Utes continue to boost the New Zealand new vehicle market, with the commercial sales the highest ever in January.
Compared to January 2015, registrations of passenger vehicles were down 1.2% in January 2016 to 8,889 units, while commercials took up the slack with a gain of 12.7% to 2994 registrations.
Off the back of the commercial tally, total sales were also the best ever, up 1.9%.
“While new vehicle sales for 2016 have started where they left off in 2015, the remainder of 2016 is expected to slightly soften as the year progresses,” Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford says.
Toyota maintained it’s significant margin over the rest of the sector with 19% market share (2243 units), 7% higher than the closest rival, Ford with 12% market share (1,444 units) and Holden with 10% market share (1,244 units).
Toyota remains the market leader for passenger vehicles with 20% market share (1,774 units), followed by Holden with 11% (964 units) and Mazda with 10% market share (855 units).
Ford was the commercial market leader for the month of January with 23% market share (699 units), followed by Toyota with 16% (469 units) and Holden third with 9% market share (280 units).
Corolla retakes lead
The Toyota Corolla returned to its position as most popular new vehicle in New Zealand in January.
Corolla was the top selling passenger model with 719 units registered in January (8%), helped by 492 rental car registrations, followed by the Toyota RAV4 with 391 units (4%) and Holden Commodore with 366 units (4%).
The Ford Ranger retained its position as the monthly top selling commercial model for January with a massive 22% market share (661 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 10% (300 units) and the Holden Colorado with 9% market share (266 units).
The makeup of the fleet continues to evolve with the sale of sports utility vehicles segment continuing to grow with 33% market share for the month of January.
This is followed by pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 18% market share and small passenger cars on 16%, down 3% on January 2015.
Steady as she goes for imports
Used import registrations have begun the year with a ‘steady’ result, down 1% on last years strong sales.
The market totalled 11,675 units, from 11,791 in January 2015.
The commercial sector faired better, up 7.9% to 695 units, from 644 twelve months ago.
Toyota was the most popular import brand on 2794, followed by Nissan on 2075 and Mazda on 1859.
In the commercial sector, Toyota lead on 338, followed by Nissan on 158 and Mazda on 35.
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