Tougher times coming for a Kiwi favourite

Pickup trucks still dominate NZ sales — but the writing is on the wall

Utes still topped the New Zealand sales charts for April and continue to be favourites year-to-date, but Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Aimee Wiley says that sales of onetonne-type commercials overall have struggled to truly bounce back from the first round of Clean Car Discount fines in April last year — and it’s a harder road ahead.

“Apart from April 2020 which was impacted by Covid lockdowns, April 2022 light commercial vehicles sales were the weakest since the GFC and have since struggled to regain strong performance,” says Wiley. “With [the] announcement by Minister Wood of increased fees under the revised CCD scheme from 1 July this year, it is expected light commercial vehicles will take another hit from July onwards.”

Still, Ford Ranger remained the Kiwi favourite for April with 929 registrations, followed by the Toyota Hilux (653). The Toyota RAV4 SUV was third (539). The number three ute for April (behind Ranger/Hilux) was the Mitsubishi Triton (256), while the other podium passenger/SUV models for the month (behind RAV4) were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (327) and Suzuki Swift (276).

Overall registrations of 7060 passenger/SUV models were down 17.1 per cent on April 2022, but registrations of 3117 commercial vehicles were up 155.5 per cent.

Registrations of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were led by the BYD Atto 3 and Tesla Model Y — both models also top-10 sellers for the year to date. Registrations of non-plug-in hybrids remain “strong as a percentage of total sales”, says Wiley.