Toyota also topped passenger and SUV registrations with 16% market share followed by Mazda (9%) and Hyundai (8%). The top selling passenger and SUV models were the Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage and the Mazda CX5.
In the commercial sector, Ford retained the market lead with 22% followed by Toyota (18%) and Mitsubishi (12%). The Ranger was again the best selling commercial model with 20% followed by the Toyota Hilux (14%) and Mitsubishi Triton (12%).
Vehicle segmentation for April 2019 continued recent trends with SUVs and light commercials dominating sales. The top three segments for the month were SUV medium vehicles (21%) followed by Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4×4 (18%) and SUV Compact (14%).
Year to date the three top selling models are all 'utes' (pickup trucks) with the Ranger in the lead (3,144) followed by the Hilux (2,237) and the Triton (2,005).
"The strong outturn for April 2019 was positive in tight market conditions," said Motor Industry Association CEO David Crawford.
