Battery electric registrations nearing 1000-per-month

Friday, 3 December 2021

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The November sales figures are in, and battery electric vehicles are closing in on the 1000-per-month registration milestone. That’s largely because Tesla received two big shipments over the course of two months, but it shows that Kiwis are increasingly looking to electric power.

There were 947 BEVs registered over the month, along with 432 plug-in hybrids and 1462 hybrids, meaning 17 per cent of the monthly new car fleet was electrified to some degree.

The Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling fully electric vehicle with 408 units, followed by the MG ZS EV (121 untis) and newcomer Hyundai Ioniq 5 (100 units).

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 has come out of the starting blocks strong, with triple-digit sales in its first month.

Meanwhile, the top PHEV was the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV (171 units), then the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (100 units) and finally the MG HS PHEV (40 units).

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Hybrids continued their consistent strength, with the top-selling models being the Toyota RAV4 (553 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (182 units) and Honda Jazz (130 units).

New Zealand’s new car market did extremely well as a whole, growing by nearly 40 per cent (42,123 units) compared to the first eleven months of 2020.

That’s particularly noteworthy as stock levels still remain low, with waitlists for some brands extending well into the new year.

Careful forward planning by distributors is reducing impacts of shipping constraints due to Covid-19 and microchip shortages, enabling a steady supply of new vehicles to the market, said the Motor Industry Association.

The small and medium segments comprised 56 per cent of the sales year-to-date, while the compact SUV segment was the most popular for November, with 22 per cent of the market, followed by SUV medium (19 per cent) and pick-up/chassis cab 4x4 with 15 per cent.

As for the most popular models overall, the Ford Ranger led the way (1538 units), with the Mitsubishi Outlander (1017 units) and Toyota Corolla (734 units) in tow, beating the RAV4 to third thanks to help from the rental sector.

Meanwhile, the Toyota Hilux shifted 662 units, and the Nissan Navara took third for commercial vehicle sales with 416 units sold.