MODEL Y BEATS RANGER in September sales

It was EVs to the rescue in a softening newvehicle market last month

Tesla’s Model Y SUV was the star of New Zealand’s September new-car sales: it was the top-selling vehicle overall for the month with 1502 registrations, ahead of the Ford Ranger (1043) and Toyota Hilux (989).

Strong sales of back-ordered battery electric vehicles in general (2418) helped give the industry a boost. Behind the Model Y, the number two BEV for September was the BYD Atto 3 (221) and MG ZS EV (178).

It was the second-strongest

September overall on record at

14,879, but still 9.9 per cent down on the same month last year and

0.2 per cent down year to date. Registrations of 10,601 passenger cars/SUVs were down

10.7 per cent on the same month last year, but still ahead of 2021 year to date by 2.2 per cent.

Registrations of 4278 new commercial vehicles were down

7.9 per cent on September last year. Year-to-date sales of commercial vehicles is down 5.4 per cent on the first nine months of 2021.

Year-to-date, the top models in NZ are the Toyota Hilux (7621), Ford Ranger (7450) and Mitsubishi Outlander (7139).

Toyota retains the top market share year to date with 17 per cent, followed by Mitsubishi (15 per cent) and Ford (8 per cent).

The most popular vehicle genres for September were SUV Medium (29 per cent), SUV Compact (21 per cent) and Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 with 14 per cent. Year-to-date, small-medium segments account for nearly 60 per cent of new-vehicle sales.