By Ally Mullord
The New Zealand new vehicle market grew by 5.2 percent in 2011, with nearly 85,000 passenger cars and commercial vehicles sold nationwide.
As well as the overall numbers, the Motor Industry Association figures show New Zealanders definitely have a favourite car - 4,166 of the passenger cars sold were Toyota Corollas.
The Suzuki Swift and Holden Commodore rounded out the top three, selling 2,892 and 2,381 respectively.
The Toyota Hilux remained the top selling commercial vehicle, closely followed by the Nissan Navara and Ford Ranger – the same positions as 2010.
Toyota also held onto overall market leadership, with 17,534 registrations giving it a 20.7 percent market share. Ford came in second with 10.2 percent, nudging Holden (9.5 percent) into third place. Hyundai and Mazda completed the top five.
The luxury car rankings were the same as 2010 – Audi in top place, BMW in second and Mercedes-Benz in third. The luxury market performed well, with all major marques ahead of the 3.2 percent industry average.
The Motor Industry Association’s chief executive, Perry Kerr, says the rise in sales is “an outstanding result” in a challenging year.
“Natural disasters, both locally and overseas (Japan and Thailand) coupled with a subdued economic environment, as well as the Rugby World Cup… meant it was always going to be a tough year,” he says.
While sales rose overall, stock shortages arising from the Japanese tsunami brought down production from Toyota, Mazda and Subaru. This was balanced by sizeable increases from other marques, including Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen.
3 News
source: newshub archive
