Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that December 2019 registrations came in at 0.1% over December 2018 with 11,160 vehicles registered, up just 10 units on December 2018.
“As expected, for 2019 the market was down 4.3% (7,007 units) on 2018. It is the first time since 2009, the height of the global financial crisis, that we have seen a year on year drop in new vehicle registrations and comes after five consecutive record years (2014 to 2018).”
Key points
- Overall December 2019 registrations of 11,160 vehicles were up a fraction, just 0.1% (10 units) on the same month in 2018.
- Pure electric vehicle continued their modest rate of monthly registrations at 175 units for December, with 35 PHEV’s and 692 hybrid vehicles sold for the month.
- The market overall to the end of December was down 4.3% (7,007 units) on 2018, the first annual sales drop since 2009.
- Registration of 8,159 passenger and SUVs for December 2019 were up 6.2% (479 units) on 2018 volumes.
- Commercial vehicle registrations were down for a third consecutive month with a total of 3,001 for December, down 13.5% (469 units) compared to December 2018.
- The top two models for the month of December were once again the Toyota Corolla (907 units), followed by the Toyota RAV4 (747 units) with the Ford Ranger back to third place (473 units).
Market leaders in December and for the year
For the month of December, Toyota ends 2019 as the overall market leader with 31% market share (3,407 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 9% (1,014 units) and Holden in third spot with 7% market share (799 units).
The market leaders for 2019 were Toyota with 20% share, followed by Ford with 10% share and Mitsubishi in third with 8% share, just ahead of Holden also with 8% share for the year.
SUV and passenger vehicle sales in December and for the year
For the month of December, Toyota was the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 33% market share (2,730 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 8% (676 units) and then Holden with 6% market share (526 units).
The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla (907 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (747 units) followed by the Toyota Camry (327 units).
For the year, the top passenger and SUV models were the Toyota Corolla (6,804 units) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (5,611 units) and the Mazda CX-5 (3,312 units).
Commercial vehicle sales
In a lead that changed frequently during the year, Toyota regained the market lead with 23% market share (677 units) followed by Ford with 18% (549 units) and Mitsubishi third with 11% market share (338 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 16% share (473 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 15% share (461 units) and the Mitsubishi Triton in third place with 11% market share (338 units).
For the year, the Ford Ranger was out in front by itself with 19% market share (9,485 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 14% share (7,126 units) with the Mitsubishi Triton in third with 11% share (5,319 units).
Smaller vehicles dominated the market in December
The top three segments for the month of December were once again SUV medium vehicles with 19% share followed by SUV Compact with 18% market share and the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 12%.
For the year The SUV medium segment held onto top spot (19% share) followed by the Pick UP/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment on 15% with the SUV Compact segment quickly gaining ground also in 15% share.
Changing sales patterns emerge as 2019 closes
- Patterns of purchasing started the year as it finished in 2018 with the market dominated by sales of Utes. However, as the last quarter unfolded it is clear the sales of Utes is declining compared to the start of the year and for 2018
- During 2019, we have for the first sales of pure electric vehicles rise to the top three in sales with the entry of the Tesla model 3 to the market.
- The Toyota RAV4 hybrid, introduced into the market in March, quickly became New Zealand’s most popular hybrid vehicle.
.jpg)
.png)
