Ford Ranger loses top spot as high cost of living bites into new car sales

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

The Ford Ranger has lost the overall lead as stock runs dry and the high cost of living sees a dip in new car registrations.

June saw a dip in new car registrations, with 12,049 new vehicles on the road, 20.4% less than the same month last year. According to the MIA, the drop is due to “rising costs of living, high fuel prices, continued vehicle supply constraints and a weakening New Zealand economy.”

Registrations of 9563 passenger cars and SUV’s were down 7.2% (743 units) on June last year.

Meanwhile, registrations of 2486 new commercial vehicles were down 48.5% (2,343 units) on June last year and are likely to remain subdued in the coming months due to the effects of the Clean Car Programme and the rush from buyers to get in before it took effect.

As ute sales stagnate, the Mitsubishi Outlander was the most popular vehicle in June and also took the overall sales lead for 2022 so far.

The top three models for the month of June were the Mitsubishi Outlander (903 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux (771 units) with the Kia Sportage in third place (661 units).

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Hilux sales have stayed steady with 771 units for June.

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The Hyundai Kona EV was the most popular fully electric vehicle, beating out Tesla for the month.

And where is the dominant Ford Ranger? Well, Ford is, of course, suffering the effects of ute buyers rushing in before the Clean Car fee kicked in as well as the fact that the current model was essentially in runout before a new one arrives early next month, and simply has none left. We would expect the August figures to show a return to form for Ranger though.

As for the brands, Toyota retained the overall market leader position for June with 18% market share (2209 units), followed closely by Mitsubishi at 17% (2006 units) and Kia in third spot with 12% market share (1408 units).

Year to date, Mitsubishi is top runner with 17% (13,768 units), followed by Toyota with 16% share (12,911 units) and then Ford with 8% (6562 units).

There were also 558 pure electric vehicles, 759 PHEV’s and 1166 petrol hybrid vehicles sold. Of those EVs, 152 were Hyundai Konas, followed by 103 Polestar 2s and 65 Kia EV6s.

The top-selling PHEVs were the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (273 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (205 units) and then the MG HS (65 units).

Finally, the most popular hybrids were the Toyota RAV4 (227 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (180 units) and the Toyota Highlander (156 units).

Toyota took a huge chunk of the commercial vehicle sector with 37% market share (924 units) followed by Ford with 12% (287 units) and Mitsubishi in third with 7% market share (179 units).

The Toyota Hilux took top spot for the month of June as the bestselling commercial model with 31% share (771 units) followed by the Ford Ranger with 9% share (225 units) and the Toyota Hiace in third place with 5% market share (122 units).

Market share year to date, the Ford Ranger (19% share and 4,895 units) leads followed by the Toyota Hulix (19% share and 4,786 units) and then the Mitsubishi Triton (17% share and 4,461 units).

Expect the market to shift yet again in the upcoming months as the new Ford Ranger launches and Tesla Model Y shipments start arriving on our shores.