July 2021 sales of new vehicles in New Zealand were boosted by a recently introduced EV rebate scheme, the local Motor Industry Association (MIA) said.
The introduction of the Clean Car Discount (rebate) saw a lift in the sale of BEVs and PHEVs while hybrid sales remained strong. Year to date, 2,377 passenger (not including light commercial vans) BEVs were registered compared to 701 in the same period last year during the Covid pandemic.
July 2021 registrations were 15,053 units (up 22.8%) compared to 12,263 the previous year.
Year to date, the market was up 51.2% (33,790 units) compared to the first seven months of 2020.
Results for July alone and the first seven months of 2021 were the strongest on record.
The EV tally was 760 pure electric vehicles, 431 PHEVs and 1,163 hybrids.
Registration of 9,984 passenger and SUVs for July 2021 were up 21.8% (1,784 units) on July 2020, while commercial vehicle registrations of 5,069 were up 24.8% (1006 units) compared to July 2020. That was also a July record for commercial vehicles.
The top three models in July were the Ford Ranger (1,418 units), Toyota Hilux (809) and Mitsubishi ASX (737).
Toyota remained overall market leader with 16% market share (2,434 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 13% (1,960) and Ford with 11% (1,728).