New Zealand October 2022: Ford Ranger takes control of market back in positive (+5.3%)

The Ford Ranger is now #1 year-to-date in New Zealand.

The New Zealand new vehicle market is back in positive territory in October at +5.3% to 14,736 registrations. As a result the year-to-date tally also tilts back into positive at +0.4% to 137,435 units. Passenger cars drop -4.4% to 2,390 and 16.2% share vs. 17.9% a year ago, SUVs surge 24.4% to 8,337 and 56.6% share vs. 47.9% in October 2021 and light commercials sink -20.2% to 3,277 and 22.2% share vs. 29.3% last year. Year-to-date, passenger cars edge up 1.5% to 17.1% share vs. 16.9% over the same period in 2021, SUVs gain 4.5% to 72,888 and 53% share vs. 51% a year ago and light commercials drop -9.8% to 34,720 and 25.3% share vs. 28.1% over the first 10 months of 2021.

Brand-wise, Toyota (-5.9%) goes against the positive market but lodges a strong 20.1% share vs. 17.6% so far this year. Reversely Mitsubishi (+81.6%) surges ahead year-on-year but can only muster 13.7% share vs. 15.3% YTD. Ford (-6.7%) is down on a particularly strong year-ago volume (when the Ford Ranger beat its share record) but manages a very strong 13.4% share vs. 8.5% YTD. Kia (+126.7%) follows and scores the largest year-on-year in the Top 25. Suzuki (+35.9%) is up to #5 overall while MG (+24.8%) equals its highest ranking at #7, also reached in May and June this year. Volkswagen (+8.7%) also beat the market at #8 but Mazda (-34.3%), Hyundai (-10.5%) and Honda (+1.2%) aren’t that lucky. #3 last month, Tesla (+73.2%) is now down to #19.

Over in the models ranking, helped by the new generation the Ford Ranger (-8.3%) hits a fantastic 10.1% share and takes control of the charts both for October and year-to-date. It edges past its archenemy the Toyota Hilux (+7.6%) down to #4 this month. The Mitsubishi Outlander (+46.5%) is up to #2 with 39% of its October volume going to rentals, it remains #3 year-to-date. The Toyota RAV4 (-14%) is down year-on-year but up six spots on September to #3, distancing the Toyota Hilux and Corolla (-35.8%) for which a whopping 84% of this month’s sales are to rental companies. The Kia Sportage (+285.9%), Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (+248.5%) and Suzuki Swift (+161.5%) post surreal year-on-year lifts in the remainder of the Top 10 just as the Toyota Yaris Cross stays at an excellent 8th place and cracks the YTD Top 20 at #20. The MG ZS (#9), BYD Atto 3 (#15) and Haval H6 (#16) are the 3 Chinese in the Top 20.

Previous month: New Zealand September 2022: Tesla Model Y hits 10.1% share in market down -9.7%

One year ago: New Zealand October 2021: Ford Ranger smashes share record in market up 18.2%

Full October 2022 Top 70 all brands and Top 25 models below.