Times Five
Private buyers and businesses in New Zealand sure like utes.
Ford Ranger – 8931
No surprises for the top spot – the Ranger continues its reign at the top with another dominant year.
The Ranger’s final tally of 9485 units included 554 sold to rental companies, but even dropping that figure out doesn’t stop it from streaking away from the secondplaced Toyota Hilux.
The Ranger’s continued sales dominance comes on the back of a refreshed model that has seen the excellent 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine first introduced in the mad Raptor become available on more models in the lineup. Think only milk and orange juice come in 2.0-litre capacities? Nope, water, soft drinks and New Zealand’s most popular vehicle all do too.
Toyota Hilux – 7126
The perennial ute favourite in New Zealand for more than 30 years, until the Ranger ruined the party, the Hilux is still a very strong seller (duh).
And, unlike other Toyotas that top the sales charts, doesn’t rely on rental sales in any way, meaning that its tally of close to 2000 more than the third-placed Triton is an impressive margin indeed.
Despite being overshadowed by the Ranger in terms of sales, the Hilux actually shades the Ford in terms of technology and safety. Or, at least, goes blow for blow with it as each model introduces an update.
Mitsubishi Triton – 5319
Yet another ute as a Kiwi fave? Literally no surprises there either.
While business purchases may make up a big chunk of ute sales, they are generally still a personal choice, but the Triton makes a strong claim for both personal preference (by looking cool) and business sense (by being remarkably good value for money), hence its strong showing in the sales figures.
That it also happens to be one of the better-handling utes on the market is probably just a pleasant bonus for most buyers, while the fact that it looks like something out of a Transformers movie is a huge boost for the 12-year-old child inside all of us.
Holden Colorado – 4747
While things may be a bit grim for Holden with some of its other models, the Colorado keeps ticking up those sales in an impressive way.
The Colorado’s 4747 sales obliterates Holden’s next bestselling model, the ill-fated ZB Commodore which ended the year on 1647 sales, of which 373 were to rental companies.
Making it even more impressive is the fact that the Colorado doesn’t benefit from rental company purchases.
Little wonder then that Holden dropped the Commodore and its other cars (literally just the Barina and Astra) and pivoted to become solely a ute and SUV seller.
Toyota RAV4 – 3648
While the Corolla may drop out of the top five when you remove the 3990 rental sales from its total of 6804 (it plummets from a comfortable 3rd spot to 11th spot, behind the Suzuki Swift and Mitsubishi Outlander), Toyota’s RAV4 doesn’t suffer a similar fate.
Sure, it drops behind the Triton and Colorado when you take its 1963 rental sales out of its overall total of 5611, but crucially it stays comfortably ahead of what is probably its main rival – the Mazda CX-5 on 3312.
The availability of a hybrid option in the sharp-looking new model has pushed the RAV-4 well up in private buyers’ sights, hence its solid placing in the sales charts.