New vehicle sales in New Zealand last month set a February record, according to the Motor Industry Association (MIA).
Registrations rose just 0.5% year on year to 12,551 but year to date the market was down 1.2%.
“As anticipated with the pending changes to the Clean Car Discount scheme from 1 April, there has been a shift in sales patterns ahead of the full ‘feebate’ coming into effect,” the MIA said.
“Sales of passenger cars and SUVs have softened slightly whereas sales of light commercial vehicles, most of which will pay a fee from 1 April onwards, have strengthened. This is expected and will likely to be repeated in March sales. Once the full Clean Car Discount (the feebate side of the scheme) comes into effect on 1 April it is anticipated sales of light commercial vehicles will soften.”
Registrations of 7,680 passenger and SUVs for February 2022 were down 11.8% while commercial vehicle registrations rose 29% to 4,871.
The top three models for February 2022 were the Ford Ranger (1,111 units), Toyota Hilux (890) and Mitsubishi Triton (855).
Toyota remained overall market leader with 16% market share followed by Mitsubishi (15%) and Ford (11%). For market share year to date, Mitsubishi (18%) was ahead of Toyota (12%) and Ford (10%).
Mitsubishi retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 14% share followed by Toyota (12%) and Kia (10%).
The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Mitsubishi Outlander followed by the Tesla Model 3 and Suzuki Swift.