Commercial vehicles dominate NZ’s February new vehicle sales

The Ford Ranger dominated new vehicle sales for February 2024. Photo: Ford

Heavy metal has ruled new vehicle sales for February 2024 with commercial vehicles dominating registrations.

According to figures from the Motor Industry Association (MIA), registrations in February slumped to 9,663 units due to weak demand for light passenger vehicles. 

MIA Chief Executive Aimee Wiley said light passenger registrations of 5,951 units was the lowest February result in 11 years while heavy commercial registrations at 660 units were the best February ever for the segment.

“However, February 2023 registrations were significantly impacted due to Cyclone Gabrielle  (23.7% lower than the same period in 2022),” said Wiley.

The Toyota RAV4 was the top selling passenger vehicle last month.

“Adjusting for this outlier, February 2024 is 22.7% lower than February 2022, and the lowest February result since 2015, and 15.6% lower than the average of the prior eight years of February registrations.”  

Light commercial registrations of 3052 units were 13.8% higher than in February 2023 (369 units) and 28.9% lower than in February 2022 (1239 units).

The top three market leaders in February 2024 were Toyota, with 21.0% market share (2,027 units), followed by Ford, with 15.2% (1,469 units) and Mitsubishi, with 10.5% (1,017 units).

The Tesla Model Y led the BEV segment in February.

The top three models for February were the Ford Ranger (956 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux (692 units), with the Toyota RAV4 third (467).

The axing of the Clean Car Rebate again impacted the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) segment with the top three models in February were Tesla Model Y (145 units), followed by BYD Atto 3 (23 units), Ford Mustang MACH-E (20 units).