Covid-19 lockdowns hit NZ car industry hard in August

The New Zealand Motor Industry Association (MIA) has revealed the country’s new vehicle sales figures for August, showing the amount of impact that Level 4 lockdown has had on the number of registrations.

In August, 6,746 new vehicles were registered; a 36.2 per cent drop on the 10,610 vehicles registered in August 2020. The MIA links the drop directly to the lockdowns forced on the country on August 17. While most of the country is now in Level 3 lockdown (allowing trading to continue at car dealers), Auckland remains in Level 4.

The news is the first blip in what’s otherwise been an incredible year for vehicle registrations, with a plethora of brands reporting record months and some plotting potential record years for registration volume.

The Ford Ranger once again was the most popular new vehicle of the month, with 671 registrations. The Toyota Corolla featured in the top three for one of the first times this year, with 447 registrations. And the Toyota RAV4 was third with 302 registrations.

The Toyota Hilux (298), Tesla Model 3 (189), Mazda CX-5 (179), Suzuki Swift (168), Mitsubishi Outlander (154), MG ZS (140), and Toyota Hiace (136) rounded out the top 10 best-selling models for the month.

Among the month’s surprise strong performers was the all-new Haval H6. With 117 registrations, it narrowly missed out on a top 10 berth … a fairly credible feat for a brand that isn’t yet a household name.

With three cars in the national top four, it’s no surprise that Toyota was the overall market leader once again, with 23 per cent market share. Ford and Mitsubishi rounded out the top three.

Auckland is scheduled to drop out of Level 4 Lockdown in mid-September. However, if the highly contagious Delta strain of Covid-19 cannot be wrangled by then the country’s largest city could see its lockdown extended.