New Zealand September 2021: Tesla Model 3 up to #2, Haval Jolion in Top 20, market up 51.7%

The Tesla Model 3 is up to 2nd place in New Zealand in September. Picture motoringnz

After imploding -35.6% in August, new vehicle sales in New Zealand swing back into very positive territory in September at +51.7% to 16.518 registrations, also up 13.8% on pre-pandemic September 2019. This leads to a year-to-date tally up 40.8% to 122.891, also up 7.3% on 2019. For the second month running, passenger cars outpace the market with a 58.7% year-on-year gain to 3.499 and 21.2% share vs. 20.2% a year ago, SUVs are up 52.3% to 8.352 and 50.6% share vs. 50.3% in September 2020 and light commercials soar 54.7% to 4.068 and 24.6% share vs. 24.1% a year ago. The rest of the market amounts to 599 units (+4.3%). Year-to-date, passenger cars are up 28.1% to 20.685 and 16.8% share vs. 18.5% over the same period in 2020, SUVs surge 48.5% to 63.058 and 51.3% share vs. 48.7% last year and light commercials gain 39.6% to 34.384 and 28% share vs. 28.2%.

In the brands ranking, the Top four all vastly outpace the market. Toyota (+80.8%) is up to 17.8% share, Mitsubishi (+122.4%) soars to 13.2% of the market, overtaking Ford (+88.1%) up to 11.3% share. For its part Tesla (+574.7%) is up 7-fold year-on-year and 6 spots on August to #4 overall, lodging its first four-digit monthly sales figure. All remaining Top 10 brands underperform, with Mazda (-8.3%) and Nissan (-4.8%) even posting negative results. MG (+213.1%) drops out of the Top 10 at #11 ahead of Haval (+277.7%) at #12 and Isuzu (+174.2%) at #13. Porsche (+427.3%), Ram (+185.7%), Great Wall (+161.5%), Peugeot (+148.4%), Citroen (+144.4%) and LDV (+71.1%) also shine below.

The Haval Jolion is inside the NZ Top 20 in September.

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (+112.4%) remains the most popular vehicle in the country at a strong 8.5% share vs. 7% so far this year but the event of the month is in 2nd place: the Tesla Model 3 is up four spots on August to top the passenger cars charts. It now ranks #11 year-to-date. The Mitsubishi Outlander (+267.6%) is up almost 4-fold year-on-year and six ranks on last month to #3 and best-selling SUV, a ranking it now also holds year-to-date above the Mitsubishi ASX (+107.9%) and Toyota RAV4 (+23.9%). The Toyota Corolla (+162.9%) ranks 4th as 62% of its September volume goes to rental sales. The Toyota Hilux (+144.5%) is down to #5 vs. #2 year-to-date, while the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is up 12 spots on August to #8 and the MG ZS sports a third consecutive Top 10 finish at a record 9th place. Notice also the Ford Everest at #15. Last month the Haval H6 was the first Haval model to rank inside the NZ Top 20 (#13), this month it’s a different model that achieves the same feat: the Jolion at #16.

Previous month: New Zealand August 2021: Tesla Model 3, MG ZS and Haval H6 shine in market sinking -35.6%

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

Full September 2021 Top 60 All-brands and Top 20 models below.