Chinese commercial vehicle company LDV was the high-flyer in New Zealand’s new vehicle market last year in terms of percentage sales gains over 2015.
Motor Industry Association (MIA) figures show 1032 LDV vans were registered in 2016, up from 475 in 2015. That’s a year-on-year percentage hike of 117.2%, a reflection of the demand for commercials in an all-time record sales year.
The only carmaker to come anywhere near LDV numbers was South Korea’s Kia with 60.7 per cent growth, from 3289 units in 2015 to 5287 in 2016. Japan’s Isuzu was next, up from 1897 in 2015 to 2640 last year, a year-on-year sales hike of 39.1 per cent.
Others to head up the sales charts last year were Ford with 21.4 per cent growth, Skoda (20.0%), Land Rover (20.0%), Suzuki (17.9%), Subaru (17.2%), Mercedes-Benz (15.4%), Mitsubishi (13.5%), Mazda (11.3%).
Carmakers who pretty much stood still were Hyundai, up 0.5 per cent (8328-8376) and Volkswagen, up 0.9 per cent (5045-5092). Those who went backwards after 2015 were BMW, down 4.7 per cent (1952-1860), and Fiat, down 24.2 per cent (1457-1103).
LDV sales and marketing manager Warren Willmot (pictured at top) said NZ has the highest market share for the company’s vans in the world.
“LDV has only been here in its current form for just three years and in that short timeframe we are now sitting at 16 per cent share of the new van segment,” he said.
“That’s probably the biggest growth any brand has achieved in NZ’s recent automotive history. Of course, the product is great, the pricing is on point and our marketing strategy has been favourably received.”
LDV will this year boost its fleet with new offerings, including battery-electric vans, a range of utes, and an SUV. “We’re focussed on offering solutions for businesses, not just selling vehicles,” said Willmot. “Our customers are our best salespeople.”
The chart below shows how registrations panned out in 2016. ‘Demonstrators’, those vehicles first registered by dealers and/or distributors before being sold at a discount, figured highly in the annual numbers game.
LDV’s head office and its dealers, for example, first registered 86 vehicles, or 8.3 per cent of the 1032 it sold. Toyota first registered 9.6 per cent. Jeep on the other hand first registered 876 models, or 56.3 per cent of the 1554 it sold.
Want to double-check percentages? Use Toyota’s numbers, for starters: 2307 dealer and 266 head office registrations together total 2573 ‘first registrations’. This total is 9.6 per cent of Toyota’s 26,785 overall sales for 2016. ‘Buyer regos’ are vehicles not first registered by dealers or distributors.
| Carmaker | Total sales | Dealer regos | Head office regos | Buyer regos | Dealer, HO regos |
| Toyota | 26,785 | 2307 | 266 | 24,482 | 9.6% |
| Ford | 16,763 | 2313 | 1070 | 13,380 | 20.1% |
| Holden | 14,337 | 2524 | 205 | 11,608 | 19.0% |
| Mazda | 11,219 | 1710 | 177 | 9332 | 16.8% |
| Mitsubishi | 9251 | 1270 | 274 | 7707 | 16.6% |
| Nissan | 8626 | 1153 | 79 | 7394 | 14.2% |
| Hyundai | 8376 | 763 | 1442 | 6172 | 26.3% |
| Suzuki | 5311 | 759 | 232 | 4320 | 18.6% |
| Kia | 5287 | 742 | 86 | 4459 | 15.6% |
| Volkswagen | 5092 | 1328 | 248 | 3516 | 30.9% |
| Honda | 3955 | 124 | 332 | 3499 | 11.5% |
| M-Benz | 3436 | 968 | 97 | 2371 | 30.9% |
| Subaru | 2660 | 597 | 19 | 2044 | 23.1% |
| Isuzu | 2640 | 453 | 168 | 2019 | 23.5% |
| Ssangyong | 2363 | 97 | 257 | 2009 | 14.9% |
| BMW | 1860 | 779 | 7 | 1074 | 42.2% |
| Audi | 1829 | 659 | 12 | 1158 | 36.6% |
| Jeep | 1554 | 545 | 331 | 678 | 56.3% |
| Land Rover | 1234 | 327 | 31 | 876 | 29.0% |
| Skoda | 1207 | 215 | 108 | 884 | 26.7% |
| Fiat | 1103 | 153 | 15 | 935 | 15.2% |
| LDV | 1032 | 53 | 33 | 946 | 8.3% |
| Peugeot | 802 | 225 | 19 | 559 | 30.4% |
| Lexus | 720 | 223 | 42 | 455 | 36.8% |
| Volvo | 607 | 207 | 47 | 353 | 41.8% |
| Mini | 600 | 213 | 0 | 387 | 35.5% |
| Dodge | 487 | 128 | 58 | 301 | 38.1% |
| Porsche | 459 | 71 | 16 | 372 | 18.9% |
| Renault | 428 | 105 | 9 | 314 | 26.6% |
| Jaguar | 372 | 115 | 32 | 225 | 39.5% |
| Citroen | 245 | 39 | 6 | 200 | 18.3% |
| Mahindra | 231 | 41 | 0 | 190 | 17.7% |
| Alfa Romeo | 106 | 34 | 26 | 46 | 56.6% |
| Maserati | 64 | 20 | 0 | 44 | 31.2% |
| Ferrari | 33 | 8 | 1 | 24 | 27.2% |
| Tesla | 24 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0.0% |