New Zealand Full Year 2020: Kia (+12.7%) island of growth in market down -22.6%, Ford Ranger signs 6th straight win

Kia is up 12.7% in a market down -22.6%.

Discover over 45 years of New Zealand Historical Data here.

In the absence of international and local tourism for most of the year and in a market strongly influenced by rental sales, new car sales in New Zealand drop -22.6% year-on-year in 2020 to just 119.398 units. This is the lowest annual tally since 2013. SUVs are down a contained -12.3% to 59.275 and 49.6% share vs. 43.8% in 2019, Light Commercials are off -23.8% to 33.392 and 28% share vs. 28.4% and Passenger cars sink -41.3% to 21.157 and 17.7% share vs. 23.3% a year ago.

Toyota (-32.7%) suffers greatly from the near-absence of rental sales and drops almost three percentage points of share to 17.4% vs. a round 20% in 2019. It however remains easily atop the brands ranking in an unchanged podium, followed by Ford (-16.5%) and Mitsubishi (-19.6%) both managing slimmer falls than the market. Below Mazda (-26.4%) in difficulty but up one spot to #4, Kia (+12.7%) sports a market-defying double-digit gain and leaps 3 spots to #5. Suzuki (-7.6%) and Volkswagen (-23.2%) also fall slower than the market but discontinued Holden (-50.8%), Nissan (-28.7%) and Hyundai (-27.6%) aren’t that lucky. Below, MG (+105.3%), Ram (+38.2%), Haval (+21.8%), Alfa Romeo (+10%), Great Wall (+9.3%), Fiat (+5.1%) and Ssangyong (+4.7%) are among the rare additional gainers.

In the models ranking, the Ford Ranger (-15.9%) celebrates a 6th consecutive annual win with a record 6.7% share while the Toyota Hilux (-18.7%) also manage to gain market share thanks to a contained fall at 4.9%. The Toyota RAV4 (-4.8%) keeps its fall into the single-digits thanks to the new generation and steps up one spot onto the podium at #3. The Mitsubishi Triton (-30.7%) is also up one rank on last year to #4 despite falling significantly faster than the market, it is followed by the Kia Sportage (-11.2%) is up a brilliant four spots to #5. The Kia Seltos is a blockbuster success in New Zealand, landing directly in 6th place for its first year in market and at the third spot in the SUV ranking. It already distances the Mazda CX-5 (-22.5%) which remains at #7. The Toyota Corolla (-62.3%) is the big loser of 2020, freefalling down from #3 to #8 and paying the price for its over-reliance on rental sales. Most notably, the Corolla isn’t the best-selling passenger vehicle (ie non-Commercial vehicles) in New Zealand anyone – and by a large margin – this title now going to the Toyota RAV4.

Previous post: New Zealand September 2020: Kia, Suzuki smile, Toyota cries in market cut short (-24.9%) by near-absence of rental sales

Previous year: New Zealand 2019: Ford Ranger secures 5th consecutive win in market down -4.3% to lowest in 3 years

Two years ago: New Zealand 2018: Ford Ranger signs 4th straight win in 5th consecutive record year

Full Year 2020 Top 95 All-brands and Top 25 models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.

Full October, November and December 2020 Top 70 All-brands and December Top 25 models below.