Revving up a record: June smashes all-time car sales as buyers try to beat clean car policy changes

The MG ZS is among the top three sellers now, with electric vehicle sales surging in June. Photo / Dean Evans

Last month was the biggest on record for new vehicle sales as buyers raced to beat the Government’s clean car policy changes.

Figures released by the Motor Industry Association (MIA) today show a record 23,560 registrations in June, 2556 units higher than the previous biggest month which was March 2022 (21,004 registrations).

June’s new vehicle sales were also 95.5 per cent higher than that of June 2022.

There were 8240 new electric vehicle sales in June, accounting for almost half (47.7 per cent) of the record 17,299 passenger vehicle registrations for the month.

Passenger registrations (17,299) were 97.5 per cent higher than the monthly average year to date and 80.9 per cent higher than June’s total last year.

“What these record months have in common is clean car policy change,” MIA chief executive Aimee Wiley said.

“In March 2022, people rushed to register vehicles to avoid the introduction of Clean Car Discount fees and we can see this repeated in June 2023, to avoid increasing fees or reducing rebates from July 1 onwards.”

The Government announced tweaks to its Clean Car Discount policy in May, which came into effect on July 1.

The changes mean the maximum rebate for new “clean” vehicles will decrease by about $1600. When first introduced, the clean car rebate took as much as $8625 off the price of a new clean vehicle.

On the flipside, the maximum fee for vehicles that emit 150g of carbon dioxide per kilometre increased by about $1700.

The scheme works by adding a fee onto the purchase of polluting cars to fund the purchase of “clean” cars, either low-emission conventional vehicles, hybrids, or full electric EVs.

Sales of electric vehicles have been surging since the Clean Car Discount came in.

In May, StatsNZ said imports of electric vehicles more than doubled in value during the 12 months to March 2023, increasing 127 per cent to $1.23 billion.

In comparison, the combination of all passenger internal combustion vehicles increased 1.7 per cent to $5.6b. The total value of passenger motor vehicles imported in the year to March was $6.8b, up 13 per cent on the previous year, and was the largest value of vehicles purchased within any 12 months to March.

Then-Transport Minister Michael Wood, announcing changes to the Clean Car Discount policy in May, said more than 100,000 rebates had been granted under the scheme, helping drive a level of EV uptake not previously expected until 2027.

“The scheme is successfully exceeding industry and Government projections, with 20 per cent of all new passenger car sales being electric in 2022. A substantial increase from 8 per cent in 2021,” he said at the time.

The MIA’s figures show of the 8240 new electric vehicle sales in June, 2643 were for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), or otherwise known as fully electric, 1318 for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and 4279 for hybrid vehicles (HEVs).

There were also 6261 commercial vehicle registrations in June 2023, the second biggest month ever, and 76.2 per cent higher than the average monthly registrations year to date (3553 average units per month).

“On a total year-to-date basis, despite the June 2023 result, commercial vehicles remain down 6.5 per cent (1674 units) due to the impact of the Clean Car Discount fees on light commercial vehicles,” Wiley said.

The top three passenger models for the month were the Toyota RAV 4, Tesla Model Y, and MG ZS.

Toyota retained the overall market lead for the month of June with 22.7 per cent market share (5343 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 12.3 per cent (2903 units) and Kia with 8.2 per cent (1927 units).

Global EV surge

Analysis from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) in its annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook found electric car markets are seeing “exponential growth”, with sales exceeding 10 million in 2022. It expected this number to grow by another 35 per cent in 2023 to reach 14 million.

EVs made up 14 per cent of all new cars sold in 2022, up from around 9 per cent in 2021 and less than 5 per cent in 2020, IEA found.

On the weekend Tesla, the EV leader in the United States, said it delivered a record 466,000 cars in the second quarter, up 83.5 per cent from a year ago.

This can be attributed to Tesla cutting its prices this year in the US amid profit margin concerns. As of April, the carmaker had dropped the price of its base Model 3 by 11 per cent in the year and its base Model Y by 20 per cent.

US electric vehicle start-up Rivian Automotive followed Tesla’s news by revealing it had built 13,992 trucks and vans at its factory in Normal, Illinois in the second quarter – beating Wall Street expectations of about 11,000.

In the US, EVs made up 8.6 per cent of new vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 5.9 per cent for the same period a year earlier, according to figures from trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation, reported on by the Financial Times.

More than 305,000 EVs were sold in the US between January and March.

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports.