Kiwi new vehicle sales made an impressive comeback in October, with 16,670 units sold – the most ever in a single month.
The previous single strongest month was June 2017 when there were 15,985 new vehicles registered, with October 2018 coming in 7.3% higher or 1140 units higher, Motor Industry Association figures show.
Year-to-date the market is holding steady, up by 1.7% or 2,301 units compared to the first 10 months of 2017.
Registrations of 11,767 passenger and SUV vehicles for the month of October were up 653 units on October 2017, an increase of 5.9% and registrations of 4903 commercial vehicles were up by 487 units (11%) on October 2017.
Toyota retained the overall market leader with a massive 30% market share (4998 units, its strongest month ever too) built on an impressive month of rental sales, followed by Holden with 9% (1435 units) and Ford with 8% market share (1288 units).
Toyota retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with a huge 33% share of the October passenger and SUV market (3875 units), followed by Mazda with 9% (1078 units) and Holden also with 9% market share (1024 units).
In the commercial sector, Toyota retained the market lead with 23% market share (1123 units) followed by Ford with 20% (978 units) and Holden third with 8% market share (411 units).
The strong rental market in the month of October resulted in the Toyota Corolla being the top selling model for the month with 1744 units of which 1539 were rentals, followed by the Toyota RAV4 with 996 units and then the Ford Ranger in unfamiliar territory in third with 876 units.
However, year to date the Ford Ranger still holds the top model spot with 8306 units followed by the Toyota Hilux with 6760 units and the Toyota Corolla with 5830 units.
The top three segments for the month of October were all medium to small vehicles, with the SUV medium segment retaining its lead with 18% market share, followed by small vehicles with 16% market share and SUV compact with 13% market share.
“The strong result in October is off the back of car rental companies renewing their stock and is a vote of confidence by that sector in the strength of the New Zealand tourism market” MIA chief executive David Crawford says.
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