Honda has climbed back into the top tier of passenger car sales for the first time in many years with its new Jazz hatchback, which went on sale near the end of June.
Motor Industry Association figures show the five-door Jazz (above) was the third best-selling car in July with 302 registrations, just behind the Holden Commodore’s 304 sales. The Toyota Corolla led the passenger car segment with 428 units.
Honda NZ’s national sales and marketing manager Nadine Bell said Jazz sales exceeded initial expectations. “It’s been on sale for only six weeks and already we have more than 550 signed sales agreements,” she said. “Jazz is renowned for its quality and versatile space and the latest model offers even more, including a new level of standard specification.”
After seven months of 2014, NZ passenger car sales stood at 51,344 units, an average of 7334 sales a month, up on last year’s average of 6862 a month on overall sales of 82,355 new cars. That’s a sales hike in 2014 of 472 cars a month, or 118 a week.
Commercial numbers are strong too. At the end of July 21,098 units had been sold, an average of 3014 a month. Last year’s sales totaled 30,882 units, or 2568 a month. Again, that’s a hike so far in 2014 of 446 commercials a month, or 111 a week.
July sales continued a robust 18-month trend. “It was the strongest July in 29 years,” said David Crawford, CEO of the MIA. “The sale of new passenger cars and commercials were up 10 per cent on July last year. For commercials, it was the strongest July since the MIA began collecting records for commercials in 1981.”
For the record, 10,313 new vehicles were registered in July, made up of 7071 cars and 3242 commercials. At the end of July, sales of 72,442 vehicles (51,344 cars, 21,098 commercials) were up 13 per cent, or 8594 units, on the same period last year. Sales so far in 2014 have averaged more than 10,000 units a month.
Toyota was the overall market leader for July with a 16 per cent market share (1665 units), with Ford second on 12 per cent (1210) and Holden third with 11 per cent (1157). Toyota led passenger car sales with a 15 per cent share (1030), with Holden second on 11 per cent (805) and Ford third with 9 per cent (602). Toyota led the commercial segment with a 20 per cent share (635) followed by Ford at 19 per cent (608) and Holden third at 11 per cent (352s).
The battle between Toyota and Ford for workhorse ute supremacy continues. The Ford Ranger dominated last month with 537 sales for a 17 per cent share, followed by the Toyota Hilux with 411 sales for 13 per cent. Third was the runout Nissan Navara with 331 units for 10 per cent. A month into the second half of 2014 and the Hilux and Ranger each have 16 per cent of the market, but Hilux has a slender lead – 3326 sales against Ranger’s 3294.
The sale of sports utility vehicles continues to be the strongest selling segment with 28 per cent, followed by pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 23 per cent and small passenger cars at 16 per cent.
Top 15 passenger car sales in July: Toyota 1030 (15%); Holden 805 (11%); Ford 602 (9%); Hyundai 571 (8%); Mazda 529 (7%); Honda 421 (6%); Mitsubishi 405 (6%); Suzuki 394 (6%); Nissan 373 (5%); Volkswagen 307 (4%); Kia 241 (3%); Audi 168 (2%); Subaru 152 (2%); BMW 147 (2%); Mercedes-Benz 138 (2%); Others 788 (11%).
Top 15 commercials in July: Toyota 635 (20%); Ford 608 (19%); Holden 352 (11%); Nissan 332 (10%); Mazda 198 (6%); Mitsubishi 188 (6%); Isuzu 100 (3%); Volkswagen 92 (3%); Ssangyong 79 (2%); Iszu Trucks 71 (2%); Hino 70 (2%); Great Wall 64 (2%); LDV 52 (2%); Mercedes-Benz 51 (2%); Mitsubishi Fuso 48 (1%); Others 302 (9%).
Top 15 overall sales to end of July: Toyota 12,523 (17%); Ford 7951 (11%); Holden 7423 (10%); Hyundai 5131 (7%); Mazda 4664 (6%); Nissan 4514 (6%); Mitsubishi 4504 (6%); Volkswagen 3228 (4%); Suzuki 3085 (4%); Honda 1939 (3%); Kia 1794 (2%); Mercedes-Benz 1409 (2%); BMW 1270 (2%); Audi 1257 (2%); Ssangyong 1087 (2%); Others 10,663 (14.7%).
Top 15 cars to end of July: Toyota Corolla 2741 (5%); Holden Commodore 1700 (3%); Suzuki Swift 1629 (3%); Mazda CX-5 (1460 (3%); Mazda3 1370 (3%); Holden Captiva 1346 (3%); Tayota RAV4 1270 (2%); Volkswagen Golf 1165 (2%); Hyundai Santa Fe 1138 (2%); Ford Focus 1084 (2%); Hyundai IX35 1044 (2%); Mitsubishi Lancer 996 (2%); Toyota Highlander 983 (2%); Toyota Yaris 981 (2%); Holden Cruze 963 (2%).