Passenger vehicle sales improve, commercials decline
While one side of the new vehicle market is experiencing a mild up-tick, the other continues to slow. Registrations of new passenger vehicles increased by 11.4 per cent, to 8426 units, in March 2025, up from 7561 on the same month last year.
Toyota led the new passenger vehicle market with 1711 registrations, an eight per cent improvement. It was followed by Kia with 851 registrations and Mitsubishi with 822 registrations.
Honda New Zealand had a strong finish to the financial year with 555 new car registrations, a 75 per cent improvement on March 2024. It was followed by Mazda (422), MG (404), Suzuki (400), Nissan (289), Ford (288), and Hyundai (281).
The RAV4 continues to sell well, with another 703 of them added to the road in March. It was followed by the Mitsubishi ASX (364), Mitsubishi Outlander (352), Kia Seltos (295), Toyota Corolla (218), Suzuki Swift (188), MG ZS (185), Mazda CX-5 (176), Toyota Corolla Cross (167), and Ford Everest (165).
On the commercial side of the ledger, there were 3490 new vehicles registered in March 2025, a 14 per cent decline on March 2024. Apart from Toyota, which notched 861 sales, most brands were down. Ford was in second place with 818 registered and then Mitsubishi (488) and Nissan (383).
Once again, the Ford Ranger led the new commercial market with 709 units registered. It was followed by the Toyota Hilux (669), Mitsubishi Triton (488), Nissan Navara (383), BYD Shark 6 (169), Toyota Hiace (157), Ford Transit (109), Isuzu D-Max (74), LDV T60 (46) and GWM Cannon (43).
