Weekend Herald

The top SUVs in New Zealand for 2021

-

The new-vehicle market is booming in New Zealand, with record sales for February and March. The domination of the market by SUVs is even more absolute: they account for 52.2 per cent of newvehicle sales year-to-date.

That’s to be expected, but there’s also some interestin­g stuff happening with individual models as the industry grapples with supply and demand in the wake of Covid-19 disruption. So which are the big movers?

SMALL

Surprise! For the first time, the Compact SUV segment is now the most popular in NZ, according to VFacts data. Compact SUVs account for 23 per cent of newvehicle sales year-to-date and the big mover is the Mitsubishi ASX (990, individual model numbers from MIA data), followed by Kia Seltos (877) and Nissan Qashqai (505).

Relative newcomer MG is also making an impression: its ZS is now the sixth best-seller in the segment.

MEDIUM

Until now the number one segment, Medium SUVs still clock up the single biggest individual registrati­ons: buoyed by good pricing and good supply, the Mitsubishi Outlander is number one and way ahead of its ASX sibling with 1451 sales, followed by Kia Sportage (1090) and Toyota RAV4 (1081).

Compact and Medium SUVs show that the ute hasn’t taken over completely: both segments are still bigger than “Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4” (that’s double-cab 4WD utes to us).

LARGE

Large SUVs are still all about seven seats. Top in the segment is the Hyundai Santa Fe (501), which is riding high on a new model just launched. Second comes the Mazda CX-9 (315) and then the Kia Sorento (300).

There are a couple of surprises in this segment. First, the Subaru Outback stands alone in the top group as a five-seat crossovers­tyle wagon (it’s the fourth bestseller) and the premium-priced Land Rover Defender is really making its presence felt at sixth place on the list.

ELECTRIFIE­D

It’s the age of electrific­ation, so we thought it worth taking a look at which SUV models dominate this new-tech field – be they hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or pure-electric (BEV).

As you might expect, the Toyota RAV4 hybrid is all-conquering with 741 registrati­ons. But the rest of the podium belongs to Toyota, too: the C-HR hybrid is second (350) while the new Yaris Cross hybrid (225) is third.

The most popular plug-in model in NZ is actually a pure-electric SUV: the MG ZS EV (142) is fourth on the list and even managing to outsell the ever-popular Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (136) to the end of March.

 ?? Photo / Matthew Hansen. ?? The Compact SUV segment is the most popular in NZ; Mitsubishi ASX leads the pack followed by Kia Seltos.
Photo / Matthew Hansen. The Compact SUV segment is the most popular in NZ; Mitsubishi ASX leads the pack followed by Kia Seltos.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand