New Zealand March 2021: Kia (+197.7%), Mitsubishi (+151.2%) stand out in market rallying back up 87.6%

The Kia Stonic makes its first appearance in the NZ Top 10. Picture autocar.co.nz

February data is also included in the data section of this article.

In March, new vehicle sales in New Zealand soar 87.6% on weak, Covid-19 impacted year-ago volumes to 15.498 units, lifting the year-to-date tally up 27.9% to 41.864. Note March 2021 is also up 17% on March 2019 volumes, indicating a very strong recovery. Passenger Cars are up 35% year-on-year to 2.379 units and 15.3% share vs. 21.3% a year ago, SUVs surge 114% t o 7.690 and 49.6% share vs. 43.5% in March 2020 and Light Commercials gain 93.4% to 4.730 and 30.5% vs. 29.6% a year ago. Year-to-date, Passenger Cars edge up 0.4% to 6.557 and 15.7 % share vs. 20% over the same period in 2020, SUVs are up 38.6% to 21.829 and 52.1% share vs. 48.1% and Light Commercials up 30.9% to 11.858 and 28.3% share vs. 27.7% in 2020.

Toyota (+55.2%) keeps the lead of the brands ranking but advances a lot slower than the market, signing the smallest gain in the Top 15 and resulting in a weak 15.2% share. In contrast, the next four brands outpace the market, with Kia (+197.7%) and Mitsubishi (+151.2%) the most dynamic followed by Ford (+107.1%) and Mazda (+106.6%). Subaru (+168.2%), Volkswagen (+151.9%) and Hyundai (+112.7%) also shine in the remainder of the Top 10 just as Suzuki (+80.6%) and Nissan (+61.7%) are weaker. Further down, LDV (+796.8%), MG (+357.7%), GWM (+345.5%), BMW (+246.8%) and Tesla (+218.8%) stand out.

We have a rare change of leadership in the NZ model charts: the Toyota Hilux (+134.3%) takes advantage of its facelift to land in first place both in March and year-to-date, toppling the Ford Ranger (+86.5%) while the Mitsubishi Triton (+99.1%) closes a podium 100% pickup. The Mitsubishi Outlander is the best-selling SUV in the country for the 2nd month running and YTD, ranking #4 each time. The Nissan Navara (+87.9%) makes it 4 pickups in the Top 5, with the Kia Sportage (+113.6%) and Mazda CX-5 (+135.4%) in tow. The Toyota RAV4 (+2.5%) is down to a paltry 8th place. We have a few newcomers in the NZ Top 20 : the Kia Stonic appears at #13 in March, the MG ZS ranks #20 in February and #16 in March and the Ford Puma ends February at #17.

Previous post: New Zealand January 2021: Mitsubishi, Kia help drive positive market (+6.4%)

One year ago: New Zealand March 2020: Holden at highest in over 2 years in market down -37.2%

Full February and March 2021 Top 72 All-brands and Top 20 models below.