Records Falling as New Zealand Market Stays Hot
Sales last month soared 18.2% year-on-year to a record 13,740 units, following an October that beat a previous high set in 1984.
The New Zealand auto industry is having a golden year that will live on in legend after breaking every record in the book.
By the end of November more new vehicles had been sold than in all of 2015.
Sales last month soared 18.2% year-on-year to a record 13,740 units, following an October that beat a record set in 1984.
Toyota continued as the market leader in November with 2,280 units for a 17% share. GM Holden followed with 1,579 units, ahead of Ford with 1,489.
New passenger-vehicle sales rose 20% for the month to a record 9,722 units, led by Toyota with 1,541, Holden (1,169) and Mazda (832).
The Toyota Corolla was November’s best seller with 581 units, followed by the Hyundai Tucson (381) and Kia Sportage (352).
Commercial-vehicle deliveries rose 14.6% to 4,018 units during the month, taking the year-to-date total up 14.3% to 41,136. That tops the 2015 full-year tally of 39,135 units.
Ford was the month’s CV leader with 839 units, ahead of Toyota (739) and Holden (410). The Ford Ranger was the top vehicle in the sector on 777 sales, ahead of the Toyota Hilux (483) and Holden Colorado (388).
Total new-vehicle sales rose 9.5% to 135,544 units in January-November, well ahead of the 134,234 delivered in entire 2015,
“We will sell more than 140,000 new light and heavy vehicles for the first time ever,” Motor Industry Assn. CEO David Crawford says in a statement.
“The last remaining record dates to 1973, when the highest number of passenger vehicles was sold with 97,346 units. This record will also be broken with probably around 100,000 passenger (vehicles) sold in 2016.”
Crawford says new-vehicle sales are being influenced by a robust economic environment.
“In New Zealand, the market is responding to strong net immigration, low cost of debt, strong regional economies and a high level of business confidence,” he says. “It is expected these favorable economic conditions will continue into 2017.”
After 11 months, Toyota, (23,869 units), Ford (15,800) and Holden (13,309) led the market.
Crawford says SUVs now are the dominant vehicle segment, with a 17% share for medium SUVs, followed by 13% for large SUVs and 12% for the Pickup/Chassis Cab 4x4.
“Registrations of SUV segments for the year will exceed that of passenger-vehicle segments for the first time over a 12-month period,” he says.
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