New Zealand February 2023: Suzuki (+42%) stuns in worst February in 9 years (-24%)

Affected by the month’s floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, new vehicle sales in New Zealand sink -24% year-on-year in February to just 9,541 units. This is the lowest February volume since 2014. The year-to-date tally now skids -15.5% to 22,022 sales. Passenger Cars follow the market, down -23.9% to 1,641 sales, SUVs resist better at -16.2% to 4,610 and 48.3% share vs. 43.8% a year ago, and Light Commercials fall a drastic -37.3% to 2,673. The rest of the market is composed of Heavy Commercials. Year-to-date, Passenger Cars are down a market-beating -9.2% to 3,721, SUVs edge down -5.7% to 11,769 and 53.4% share vs. 47.9% over the same period in 2022, and Light Commercials fall -35.5% to 5,386.

Toyota (-14.4%) and Ford (-15.2%) both fall slower than the market atop the brands charts, to 17.7% and 12.4% share respectively. Suzuki (+42%) is the best performer in the Top 20 and one of only two carmakers in positive in the Top 15 (add Volkswagen at +2.5% and #10). Mitsubishi (-63.2%) fares the worst in the Top 10 at #4 followed by Kia (-46.8%), Mazda (-42%) and MG (-29.3%). Honda (-4.4%) resists. Further down the ranking, Skoda (+21.4%), BMW (+25.5%), Land Rover (+612.5%) and Peugeot (+476.5%) make waves.

Model-wise, it’s another photo finish at the top with the Ford Ranger (-22.7%) reclaiming the #1 spot off the Toyota Hilux (-4.6%) for just 10 sales. Year-to-date, the Ranger (-19.8%) is now #1 above the Hilux (+18.1%) with an advantage of just 6 units. The Suzuki Swift (+67.9%) surges to #3 and #1 Passenger Car, with 25% of its sales going to rental companies. The MG ZS (-9.7%) limits its fall to climb to a record 4th place, eclipsing its previous best of #5 hit last December. All remaining Top 10 vehicles fall year-on-year with only the Honda Jazz (-4.3%) and Hyundai Kona (-14.2%) faring better than the market and the Mitsubishi Outlander (-64.8%) struggling the most. Notice also the BYD Atto 3 at #12 and the Haval H6 at #23.