NZ sales: Weak June puts annual loss in frame
BY JUSTIN HILLIARD | 3rd Jul 2019
NEW Zealand’s new-vehicle market is officially on track for its first annual loss since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2009, after just 13,952 units were sold last month, representing an 8.0 per cent decline over June 2018.
As a result, the Kiwi market is down 5.5 per cent in the year to date, to 75,759 sales, with it unlikely to make up the 4398-unit difference in the second half of 2019, especially now that end-of-financial-year deals have come and gone.
Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive David Crawford predicted that “the overall market for the year will be down on 2018”.
“The trend is downward, though we have seen some lumpy results in the first half of this year. Two months of registrations were stronger compared to 2018, whereas the other four months were weaker,” he said.
“However, we need to remember that we are coming off five year-on-year records for new-vehicle sales in New Zealand. In this context, while 2019 is looking to be a more pedestrian year compared to the last two years, the expected outturn is likely to be better than in 2016.”
Sales of passenger cars and SUVs declined by 9.0 per cent last month, to 8748 units combined, while light commercial vehicles were also down, dipping 4.5 per cent to 5204 units.
Mid-size SUVs continued their streak as the most popular type of new vehicle, with an 18.5 per cent market share. They were narrowly followed by pick-up/cab-chassis 4x4s (18.0%), while small SUVs (12.7%) were a distant third.
Toyota once again led from the front, with its June sales up a market-defying 3.1 per cent, to 2534 units, on the back of the HiLux ute (719, +11.3%), which was the second best-selling model for the month, while the fifth-placed Corolla small car (464, +28.9%) and sixth-placed RAV4 mid-size SUV (405, -40.3%) were also key contributors.
However, top model honours for June went to Ford’s Ranger ute, which had a commanding lead with 1057 examples sold (+0.8%). It underpinned the Blue Oval’s second-place finish, accounting for 71.7 per cent of the 1474 deliveries it made in a down month (-9.5%).
Holden fared much better across the ditch in June, recording 1222 sales, with the third-placed Colorado ute (677, +19.4%) leading the charge. While this result represents a 4.2 per cent decline, it is nowhere near the 34.8 per cent loss its Australian counterpart copped last month.
It was a similar June story for Mitsubishi, which sold 1146 vehicles (-7.1%), 530 of which were the third-placed Triton ute that grew by 4.5 per cent. This return netted it fourth position among the brands.
Hyundai rounded out the top five, with its 1045 sales last month up a considerable 18.9 per cent, which was the largest growth recorded at the pointy end of the brand stakes. The eighth-placed Tucson mid-size (338) was its best performer.
Mazda (989 units, -7.0%), Nissan (757, -0.3%), Suzuki (569, +0.5%) and Kia (562, -12.1%), were the next cabs off the rank, while Volkswagen (468, -28.8%) had the unfortunate honour of claiming the largest decline for June in the top 10.
In the year-to-date sales race, Toyota’s 11,840 sales and 15.7 per cent market share have it a comfortable 3842 units ahead of second-placed Ford, which has the best-selling Kiwi model, the Ranger (5077), naturally driving its model line-up’s overall performance.
NZ top 10 makes June 2019
| Ranking | Brand | Sales | Share% |
| 1 | Toyota | 2534 | 18.2 |
| 2 | Ford | 1474 | 10.6 |
| 3 | Holden | 1222 | 8.8 |
| 4 | Mitsubishi | 1146 | 8.2 |
| 5 | Hyundai | 1045 | 7.5 |
| 6 | Mazda | 989 | 7.1 |
| 7 | Nissan | 757 | 5.4 |
| 8 | Suzuki | 569 | 4.1 |
| 9 | Kia | 562 | 4.0 |
| 10 | Volkswagen | 468 | 3.4 |
