New Zealand LV Sales Set Monthly Record in June

New Zealand’s new light-vehicle sales set a monthly record in June with sales gaining 11.7% year-over-year to 15,985 units, driven in part by sales at the country’s big annual agricultural fair.

Motor Industry Assn. CEO David Crawford says the result broke the previous record of 14,709 units set in October last year.

“While the 2017 Agricultural Fieldays held at the beginning of June has boosted the volume of new-vehicle sales for June, low interest rates, strong net immigration, strong New Zealand currency and a healthy tourism market with car rentals continue to underpin the sales of new vehicles,” Crawford says in a statement.

The Fieldays sales boost came as rural banker Rabobank reported confidence in the country’s agricultural sector is at the highest level in the survey’s 14-year history. Its second-quarter survey shows farmer confidence at 54%, up from 27% in the first quarter.

The rural boost helped push first-half sales to 79,131 units, up 14.5% from year-ago’s 69,134.

Car and SUV sales in June rose 10.8% to 10,181 units, while commercial-vehicle deliveries jumped 28.6% to 5,804. The result left first-half CV deliveries up 22.7% at 4,858 units.

“It was not only the strongest June on record for the registration of new commercial vehicles, but the strongest month ever since the MIA began collecting vehicle stats in 1975,” Crawford says.

Toyota remained New Zealand’s No.1 brand with 3,310 deliveries for a 21% market share. Ford followed with 1,689 units, ahead of GM Holden with 1,352.

Toyota led car and SUV sales for the month with 2,011 units, followed by Mazda (940) and Hyundai (829). Toyota swept the segment with the three top-selling models – Corolla (508 units), Highlander (451) and RAV4 (412).

The CV segment also saw Toyota set the pace with 1,299 sales, followed by Ford (1,230) and GM Holden (666). The Ford Ranger remained at the top of the list with 1,178 deliveries, followed by the Toyota HiLux (964) and Holden Colorado (650).

Through June the top three models were the Ranger (4,976 units), HiLux (4,065) and Colorado (2,384).