New Zealand LV Market Coming Off Best-Ever October

New Zealand’s dealers chalk up the best October on record and the second-best month ever as light-vehicle sales soar 4.6% to 15,630 units.

The Motor Industry Assn. says the result left year-to-date sales up 9.6% at 133,766 units, with the passenger and SUV segment up 6.3% at 90,060 and commercial vehicles ahead 18.0% at 43,706.

MIA CEO David Crawford says it was only the second time the new-vehicle market has topped 15,000 units in a month, the first occurring in June. “The 2017 new-vehicle market is expected to easily break through the 150,000-new-vehicles mark for the first time,” he says in a statement.

Toyota led the October result with 4,457 LV deliveries for a 29% market share, well ahead of Ford (1,530) and GM Holden (1,341). Within this, Toyota led the passenger and SUV segment with 3,410 sales, followed by GM Holden (1,006) and Mazda (903).

The Toyota Corolla was the top-selling model for the month with 1,772 units, including 1,589 to rental agencies, followed by the Toyota RAV4 with 479 (304 of them rentals) and the Kia Sportage with 354.

Toyota led October CV sales with 1,047, ahead of Ford (948) and GM Holden (335).

The Ford Ranger regained the top spot as the best-selling CV with 853 units, followed by the Toyota Hilux with 762.

Toyota dominates year-to-date sales with 26,071 units, followed by Ford (14,421), GM Holden (11,788), Mazda (10,255) and Mitsubishi (8,463).

The 10-month passenger and SUV segment has Toyota leading with 16,150 units, followed by Mazda (8,357) and GM Holden (7,871).

With two months of the year left, the CV segment has Toyota on top with 9,921 sales, Ford with 8,758 and GM Holden with 3,917.

Year-to-date, the Ranger remains both the top CV model and the top model overall with 7,950 deliveries compared with 7,045 for the Hilux.