Late last year we covered the new vehicle registrations and the record had been broken with a month still remaining! The new vehicle market in New Zealand has seen its best year ever with registrations for 2016 reaching 146,753 vehicles. Considering it’s the third year in a row a record has been broken and new record set we believe it’s an achievement which deserves a round of applause. This record is a 9.5% improvement on the 2015 record of 134,041 registrations!

“While many are writing off 2016 as a year to forget, for the new vehicle sector it was annus mirabilis, a wonderful year,” Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford says. “The new vehicle market for 2016 performed significantly beyond expectations and along the way exceeded every single previous record.”

Segmentation

A strong performer were the commercial registrations which increased by 13.2% from 2015 to 44,292 in 2016 which is another record. Passenger vehicles also noticed an increase of 8.0% to 102,514.

The shift away from passenger cars continues to be strong, according to Crawford.

“The 2016 record year marked a continued shift in buyer preference and market dynamics with for the first time in New Zealand history more SUV’s being sold than passenger vehicles,” Crawford notes.

“SUV’s accounted for 36% of the market (52,913 vehicles) compared to 35% for all other passenger vehicles (51,552) and 29% for commercial vehicles.”

While new car sales were up, the MIA figures show used imports fell 4.1 percent to 146,266 in 2016, ending three years of gains. That was due to a 5.1 percent drop in used passenger vehicles to 136,345, which was more than offset by the increase in new car registrations. Used commercial registrations were up 12 percent to 9,921.

Battle of the Brands

When it comes to the leading manufacturer registering the most vehicles in 2016 it was well fought battle with Toyota coming out the clear winner with 18% market share. It’s after this ranking is where the competing brands December results was the final number to secure them in their position on the ladder.

Top 10 Brands

1. Toyota – 26,785 (18% market share)

2. Ford – 16,763 (11% market share)

3. Holden – 14,337 (10% market share)

4. Mazda – 11,219 (8% market share)

5. Mitsubishi – 9,251 (6% market share)

6. Nissan – 8,626 (6% market share)

7. Hyundai – 8,376 (6% market share)

8. Suzuki – 5,311 (4% market share)

9. Kia – 5,287 (4% market share)

10. Volkswagen – 5,092 (3% market share)

The Top 10 registered vehicles throughout the year reveal those which have been consistent performers throughout the year.

1. Ford Ranger – 8,478

2. Toyota Corolla – 6274

3. Toyota Hilux – 6,187

4. Holden Colorado – 3,739

5. Toyota RAV4 – 3,612

6. Mitsubishi Triton – 3813

7. Nissan Navara – 3,094

8. Kia Sportage – 3,061

9. Mazda CX-5 – 2,841

10. Holden Commodore – 2,655