New Zealand September 2026: Toyota Corolla Cross storms into top spot in market up 22.2%

The Toyota Corolla Cross is the best-selling vehicle in New Zealand in September.

The New Zealand new light vehicle market shoots up 22.2% year-on-year in September to 16,374 units. This is a spectacular result as September 2025 was already up 19.1% on the year prior. Passenger cars (cars and SUVs) are up 27.9% YoY to 13,244, notably pushed by rental sales, while light commercials are up 2.9% to 3,130. Year-to-date volumes are up 15.6% to 111,759.

Toyota (+11.9%) trails the market growth but still manages a strong 24.6% share vs. 21.6% so far this year. Mitsubishi (+2.5%) stays in 2nd place while Kia (+44.2%) overtakes Ford (-7%) for #3. BYD surges 482.9% YoY to land in 5th position with 6.7% share. Tesla (+185.1%) jumps to #6 vs. #10 year-to-date, and is followed by MG (+63.2%) and GWM (+49.9%). Geely surges 750% to #14.

Model-wise, we have a surprise on top: the Toyota Corolla Cross (+716.3%) spectacularly takes the lead with 6.4% share for its first ever win: its previous best was #4 achieved just last month. It is now #4 year-to-date (+209.4%). The Mitsubishi Outlander (+19%) also posts a splendid result at #2, last hit in October 2022. The Ford Ranger (+1.9%) is stuck at #3 but outsells its archenemy the Toyota Hilux (+7%). The Tesla Model Y (+209.5%) rallies back up to #7 with the Kia Sportage (+82.2%) and Stonic (+76.1%) also lodging fantastic scores.

More complete brands data will be uploaded to this article when made available to us.

Previous month: New Zealand August 2026: Hilux and RAV4 push Toyota to 28.7% share

One year ago: New Zealand September 2025: Mitsubishi (+51.6%) at highest in over three years, sales up 19.1%

Full September 2026 Top 15 brands and models below.