New Zealand January 2026: Mitsubishi (+42%), Nissan Navara (+139.6%) stand out in solid market

Promotions on the outgoing generations push the Nissan Navara to #4.

New light vehicle sales in New Zealand are up 8.7% year-on-year in January to 11,807 units. Brand leader Toyota (-4.2%) suffers and sees its share thaw to 19.9% vs. 24% over the Full Year 2025. Mitsubishi (+42%) is euphoric and overtakes Ford (+19.6%) for 2nd place overall. Kia (+18.9%) is back up to the #4 spot it held over the Full Year 2025. The rest of the Top 9 all beat the market, with MG (+36.1%) the most dynamic above Nissan (+32.4%), Mazda (+23.5%), BYD (+21.9%) and GWM (+13.1%).

Model-wise, the Ford Ranger (+24.4%) return to #1 for the first time since last June, overtaking last year’s leader the Toyota RAV4 (-37.3%) handicapped by a generation changeover. It is also the case for the Toyota Hilux (-64.7%) imploding to #13. The Mitsubishi ASX (+51.9%) repeats in third place above the Nissan Navara (+139.6%) and Mitsubishi Outlander (+68.8%). Excellent performances also by the Toyota Corolla Cross (+173.8%), Kia Stonic (+104.6%) and Toyota Hiace (+109%).

Previous post: New Zealand Full Year 2025: Toyota RAV4 ends 10 years of Ford Ranger dominance

One year ago: New Zealand January 2025: BYD Shark 6 lands directly inside Top 10

Full January 2026 Top 20 brands and Top 25 models below.