Commercial Vehicles Lead New Zealand Sales Uptick

New Zealand’s three top-selling models in July were all commercial vehicles as the market edged up 0.5% to 11,631 units.

Motor Industry Assn. data shows the 7-month total rose 12.6% to 90,737 units.

Car and SUV sales fell 1.0% in July to 7,605 units, while commercial-vehicle deliveries rose 4.3% to 4,026.

“Following the record June, the July results were a little more modest, but still consistent with the long-term trend of strong monthly sales,” MIA CEO David Crawford says in a statement.

“Continued strong net immigration, a robust New Zealand dollar and a sturdy local economy remain the key drivers to healthy new-vehicle registrations.”

The Ford Ranger was the month’s top-selling model with 655 units, ahead of the Toyota HiLux (654) and Mitsubishi Triton (342).

Year-to-date, the Ranger led with 5,631 units followed by the HiLux (4,718) and GM Holden Colorado (2,715).

Toyota remained the July market leader with 1,820 sales for a 16% market share. Ford followed with 1,190 units, ahead of Mazda on 1,017.

Toyota topped the car and SUV segment with 975 units, ahead of Mazda (811) and Mitsubishi (592). The Kia Sportage led the segment with 330 units, followed by Mazda CX-5 (309) and Mitsubishi Outlander (279).

Through seven months, Toyota led the New Zealand market with 15,637 deliveries, comfortably ahead of Ford (10,045) and GM Holden (8,003).

Toyota paced the car market with 9,023 sales, followed by Mazda (5,776) and GM Holden (5,181). Toyota also topped the CV market with 6,814 units, followed by Ford (6,108) and GM Holden (2,822).