The 10 most popular new vehicles amongst New Zealander’s in 2019 remained exactly the same as 2018, proving that Kiwis like to stick to what they know when it comes to buying a new vehicle.
However, after a 4.3 per cent drop in new vehicle sales, manufacturers will be hoping that low interest rates can encourage more people to start looking for a new car in 2020.
Utes continue to make up half of the top 10 cars, with the Ford Ranger being the most popular new vehicle overall for the fifth year in a row, racking up an impressive 9,485 sales despite being down by 4% overall. Both the 2.0l Bi-Turbo Diesel and 3.2l Duratorq engine options available on the Ranger make it a sound choice for both work and play.
The second most popular new vehicle, the Toyota Hilux, also saw a drop in sales, falling 12% to a total of 7,126 registrations.
The top selling new passenger vehicle was the Toyota Corolla with 6,804 registrations, partly down to its attractive starting price of $29,990 TDP for the SX model. If you are looking for something more efficient, the entry level GX hybrid model is available for an extra $3,000.
The Toyota RAV4 – winner of both the Medium SUV and People’s Choice awards at AA Driven NZ Car of the Year 2019 – saw a 13 per cent increase in sales to 5,611 for the year, which was also the bestselling new hybrid of the year.
“The demand for the new RAV4 has been unprecedented for Toyota in New Zealand,” said Toyota New Zealand General Manager Neeraj Lala.
“Introducing the hybrid variants in particular are doing very well for us as customers look for fuel efficient and performance”.
In fifth position is the Mitsubishi Triton, which also saw a 13 percent gain in new vehicles registered. The Triton received an overhaul ahead of 2019, with a six-speed automatic transmission and Mitsubishi’s new signature dynamic shield grill giving it a more aggressive look.
The SUV segment continued to increase in popularity, and now makes up 44 per cent of new vehicle sales in New Zealand. This was aided by sales of the RAV4, as well as the Mazda CX-5 (3,312) and Kia Sportage (3,273).
In terms of manufacturers, Toyota holds the largest share of registrations at 20 per cent (30,140 registrations) in both passenger and commercial registrations; this is followed by Ford at 10 per cent and Mitsubishi at 8 per cent.
New Electric Vehicle (EV) registrations continued to climb, rising from 768 in 2018 to 1,881 last year. With a total of 657 registrations, the highly anticipated Tesla Model 3 leapfrogged the Hyundai IONIQ to become the best-selling EV of 2019, despite only hitting our shores in August.
Top 10 NZ new vehicles sold in 2019
- Ford Ranger – 9,485
- Toyota Hilux – 7,126
- Toyota Corolla – 6,804
- Toyota RAV4 – 5,611
- Mitsubishi Triton – 5,319
- Holden Colorado – 4,747
- Mazda CX-5 – 3,312
- Nissan Navara – 3,305
- Kia Sportage – 3,273
- Suzuki Swift – 2,877
Top 5 EVs sold in 2019
- Tesla Model 3 - 657
- Hyundai Kona - 395
- Hyundai Ioniq - 160
- Volkswagen e-Golf - 107
- Audi E-Tron - 92