New vehicle registrations for July follow strong June numbers

July new vehicle sales held relatively steady after a lift in June, thanks mainly to strong sales of light commercials. 

Figures for July issued by the Motor Industry Association indicated 11,671 new vehicles were sold. That’s close to the 11,862 units sold in June, and represented a 26 per cent lift on the May figure.

A year-on-year comparison also suggests a sustained lift, with July 2025 sales up 23.8 percent on July 2024’s 9419 registrations.

The MIA’s CEO, Aimee Wiley, says while the continued uplift is welcome and encouraging, it will take several more months of similar sales levels before an improving trend is confirmed.

“It has been a challenging 18 months for our members in tight economic conditions, so it is good to see July sales holding steady with the June increase. It’s a sign that there may be some early signs of confidence returning to the new vehicle market.”

Light passenger vehicles

Sales of light passenger vehicles including SUVs totalled 7635, down from the 8245 units in registered in June.

Offsetting that result, however, were stronger sales of light commercial vehicles. At 3532, these were up on the 3204 new units recorded in June.

The corresponding figures for July 2024 were 6339 for light passenger vehicles and 2500 for light commercial vehicles.

Toyota’s evergreen RAV4 continues to be the leading light in the passenger vehicle class with 602 sales, followed by newly introduced Suzuki Fronx with 347 registrations and the Mitsubishi Outlander with 307 sales in third spot. After 407 Tesla Model Y sales in June, the total fell to 103 in July. It was still the best selling EV, however.

Light commericals

Toyota’s Hilux got the wood over the Ford Ranger in July, only just though. Hilux registered 868 sales while 838 Rangers found new homes for the month. BYD’s remarkable 413 sales results in June was hard to replicate (256 sold), falling from third place to fifth behind the Nissan Navara (416) and Mitsubishi Triton (276).

EV sales were off, with 638 registered in total during the month, compared with 1073 in June. Plug-in hybrids recorded 749 sales compared with 912 in June. However, hybrid vehicles continued their run of increases with 3434 sales compared with 3152 in June.

The top ten best sellers are listed below, followed by numbers sold by brand.