Utes begin to slow in February vehicle registrations

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

New Zealand's ten best-selling new vehicles for 2019 - including rental sales.

Registrations for February this year are down 2.2 per cent compared to the same month last year. While the passenger and SUV market rose by 4.4 per cent, the commercial market dropped 14.4 per cent, marking the fifth negative month in a row for commercials.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Holden registrations dropped significantly on the back of its retirement announcement. March registrations should reveal more of that fallout. The Aussie brand dropped to ninth position, with four per cent of the market (457 units), compared to market leader Toyota's 17 per cent share (1892 units).

The Colorado ute, the last bastion of sales for Holden, fell back to seventh in the top new commercial models (175 units), behind the new Toyota Hiace, the aging Mazda BT-50 and the Mitsubishi Triton.

Ute sales are dimming, does that mean Kiwis are done with utes?

Utes are losing their sheen as well, with the pick-up/chassis cab 4x4 segment taking 15 per cent of the market, shipping around 500 less units than both SUV Medium and Compact (1724 units in total). The 4x2 utes are even further behind, with 8 per cent (936 units).

**READ MORE:

After Holden's big announcement last month, the Colorado has dropped way back in the top models. March will further reveal the fallout from the death of the Aussie brand.

* Two-thirds of New Zealand-new vehicles are SUVs or utes

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* Ute sales outpacing passenger cars

* Toyota Hilux back on top of Kiwi sales charts… for now**

However, the top two vehicles for February were the Ford Ranger (728 units) and Toyota Hilux (580 units), showing there is still life left in the segment.

As for SUV and passenger sales, Toyota was again the market leader with 14 per cent share (1093 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 10 per cent (764 units), then Kia narrowly behind with 9 per cent (751 units).

Pure electric sales remained steady through February, marking 124 units by the end of the month, with PHEVs up to 113 units and hybrids continuing solid sales with 551 registrations.

David Crawford, CEO of the Motor Industry Association, said: 'While it was pleasing to see the passenger and SUV market remain strong it is worrying that the commercial sector continues to be down.'