New Zealand Car Sales By Brand : 2010-14

The new Jazz is selling well

In the final in the series, the strength of car sales here is based around Japanese brands. OK, so Holden is doing very well for GM in second, Hyundai right behind and solid, Ford in 4th and VW fighting for broad acceptance in 9th but the sea of pink near the top shows that preference is generally for cars from Japan.

Bear in mind that this list excludes light commercials (LCVs) and that means utility vehicles (utes) such as the Hilux are not part of the stats. That may not sound a big deal but the ute segment accounts for about 20% of the market! Kiwis love the outdoor life and also vehicles with versatility so the ute is hitting the sweet spot in those areas. Ford leads there with the Ranger just ahead of the Hilux, the long time favourite.

Toyota has cemented passenger car top spot but recently has been losing share, being the dull car supplier that it is. Even risk averse Kiwis are tending to look elsewhere. Holden is safe for now but will struggle once the large Australian sourced Commodore car departs in 2017. The model nameplate will continue but won't be as popular I would wager.

Hyundai cars sell well but do little for me, and although Ford has a more interesting lineup, it's pricing isn't very competitive. NZers like a bargain. Mazda succeeds by offering something more interesting than many Japanese makes, while both Mitsubishi and Suzuki hold a value for money reputation. Nissan NZ should be doing better and VW has the European image of 'expensive to maintain', something they are trying to dispel.

Honda are a brand that eschews value for money with high no haggle pricing, but they may be learning as the new Jazz (Fit) is well priced. Further down a couple of Chinese makes have been moderately successful. Chery has been aggressively marketed as has Great Wall, but the latter has crashed in 2015 with supply issues it seems.

Used imports continue to flourish and have outsold new cars since 1993. New cars nearly got past in 2012 but used imports have rebounded since.

10	11	12	13	14	Brand	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
1	1	1	1	1	Toyota	12,430	11,796	14,994	16,182	16,257
3	2	2	2	2	Holden	6,348	6,662	7,922	9,087	10,250
5	3	4	3	3	Hyundai	5,241	6,072	7,127	7,186	7,591
2	4	3	4	4	Ford	6,790	5,881	7,653	7,140	6,976
6	5	6	5	5	Mazda	5,298	4,882	5,180	5,830	6,675
8	7	8	7	6	Mitsubishi	2,920	3,049	3,223	3,988	5,251
4	6	5	6	7	Suzuki	4,411	4,752	5,327	4,732	4,738
7	8	7	9	8	Nissan	2,887	2,840	3,676	3,644	4,649
11	10	10	8	9	VW	1,992	2,551	2,910	3,769	3,900
12	9	9	10	10	Honda	2,373	2,609	3,013	3,130	3,555
9	11	11	11	11	Kia	2,127	2,378	2,907	2,755	2,826
10	14	13	12	12	BMW	1,135	1,217	1,646	1,910	2,132
17	13	14	13	13	Audi	1,281	1,331	1,540	1,821	2,075
13	15	15	15	14	Chrysler	643	978	1,414	1,513	1,991
14	12	12	14	15	Subaru	1,925	1,495	1,729	1,749	1,823
15	16	16	16	16	Mercedes	824	981	1,094	1,482	1,813
16	17	17	17	17	Peugeot	691	767	999	1,093	1,059
27	20	19	18	18	Ssangyong	112	441	497	812	988
18	18	18	19	19	Škoda	254	512	581	690	854
21	21	22	22	20	Land Rover	323	393	408	460	808
-	30	32	30	21	Fiat	80	83	80	173	640
19	22	21	21	22	MINI	260	312	430	490	569
24	19	20	20	23	Lexus	403	508	492	551	557
23	24	25	26	24	Volvo	147	183	244	234	421
36	23	24	24	25	Citroën	155	207	247	302	381
25	25	26	23	26	Chery	1	172	227	370	307
42	27	29	29	27	Porsche	131	151	165	189	289
28	29	31	31	28	Renault	14	91	107	131	260
29	26	28	28	29	Alfa Romeo	118	163	192	195	231
30	28	27	27	30	Great Wall	97	126	199	217	180
26	33	30	32	31	Jaguar	76	45	120	130	122
20	31	23	25	38	Daihatsu	206	78	322	261	23
					Others	336	313	206	217	441
					Total	62,029	64,019	76,871	82,433	90,632
					Imports used	88,613	80,852	78,311	98,971	129,925

Data source: MIA.

For the start of the series, simply click here for 1975-84.
The previous one from 2005-09 can be found by clicking here.