New Zealand April 2024: Toyota RAV4 at record share, sales down to lowest since pandemic

The Toyota RAV4 is the best-selling model in New Zealand in April.

New vehicle sales in New Zealand retrograde -8.9% year-on-year in April to 9,238 units, the lowest volume since the pandemic. We are 30% below the 13,118 figure of April 2021. The year-to-date tally is down -10.4% to 43,101. Passenger Cars sink -24.9% to 1,113, SUVs are down -9.8% to 4.993 and LCVs down -3.9% to 2,513. Year-to-date, Passenger Cars drop -32.7% to 5,048, SUVs are off -15.1% to 22,585 and LCV actually climb 10% to 12,728.

Toyota (+5.3%) goes against the negative market to improve its share to 25.8% vs. 21.8% so far this year. Ford (-4.2%) is back to its traditional 2nd place with 13.7% share while Mitsubishi (+1.3%) is down one spot to #3. GWM (+587.5%) advances to a record 7th place with 3% share with Nissan (+43.7%) also posting a fantastic result at #6. Only Suzuki (-7.2%) manages to gain share year-on-year in the remainder of the Top 10 with Hyundai (-47.7%), MG (-37.9%), Kia (-16.3%) and Volkswagen (-15.7%) all hit hard. Notice newcomer Omoda up 36 ranks on last month to #23.

Model-wise, as it is also the case in Australia, the Toyota RAV4 (+87.8%) triumphs and scores its first win since last November as a bunch of backlog orders are delivered. It is reported that Toyota still has a pipeline of orders of more than 8,000 vehicles. The RAV4 reaches 11% share this month which is believed to be its first time above the 10% mark. The Ford Ranger (-9.9%) drops to #2 but easily remains the YTD best-seller with 9.9% share. In third we have the Toyota Hilux (-21.4%) in great difficulty followed by the Mitsubishi Triton (+58.2%) and Suzuki Swift (-6.9%). Notice also the Ford Everest (+76.7%) back up to #8.

Previous month: New Zealand March 2024: Mitsubishi (+76.6%) defies devastated market

One year ago: New Zealand April 2023: Toyota, Ford strong in weak market (+4.3%)

Full April 2024 Top 68 All brands and Top 25 models below.