Boom in new car sales continues
Despite supply issues, the new vehicle sector is still recording strong monthly sales, writes Nile Bijoux.
The Motor Industry Association has reported strong monthly sales for May, continuing an exceptionally strong year. In fact, the MIA says last month’s registrations are the largest on record, and the first five months of the year are the strongest on record.
Mark Stockdale, the MIA spokesperson, said despite the stock shortages facing many brands, New Zealand has performed exceptionally well.
‘‘As has been the case for the year to date, the market continues to be logistically challenging. Worldwide shipping capacity is still a long way off pre-Covid-19 levels and manufacturers are still grappling with a worldwide shortage of semi-conductor chips.
‘‘Production is being slowed down or temporarily suspended to match chip availability. Additionally, as the rest of the world comes out of Covid-19, consumers are doing what New Zealanders did last year, spending up large on new items.
‘‘Worldwide demand for new vehicles is outstripping production capability, and it is possible manufacturers might begin to pro-rata supply to markets.’’
Overall, 14,551 vehicles were registered last month, up 75 per cent (6239 units) on May last year. There were 276 pure electric vehicles, 120 plug-in hybrids and 1232 hybrids sold.
The top two spots were still held by utes. The Ford Ranger held onto the top spot with 876 units sold, beating the Toyota Hilux (795 units) once more, although we know Toyota is battling supply issues with the Hilux in
particular. Third place went to the Toyota RAV4 (620 units).
Toyota keeps its market leader crown another month, holding 16 per cent of the market (2388 units,followed by Mitsubishi with 12 per cent (1721 units) and Ford in third spot with 8 per cent market share (1227 units).
Toyota was also the leader for passenger and SUV registrations, with 14 per cent of the market (1359 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 12 per cent (1183 units) and then
Kia with 10 per cent market share (1016 units).
The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota RAV4 (620 units), followed by the Mitsubishi ASX (525 units) and the Mitsubishi Outlander (407 units).
The leader in the commercial segment was Toyota, with 23 per cent of the market (1029 units), followed by Ford with 21 per cent (923 units) and Mitsubishi (538 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 19 per cent share (876 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux with 18 per cent share (795 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place with 11 per cent (491 units).
The top spot for the month went to the SUV Compact vehicles with 25 per cent share followed by SUV Medium with 16 per cent market share and finally the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment, also with 16 per cent share.