Top passenger vehicle surprise
New vehicle registrations continue to accelerate to record levels in New Zealand, despite some distributors suffering from supply constraints.
April recorded 10,635 registrations, which meant that the opening four months of year were 13 per cent ahead of the same period in 2016 - 50,059 vehicles registered compared to 44,210.
"April’s registrations made it the strongest month of April on record, and it was only the second time since the Motor Industry Association began collecting data that the month of April has surpassed 10,000 units - the other time was way back in 1982," said MIA chief executive David Crawford.
"The April registrations confirm robust growth in the new vehicle sector which continues to perform above market expectations. It could have been even greater if it were not for supply constraints faced by some distributors."
While registrations of 6996 passenger cars and SUVs were up a modest 3 per cent over April 2016, commercial vehicle registrations were 3639, a jump of 15.5 per cent - making it the strongest April on record.
Toyota remains the market leader with a 17 per cent share, followed by Ford on 12 per cent and Holden with 8 per cent.
Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a 14 per cent share, followed by Mazda 10 per cent.
But Toyota didn’t have the most popular passenger or commercial vehicles for the month.
The passenger vehicle honour went to the Mazda CX-5 SUV, which achieved 264 registrations. About half of these registrations were the brand-new model which has just been released. Fellow medium-sized SUVs the Kia Sportage and the Toyota RAV4 took second and third place.
Ford’s Ranger ute remained at the top of the commercial and overall sales ladder with 698 registrations, followed by the Toyota Hilux and the Holden Colorado.
TOP 10 MOST POPULAR VEHICLES FOR APRIL:
Ford Ranger ute 698 Toyota Hilux ute 571 Holden Colorado ute 312 Mitsubishi Triton ute 299 Mazda CX-5 SUV 264 Nissan Navara ute 263 Kia Sportage SUV 250 Toyota RAV4 SUV 237 Toyota Corolla 211 Mitsubishi Outlander SUV 209