December Registration Figures Confirm Strongest Year Ever for New Vehicles Sales

David Crawford the Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says an astounding total of 127,179 new vehicles were registered in 2014, more than for any previous year and up 12% on 2013 (14,062 units), reflecting the strong New Zealand economy, competitive pricing made possible by the relative strength of the New Zealand dollar and a wide range of new models introduced during the year. The previous highest year for new vehicles sales was 30 years ago in 1984 where 123,247 new vehicles were registered for that year”.

“Within this year’s record total, several other records were broken.  The first of these is the most number of commercial vehicles sold in any one year of 36,662 units which overtook the previous record set in 2013 of 30,822 units, an increase of 19.0% (5,840 units). The second was the closely fought battle in the sales of utes, with the Ford Ranger ending the Toyota Hilux’s incredible 32 years run as the bestselling ute in New Zealand. 

​There were 6,330 Ford Rangers sold during the year with the Toyota Hilux coming in second with 5,774 sales, a margin of 556 units in favor of the Ford Ranger.  The third record is the percentage of sales comprised of SUV’s which grew to 29% (37,013 units) of total new vehicle registrations” said Mr. Crawford.

Overall the top five selling passenger and commercial vehicle models for the year comprised three light commercial vehicles, a small car, and a large car.  These were the Toyota Corolla with 6,469 units, followed by the Ford Ranger with 6,330 units, then the Toyota Hilux with 5,74 units, the Holden Commodore on 3,233 units and the Holden Colorado in fifth place with 2,948 units.

Passenger vehicles registrations of 6,797 units during December is the strongest month of December since 1976. Commercial vehicle registrations of 2,797 units are the strongest December since the MIA started keeping commercial vehicle records in 1981.  The combined passenger and commercial vehicle registrations of 9,594 units for the month of December is the strongest December on record, the previous highest month being December 1976.

Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of December with 26% market share (2,472 units) with Ford second on 12% (1,131units) and Holden third with 11% (1018 units).  Toyota was also the overall market leader for the 2014 year with 19% market share (24,692 units) with Ford second on 11% (14,033 units) and Holden third also on 11% (13,422 units).

The Toyota Corolla was the top selling new vehicle model in December with 773 new registrations, followed by the Ford Ranger with 707 and the Toyota Hilux in 3rdwith 438 registrations.

Toyota remains the passenger car market leader for the month of December with 28% share (1,888 units), with Holden second on 12% (790 units) and Mazda third with 8% (528 units). Ford was the commercial vehicle market leader with 27% share (761 units) followed by Toyota at 21% (584 units) and Holden third at 8% (228 units).

For the 2014 year, Toyota remains the commercial vehicle market leader with 23% (8,446 units) followed by Ford with 19% (7,065 units) and Holden third on 9% (3198 units).

Toyota dominated the rental car market during 2014 with the top four models and overall 50% market share of the top 15 models sold as rentals.  The Toyota Corolla was the runaway market leader with 23% (3,046 units), the Toyota Yaris second with 7% (933 units) and the Toyota Rav4 third with 6% market share (837 units).

In the luxury passenger market, BMW remains the market leader for the second year in a row with 2,126 units sold during 2014, followed by Audi with 2,075 units and Mercedes with 1,811 units sold during the year.

The sale of sports utility vehicles continues to be the strongest selling segment with 29% of all vehicles sales in December (29% for the year), followed by pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 22% (20% for the year) and small passenger cars at 17% (18% for the year).

“The outlook for 2015 is for another strong year, but the MIA does not anticipate significant growth over 2014 volumes, more likely a small to modest increase anticipating sales of new vehicles to be around 127,000 to 128,000.  Continued strong sales in the light commercial sector is anticipated” said Mr. Crawford.