EV sales up, but small SUVs reign supreme in July

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

These are the ten best-selling vehicles so far in 2021.

As widely expected, the recently launched Clean Car rebate scheme has boosted an already strong year for new vehicle sales in New Zealand, with July’s registration figures also being the strongest on record.

July 2021 registrations were 15,053 units compared to 12,263 units for July 2020. Year to date the market is up 51.2 per cent (33,790 units) compared to the first seven months of 2020.

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said that the introduction of the Clean Car Discount saw a lift in the sale of EVs (electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles), while hybrid sales remained strong. Year to date there are 2,377 passenger (not including light commercial vans) EVs registered, compared to the same period last year there were only 701 EVs registered.

The Mitsubishi ASX retained its lead in the passenger segment, with small SUVs being the dominant force in new car sales for July.

In fact July 2021 alone saw more EVs registered than there were in the first seven months of last year, with 760 pure electric vehicles sold. 431 PHEVs and 1,163 hybrids were also registered in July.

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The Ford Ranger was again the top-selling vehicle for the month in July.

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Registration of passenger vehicles and SUVs for July 2021 were up 21.8 per cent (1,784 units) on July 2020, to 9,984, while commercial vehicle registrations of 5,069 were up 24.8 per cent (1006 units) compared to July 2020.

The three top-selling models for the month of July were the Ford Ranger (1,418 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux (809 units) with the Mitsubishi ASX in third place (737 units).

The Ford Ranger also retained the top commercial spot, while Mitsubishi ASX also remained the best-selling passenger vehicle and Toyota retained the top overall with 16 per cent of the total market for July.

While the commercial vehicle segment has another record month with 5,069 registrations (up 24.8 per cent on July 2020), it wasn’t even close to being the top segment, with small SUVs accounting for a hefty 25 per cent of all registrations. The pick-up/chassis 4x4 segment took second spot with 16 per cent, while medium SUVs accounted for 15 per cent.