New Zealand Full Year 2021: Mitsubishi (+95.3%) places Outlander at #3, Ranger leads for 7th year in record market

The Mitsubishi Outlander is the best-selling SUV in New Zealand in 2021.

Discover over 45 years of New Zealand Historical Data here.

New car sales in New Zealand shoot up 38.5% year-on-year in 2021 to 165,287 units, returning above the pre-pandemic level of 2019 (154,448) and breaking the all-time annual volume record set in 2018 (161,519). Passenger cars are up 35% to 28,551 units and 17.3% share vs. 17.7% last year, SUVs are up 40.2% to 83,083 and 50.3% share vs. 49.6% in 2020 and Light Commercials are up 39.7% to 46,636 and 28.2% share vs. 28% a year ago.

In the brands ranking, Toyota (+40.5%) edges past the market growth to improve its share slightly to 17.7% but the best performer in the Top 10 is Mitsubishi (+95.3%) almost doubling its 2020 volume to advance one spot to #2. Ford (+40%) is knocked down to #3 ahead of Kia (+27.7%) and Mazda (+14.4%) both underperforming. In fact only Volkswagen (+42.5%) manages to outpace the market in the remainder of the Top 10 with Honda (+23%) and Suzuki (+31.8%) the weakest albeit frankly in positive. MG (+172.5%), Tesla (+451.4%), LDV (+147.6%) and Haval (+173.4%) score the largest gains further down.

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (+57.7%) celebrates 7 straight annual wins with a new record volume at almost 13,000 units and share at 7.6%. It smashed its all-time record monthly share three times this year: in June at 9.4%, in August at 9.8% and in October at 11.6%… The Toyota Hilux (+45.4%) also improves its share but stays well below at 5.4% of the market. Outstanding year for the Mitsubishi Outlander (+168.4%) up 9 spots on 2020 to land on the third step of the podium and #1 SUV. 13% of its sales are to rental companies. The Toyota RAV4 (+16.3%) dips one spot to #4 ahead of the Mitsubishi ASX (+103.3%) also in great shape (22% are rentals) and up five ranks to #5 and the Mitsubishi Triton (+34.6%) down two to #6. The Toyota Corolla (+85.7%) rallies back up one spot to #8 (42% are rentals). The Tesla Model 3 lands inside the Top 10 at #9 and was #2 in September and #4 in December. Notice also the MG ZS at #12 and the Kia Stonic at #13. The Haval Jolion managed two Top 20 finishes this year.

Previous month: New Zealand November 2021: Mitsubishi excels in very dynamic market (+37.8%)

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

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

Full December 2021 Top 63 All-brands and Top 20 models below.

Full Year 2021 Top 92 All-brands and Top XX models vs. Full Year 2020 figures below.