New Zealand August 2012: Ford Focus #1 Passenger Car, up 210%

The Ford Focus left the Holden Cruze and Toyota Corolla in its wake this month

* See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

New Zealand car sales are up a very healthy 10% year-on-year in August to 8,185 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 66,395 units, up a massive 18% on 2011. This is split between 5,969 new passenger cars, the best August score since 2007, and 2,216 new commercial vehicles, the strongest August since 2005! After being passed by the Ford Ranger for 2 units last month, the Toyota Hilux reclaims the overall market pole position with 341 sales and 4.2% share, its 4th time at #1 in 2012 so far, reinforcing its 2012 year-to-date leadership at 2,843 units and 4.3%.

Ford Ranger

The Ford Ranger is still extremely strong at #2 with 283 sales and 3.5%, now catching up on the Suzuki Swift for the 3rd place year-to-date in 2012 at 2,053 units and 3.1% vs. 2,162 and 3.3% for the Swift. Outstanding month for the Ford Focus: up 10 spots on July and a huge 210% on August 2011 to land in third place and #1 passenger car with 282 sales and 3.4%. It is #12 year-to-date at 1.8%. The Toyota Corolla follows at #4 while the Holden Captiva continues to dominate the SUV market and lodges another very impressive month at #5 with 238 units and 2.9%.

Hyundai Accent

Notice also the Holden Colorado up 5 spots on July to #7 with 229 units and 2.8%, the Holden Commodore down to a paltry #9 and 2.2%, the Mazda BT-50 up 9 ranks to #13 and the new generation Hyundai Accent making its very first appearance in the New Zealand Top 25 models ranking at #20 with 105 units and 1.3% share.

Previous month: New Zealand July 2012: Ford Ranger and Holden Captiva shine

One year ago: New Zealand August 2011: Mazda3 leads passenger cars

Full August 2012 Top 25 Ranking Table below.