New Zealand Tallies Best April Sales in 34 Years

New Zealand’s new-vehicle sales rose 7.0% year-on-year to 9,939 units for the country’s best April performance since 1982.

Motor Industry Assn. CEO David Crawford says 6,789 car sales and an April-record 3,150 commercial-vehicle deliveries drove the market. He credits healthy regional economies in Auckland and Christchurch combined with continued strong net immigration and competitive pricing.

Toyota remained the market leader with April sales of 1,516 units, ahead of Ford (1,276) and GM Holden (829).

Toyota led the April car market with 748 units, followed by Ford (696) and Mazda (674). Toyota also was the CV leader with 768 units, ahead of Ford (580) and Nissan (327).

The Kia Sportage was the best-selling passenger vehicle with 290 deliveries, followed by the Mazda CX-5 (224) and Toyota RAV4 (204).

The Toyota Hilux regained its position as the monthly top-selling CV with 535 units and also was April’s top-selling model overall. The Ford Ranger followed with 507 deliveries, ahead of the Nissan Navaraʼs 327.

The top three models in April were light-commercial vehicles, reflecting continued strong demand for 2-wheel- and all-wheel-drive pickups. SUVs accounted for 36% of vehicle sales for the month.

After four months, Toyota recorded 7,160 sales, comfortably ahead of Ford (5,246), GM Holden (3,855) and Mazda (3,557).

Year-to-date, the Ranger retained its lead in CV sales with 2,410, ahead of the Hilux (1,880).

“Since January 2012, when comparing growth for the same month a year earlier, the passenger sector has seen growth in 50 out of 52 months and for the commercial sector it has been 46 out of 52 months,” Crawford says in a statement.