Commercial Classes Lead Steady Result For July New Vehicle Sales

A positive performance in the two commercial classes saw sales of new vehicles in New Zealand relatively steady last month, holding on to June’s uplift.

Figures for July issued by the Motor Industry Association record 11,671 new vehicles sold during the month; near-par with 11,862 sold in June.

The June total was a 26 percent uplift on the May figure of 10,251, and the year-on-year comparison also tells a positive story with July 2025 sales up 23.8 percent on July 2024’s 9,419 registrations.

Numbers of new vehicle registrations are compiled each month by the MIA, which represents the country’s new vehicle manufacturers and suppliers.

Association CEO Aimee Wiley says while the continued uplift is welcomed and encouraging, it will take several more months of similar sales levels before an improving trend can be confirmed.

“It has been a challenging 18 months for our members in tight economic conditions, so it is good to see July sales holding steady with the June increase. It’s a sign that there may be some early signs of confidence returning to the new vehicle market, but it’s probably too soon to break out the

champagne just yet.”

In terms of categories, sales of light passenger vehicles including SUV’s totaled 7,635, down from the 8,245 in registered in June.

Offsetting that result, however, were sales of light commercial vehicles - at 3,532 these were up on the 3,204 recorded in June; and the 504 heavy commercial vehicles sold also up on June’s 413 registrations.

The corresponding figures for July 2024 were 6,339 for light passenger vehicles, 2,500 for light commercial vehicles and 580 for heavy vehicles.

Toyota’s RAV 4 continues to dominate the light passenger vehicle class with 602 sales, followed by new face the Suzuki Fronx with 347 registrations and the Mitsubishi Outlander with 307 sales in third place. Tesla, however, did not continue its strong June result, falling from 407 sales of its Model Y to 103 in July.

There was a notable change in the light commercial vehicle pecking order with Toyota’s Hilux overtaking the long-standing leader, the Ford Ranger, by a narrow margin. The Hilux registered 868 sales: with the Ford Ranger on 838 for the month. BYD did not follow up its remarkable 413 result for June, falling from third place to fifth behind the Nissan Navara (416) and Mitsubishi Triton (276) with 256 registrations in July.

Electric vehicle sales did not share the overall upwards momentum, with 638 registered during the month, compared with 1,073 in June. Plug-in hybrids recorded 749 sales compared with 912 in June However, hybrid vehicles continued their run of increases with 3,434 sales compared to 3,152 in June.

Key Industry Insights

Total Industry Registrations: July 2025

A total of 11,671 new vehicles were registered in July 2025.

This reflects:

•  A 23.8% increase (+2,241 units) compared to July 2024
• A 4.9% increase (+570 units) compared to July 2022, a more meaningful reference point given July 2023’s exceptional CCD policy-driven decline (6,202 units).

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