Record new car sales as buyers rush to beat Clean Car fees

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Utes dominated March sales as buyers rushed in to beat Clean Car fees, but the Tesla Model 3 also had another strong showing during a record-setting month.

New car buyers have rushed to get in ahead of the introduction of Clean Car Programme fees on higher-emission vehicles on the 1st of April, with 21,044 new passenger vehicles being registered in March, the highest monthly registrations ever recorded in New Zealand.

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that while an increase in registrations was anticipated in the lead up to the Clean Car Programme fees, the March 2022 figures are a massive 4,374 units over the previous strongest in October 2018, when 16,607 units were registered.

As expected sales were dominated by the largest ever monthly registrations for light commercial vehicles of 9841 units as buyers rushed to avoid fees for high CO2 emitting vehicles that began on 1 April.

Mitsubishi will be jumping for joy over its strong showing in 2022, with the Triton taking the overall market lead.

Overall registrations of 21,044 were up a huge 35.8 per cent (5546 units) on March 2021. Year to date the market is up 12.5 per cent (5230 units) compared to the first three months of 2021.

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The Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling EV again, as well as the best-selling passenger car overall for March.

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The top three models for March were all utes, with the Mitsubishi Triton (2266 units) taking the lead, followed by the Ford Ranger (1933 units) and the Toyota Hilux in third place (1580 units).

While Toyota’s RAV4 was the best-selling hybrid in March, sales were down as a result of buyers waiting for the discount to kick in on April 1.

While the three biggest sellers were all about avoiding a fee, of note was the fourth place vehicle for the month, the Tesla Model 3 on 949 units, proving that not every new vehicle buyer was getting in quick to avoid fees.

The strong March registrations puts the Model 3 in fifth place year-to-date, trailing only the three leading utes and the Mitsubishi Outlander in overall registrations.

Mitsubishi was the overall market leader for March with a 17 per cent market share (3566 units), followed by Toyota with 13 per cent (2767 units) and Ford in third spot with 11 per cent of the market (2362 units), with a similar story unfolding in the YTD figures, with Mitsubishi leading (18 per cent) ahead of Toyota (13 per cent) and Ford (11 per cent).

Mitsubishi also retained the market lead of the passenger and SUV segments with 1237 units registered, followed by Tesla with 949 units and then Toyota also with 862 units. The top-selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Tesla Model 3 (949 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (625 units) and the Toyota RAV4 (496 units).

The Tesla Model 3’s strong showing saw the number of EVs registered for March hit 1761, with the Model 3 being followed by the MG ZS (129 units) and the Polestar 2 (105 units), while 431 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were also registered in March, with the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (144 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (121 units) and then the MG HS (69 units).

As anticipated the sale of hybrids were down in March, with buyers delaying their purchase until April to take advantage of the rebate these vehicles now attract under the Clean Car Programme.

A total of 496 hybrids were registered, with the top-selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (84 units) followed by the Honda Jazz (42 units) and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (33 units).

Unsurprisingly, the biggest segment for March was the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 28 per cent of new registrations. This was followed by Medium SUVs with 17 per cent, then Compact SUV with a 13 per cent market share.

Year to date there has been a reduction on the overall share of the market for small vehicles, down from 56 per cent for most of the 2021 to 48 per cent for March. The MIA says this reflects the strong sales of light commercial vehicles ahead of the 1 April Clean Car Programme taking effect.