If you believe the public relations guff, every distributor in New Zealand last year sold record numbers of new vehicles. But that wasn’t the case.
Okay, it was an overall record year, with 159,871 new vehicle registrations. But quite a few brands didn’t do as well as the PR people claim.
Press releases saying this or that distributor is gearing up in 2018 to meet rapidly increasing demand for their vehicles are not supported by facts.
So let’s look at who did what in 2017. This information has been leaked to Automotive News NZ. It isn’t readily available to the public – it circulates only within the motoring industry.
The list of 45 brands on this page shows 16 – including many household names – didn’t do as well as in 2016. Some were stalled waiting for new models in 2018; others struggled against competition. High-end, go-faster names come and go anyway.
What especially stands out is American electric carmaker Tesla’s year-on-year growth – from 24 vehicles in 2016 to 244 last year, when it officially launched in NZ.
It’s the flag-bearer in the accelerating move towards EVs in this country. Its Model X SUV is pictured at the top of this page. China’s Great Wall nameplate boosted its modest presence, too.
‘Private’ sales are just that – to a genuine purchaser. Pre-registrations are those vehicles first registered with the NZ Transport Agency by distributors and/or dealers before being sold as a ‘demonstrator’ to a genuine purchaser.
Let’s call them ‘demo’. The percentage of demos to overall sales is also included. There is a belief in the industry that the higher percentage of pre-registrations to overall sales devalues the brand.
SALES UP IN 2017
Alfa Romeo: 123 sales – 87 private, 36 demo (29.2%). 2017 up 16% on 106 sales in 2016.
Aston Martin: 58 sales – 41 private, 17 demo (29.3%). 2017 up 163% on 22 sales in 2016.
Audi: 2060 sales – 1268 private, 792 demo (38.4%). 2017 up 12.6% on 1829 sales in 2016.
Bentley: 43 sales – 29 private, 14 demo (32.5%). 2017 up 16.2% on 37 sales in 2016.
BMW: 1954 sales – 1046 private, 908 demo (46.4%). 2017 up 5.1% on 1859 sales in 2016.
Fiat: 1284 sales – 1161 private, 123 demo (9.5%). 2017 up 16.5% on 1102 sales in 2016.
Ford: 16,827 sales – 13,569 private, 3258 demo (19.3%). 2017 up 0.4% on 16,761 sales in 2016.
Great Wall: 167 sales – 142 private, 25 demo (14.9%). 2017 up 827.0% on 18 sales in 2016.
Holden: 14,411 sales – 11,552 private, 2859 demo (19.8%). 2017 up 0.5% on 14,335 sales in 2016.
Honda: 4616 sales – 4205 private, 411 demo (8.9%). 2017 up 16.7% on 3954 sales in 2016.
Isuzu: 2774 sales – 2100 private, 674 demo (24.2%). 2017 up 5.1% on 2369 sales in 2016.
Kia: 6485 sales – 5538 private, 947 demo (14.6%). 2017 up 22.6% on 5286 sales in 2016.
LDV: 1318 sales – 1229 private, 89 demo (6.7%). 2017 up 27.7% on 1032 sales in 2016.
Maserati: 132 sales – 108 private, 24 demo (18.1%). 2017 up 106.0% on 64 sales in 2016.
Mazda: 12,135 sales – 10,189 private, 1946 demo (16.0%). 2017 up 8.1% on 11,217 sales in 2016.
McLaren: 33 sales – 26 private, 7 demo (21.2%). 2017 up 37.5% on 24 sales in 2016.
Mercedes-Benz: 3680 sales – 2658 private, 1022 demo (27.7%). 2017 up 7.1% on 3435 sales in 2016.
Mini: 668 sales – 445 private, 223 demo (33.3%). 2017 up 11.3% on 600 sales in 2016.
Mitsubishi: 11,456 sales – 10,042 private, 1414 demo (12.3%). 2017 up 23.8% on 9246 sales in 2016.
Peugeot: 822 sales – 551 private, 271 demo (32.9% ). 2017 up 2.4% on 802 sales in 2016.
Renault: 451 sales – 339 private, 112 demo (24.8%). 2017 up 5.3% on 428 sales in 2016.
Rolls-Royce: 8 sales – 7 private, 1 demo (12.5%). 2017 up 100.0% on 4 sales in 2016.
Seat: 12 sales – 3 private, 9 demos (75.0%). 2017 new brand, no sales in 2016.
Skoda: 1279 sales – 809 private, 470 demo (36.7%). 2017 up 5.1% on 1207 sales in 2016.
Subaru: 3340 sales – 2659 private, 681 demo (20.3%). 2017 up 25.5% on 2660 sales in 2016.
Suzuki: 6983 sales – 5859 private, 1124 demo (16.0%). 2017 up 31.5% on 5308 sales in 2016.
Tesla: 244 sales – 188 private, 56 demo (22.9%). 2017 up 916.0% on 24 sales on 2016.
Toyota: 32,282 sales – 29,622 private, 2660 demo (8.2%). 2017 up 20.5% on 26,778 sales in 2016.
Volkswagen: 5577 sales – 4029 private, 1548 demo (27.7%). 2017 up 9.5% on 5092 sales in 2016.
SALES DOWN IN 2017
Chrysler: 16 sales – 12 private, 4 demos (25.0%). 2017 down 20.0% on 20 sales in 2016.
Citroen: 238 sales – 176 private, 62 demos (26.0%). 2017 down 6.2% on 245 sales in 2016.
Dodge: 271 sales – 157 private, 114 demo (42.0%). 2017 down 44.2% on 486 sales in 2016.
Ferrari: 25 sales – 22 private, 3 demo (12.0%). 2017 down 24.2% on 33 sales in 2016.
Hyundai: 7892 sales – 5641 private, 2251 demo (28.5%). 2017 down 5.7% on 8376 sales in 2016.
Jaguar: 354 sales – 177 private, 177 demo (50%). 2017 down 4.5% on 371 sales in 2016.
Jeep: 1254 sales – 611 private, 643 demo (51.2%). 2017 down 19.3% on 1554 sales in 2016.
Lamborghini: 17 sales – 11 private, 6 demo (35.2%). 2017 down 19.0% on 21 sales in 2016.
Land Rover: 1178 sales – 795 private, 383 demo (32.5%). 2017 down 4.5% on 1234 sales in 2016.
Lexus: 712 sales – 313 private, 399 demo (56.0%). 2017 down 0.9% on 719 sales in 2016.
Mahindra: 145 sales – 132 private, 13 demo (8.9%). 2017 down 36.9% on 245 sales in 2016.
MG: 9 sales – 3 private, 6 demo (66.6%). 2017 down 40.0% on 15 sales in 2016.
Nissan: 7842 sales – 6451 private, 1391 demo (17.7%). 2017 down 9.0% on 8624 sales in 2016.
Porsche: 355 sales – 264 private, 91 demos (25.6%). 2017 down 22.6% on 459 sales on 2016.
SsangYong: 1387 sales – 1201 private, 186 demo (13.4%). 2017 down 41.3% on 2363 sales in 2016.
Volvo: 540 sales – 249 private, 291 demo (53.8%). 2017 down 11.0% on 607 sales in 2016.