2022 strongest year on record for new car sales

With 2022 drawing to a close, figures from The Motor Industry Association (MIA) state that it was the strongest year ever for passenger car and SUV sales in New Zealand with electrified vehicles driving much of the success.

Approximately 11,840 new vehicles were registered in December alone, 3335 of those being commercial.

The remaining 8505 new passenger car and SUV vehicles contributed to the strongest overall annual figure yet, totaling 116,445 units sold. However, commercial vehicle sales for the year were down by 4790 units.

Overall, the new vehicle market (including commercial) was just 0.3 per cent (490 units) below 2021’s figure. That makes 2022 the second best year for new vehicle registrations on record.

Looking ahead, MIA speculates that 2023 won’t be as successful for new vehicle sales as businesses and private buyers are “tightening their belts”.

What were the top three models registered in December?

The Ford Ranger was the model to beat in December with 1114 units sold, closely followed by the Tesla Model Y at 868 units, while the Toyota Hilux rounded out the top three spots with 413 units.

What were the top three models registered in 2022?

For the year, utes took the top spots with the Ford Ranger coming out on top with 11,577 units sold, followed by the Toyota Hilux at 9787 units. The Mitsubishi Outlander completes the top three with 9104 units.

Toyota on top for the year

Toyota was the most dominant carmaker in 2022 with a market share of 17 per cent (28,727 units) while Mitsubishi came in second at 14 per cent (23,886).

Ford rounded out the top three market leaders at 9 per cent market share (15,212 units), most of which was made up of Rangers.

Electrified vehicles led the charge for 2022

There were 2289 light and 6 heavy fully electric vehicles registered in December. The top selling models were the Tesla Model Y (868 units) followed by the Tesla Model 3 (413 units) and the BYD Atto 3 (318 units).

For the year, the top selling models were the Tesla Model Y (4226 units) followed by the Tesla Model 3 (2781 units) and BYD Atto 3 (1685 units).

There were 388 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered in December while the top selling PHEVs for 2022 were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (2705 units), followed by its bigger sibling the Outlander (2243 units), and the MG HS in third (647 units).

There were 1286 hybrid electric vehicles registered in the month of December. The top selling hybrid models for the year were the Toyota RAV4 (3841 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (1893 units) and Toyota Corolla (1640 units).