New Zealand's Motor Industry Association (MIA) said July new vehicle sales were the second best result for the month on record.
Registrations of 12,324 vehicles were up 6% year on year. The best result for July was in 1984 when 13,983 units were sold.
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Year to date sales were up 1.8% to 92,333.
Registrations of passenger and SUV vehicles last month rose 5.7% to 8,041.
Sales of 4,283 commercial vehicles were up 6.4%.
Toyota remained overall market leader with a 17% share followed by Ford (10%) and Mazda (8%).
Toyota also was tops for passenger and SUV registrations with a 15% share followed by Mazda (10%) and Mitsubishi (7%).
Toyota made it a trifecta with commercials as well, regaining the lead with a 20% share followed by Ford (19%) and General Motors' Holden (10%).
The top four selling models in July were all light commercial vehicles. The Ford Ranger remained top vehicle with 674 units sold followed by the Toyota Hilux (658) and Holden Colorado (408).
The SUV Medium segment was top last month with 18% market share followed by Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4×4 (15%) and SUV Compact (14%).
"Despite there being several worrying signs the NZ economy is not as strong as it has been, combined with a significant drop in overall business confidence, new vehicle sales have for the time being held steady" said MIA CEO David Crawford.
