Five most stolen cars

Monday, 10 February 2020

So how many cars do you think get stolen in New Zealand in a year? We have no idea, but the police do keep a record of the last six months, and in the last six months 2657 cars, utes and SUVs were stolen. Which is quite a lot really.

And that's not even counting vans, motorbikes, trucks and trailers - but what where the five most commonly stolen cars from the last six months? Today we take a look.

Toyota Hilux (155)

Kiwis love the Hilux, and that includes the dishonest ones, as the Hilux was the thieves' favourite in the last six months of 2019.

* Car thieves in Waikato prefer Fords while in Christchurch Toyota Hilux are most stolen, data shows

* State of origin: Your new ute comes from where?

New Zealand's favourite ute (well, until the Ranger came along) is also New Zealand's favourite to steal.

* Utes are Kiwis' favourite vehicles, and there are more on the way**

Possibly distorted by the fact that there are so many of them around (it was the best selling ute in the country for more than 30 years before the Ford Ranger dethroned it) and the fact that a lot of the older ones are probably about as hard to break into as a paper bag, as well as the demand for blackmarket parts, but Toyota must be pleased to see the Hilux beating the Ranger somewhere. Well, maybe not…

Holden Commodore (113)

New car buyers aren't all that keen on large cars anymore, but thieves still like the Holden Commodore.

Another Kiwi fave from the past takes an easy second place in the 'Most Nicked' list.

While large cars like the Commodore have fallen drastically out of favour with new car buyers, the car thieves are still showing the big Aussie love. If only the went out and bought new ones instead of stealing old ones, then Holden wouldn't have to had dropped it…

There could actually be more than this, because we included Commodore utes, but there are 10 vehicles in the police database simply listed as 'Holden Ute' which could mean any number of models.

Most people prefer a Legacy wagon over the sedan, car thieves included.

Subaru Legacy (88)

Nice to see that car thieves appreciate the sure-footed appeal of a good Subaru, just like Kiwi families.

They also favoured the station wagon version of the Legacy, with the wagon outgunning the sedan 53 to 35 in the count, which makes sense because the wagon is WAY cooler than the sedan.

While the Ford Ranger is a favourite with new car buyers, its predecessor is a favourtie among thieves.

But it also reflects that age of the vehicles being stolen, because Subaru dropped the Legacy wagon in 2015 when it made the Outback the sole wagon representative of the Legacy range and yet still a separate model.

The second Subaru to crack the top five, the Impreza is also stolen more in five-door form.

Ford Courier (77)

While the Ford Ranger has an iron grip on the new vehicle sales charts, it is its predecessor that makes it onto the car thief's list.

The venerable Courier was based on the Mazda B-series ute for four generations before the tables turned and the second-gen Mazda BT-50 was instead based on an all-new Australian-developed Ford Ranger when both debuted in 2011.

Much like the Toyota Hilux, the older ones aren't exactly difficult to break into and demand for parts is probably fairly high thanks to the fact they seem to wobble on for ever, never entirely dying.

Subaru Impreza (76)

Subaru must be so proud - TWO cars on the list of favourites!

Okay, probably not, but the Impreza follows the Legacy's lead with the sedan being comprehensively out-nicked by the roomier variant (the wagion-esque hatch of the first two generations and the conventional hatch of the third and fourth gen) 47 to 29.

As with all the cars on this list, it is older models that are stolen the most (duh), with the most recent Impreza on the list being a pair of 2010 models.