In the first 11 months of the year, 242,453 new and used imported vehicles have been registered. This is a 21 percent increase over the 199,457 units sold to the same time last year. Last year saw a total of 218,329 vehicles sold for the first time in New Zealand.
MTA chief executive Warwick Quinn says the market for new and used imported vehicles has seen a strong 11 months, with no reason to expect any slowing down for December.
“We anticipate seeing over a quarter of a million vehicles imported and sold in 2014. All sectors have also been seeing sustained growth. New passenger, new commercial, used imported passenger, and used imported commercial are all flying,” Quinn says.
“To date, there is only a handful of times we’ve sold this many new commercial vehicles in a month – and only once before 2014. Also, the used imported commercial vehicle segment is consistently building in sales volumes.”
For the month of November, new passenger vehicle registrations were up 8 percent on the same month last year, to 8,063 units, and up 10 percent year to date (YTD). Toyota took the top three places in the new passenger segment for November: Corolla sold 605 units, Yaris sold 340 units and Rav4 sold 295 units.
Registrations of used imported passenger vehicles were up 23 percent in November against the same time last year to 11,532, and up 31 percent YTD. Nissan Tiida sold a massive 800 units – the best month for Tiida on record – followed by Suzuki Swift with 572 units, and the Mazda Axela, with 529 units.
The new commercial vehicle segment was up 16 percent to 3,113 this November against November 2013, and 19 percent YTD. Ford Ranger led the way by a slim margin with 566 units, closely followed by Toyota Hilux with 560 units. Holden Colorado took third, with 322 units sold.
Used imported commercial saw 719 registrations, up 16 percent on last November’s sales, and up 31 percent YTD. Toyota Hiace led the segment, with 284 units, followed by Nissan Caravan, with 66 units, and Toyota Regius, with 37 units.
“We’re definitely seeing strong growth across all sectors,” Quinn says.
*Pictured: MTA chief executive Warwick Quinn