New Zealand January 2024: Ford at highest in over a decade, Ranger up to record share

The Ford Ranger holds 11.6% of the New Zealand market in January, a record.

It’s good news for the New Zealand new vehicle market in January with sales edging up 1.5% year-on-year to 12,649. Passenger Cars sink -33.5% to 1,362, SUVs drop -6.2% to 6,728 but LCVs jump 40.3% to 3,798 and are solely responsible for this month’s market lift. Toyota (+2.3%) roughly matches the market to 20.4% share vs. 21.7% over the Full Year 2023 but the real hero this month is Ford (+68.5%) up to a fantastic 16.2% share vs. just 10.9% over FY2023. This is by far Ford’s highest market share since we started following NZ brands sales in January 2013. Mitsubishi (+13.5%) is also strong at #3 with 11.6% of the market vs. 8.9% over FY2023. Isuzu (+102.2%), Nissan (+52.1%), Volkswagen (+28%) and Mazda (+12.6%) also post great results in the remainder of the Top 10. Reversely Kia (-45%) and Hyundai (-41%) both freefall. 

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (+84.8%) surges ahead to a record 11.6% share, also reached in October 2021. It sells 2.2 times more than its rival the Toyota Hilux (-17.8%) in difficulty. Note 28% of Ranger sales went to rental companies this month The Toyota RAV4 (+60.4%) is also very robust at #3 while the Mitsubishi ASX makes its return near the top of the charts at #4 (33% rentals). The Mitsubishi Outlander (+43.2%) at #5 (55% rentals), the Kia Seltos (+108.1%) at #7 (31% rentals), the Ford Everest (#8) and Toyota Highlander (#9) also shine.

Previous post: New Zealand Full Year 2023: Ford Ranger and Toyota RAV4 on top, MG and BYD up

One year ago: New Zealand January 2023: Toyota Hilux back to #1, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross #3, market down -7.5%

Full January 2024 Top 70 All brands and Top 25 models below.