NZ Sales: Back down again in April

NEW ZEALAND’s long-suffering new car market has turned downward again following brief respite in March.

Sales for April 2025 totalled just 8839 units, a 3.9 per cent decline on the same time last year when 9223 new vehicles were sold.

According to New Zealand’s Motor Industry Association chief executive Aimee Wiley, the results continue an overall declining trend from the beginning of the year, despite some categories showing resilience.

“Registrations to the end of April totalled 41,380 vehicles – a 3.9 per cent drop on the 43,079 registered over same period in 2024,” she explained.

“This is likely due to continuing tight economic conditions impacting on spending behaviour.”

For passenger cars and SUVs, registrations of 6092 units (combined) were down slightly on the 6111 recorded for April 2024 – a minimal 0.3 per cent reduction.

Light- and heavy commercial vehicles tallied 2367 and 380 units respectively across the month, numbers down considerably on those recorded in the same period last year (2515 and 597 apiece).

Toyota remained in an enviable position across April with 2172 new vehicle registrations recorded, equating to a 24.6 per cent share of the market overall. However, this figure is down on April 2024, falling 8.6 per cent from 2378 units.

As across the ditch, Ford placed second on the leader board in April, the Blue Oval brand recording 917 registrations (down on the 1264 units sold in April 2024) over third place Mitsubishi with 842 units (down from 948 units).

Looking at fuel type, New Zealand buyers purchased far more battery electric vehicles (BEVs) when compared with the same time last year – 442 units recorded this April against 262 in 2024. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales were slower with 2310 registrations (combined), compared with 2569 in April 2024.

By contrast, internal combustion engine (ICE) powered light vehicle registration totalled 3340 for the month, compared with 3280 in April last year.

In the passenger car and SUV category, we find the Toyota RAV4 atop the pile with registrations of 697 units in April (11 segment share points) ahead of the Mitsubishi ASX (5 per cent), Mitsubishi Outlander (4 per cent), Kia Seltos (also 4 per cent), and MG ZS (2 per cent).

In the commercial light vehicle category, the Ford Ranger, with 674 registrations (and 25 segment share points), retained a slight lead over the Toyota Hilux, with 644 units (23 per cent). Third place was awarded to the Nissan Navara with 218 units (8 per cent) ahead of the Toyota HiAce with 163 units (6 per cent) and Mitsubishi Triton with 149 units (5 per cent).

Top 10 sales by Make (April passenger, SUV and light commercial)*:

Top 10 sales by Model (April passenger and SUV)*:

Top 10 sales by Model (April light commercial)*:

*All figures are supplied courtesy of the Motor Industry Association of New Zealand.