New car sales hit the skids and living costs, fuel prices, supply chain gripes blamed

Surging living costs, high fuel prices and supply chain logjams have been blamed for declining new car sales.

After strong sales in May, the latest Motor Industry Association (MIA) data showed June vehicle registrations were down.

And June's sales fell 20.4 per cent from the same month last year.

Although total sales were down, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) registrations were relatively steady at 759, just three fewer than in May.

The three most popular PHEVs were the Mitsubishi Outlander, then its stablemate the Eclipse, and then the MG HS.

And of the 558 pure electric vehicles registered in June, the top-selling models were the Hyundai Kona, the Polestar 2, and the Kia EV6.

The MIA said 11,946 vehicles were sold last month, down from the 13,337 recorded in May.

For all new registrations, Toyota was the overall market leader with 18 per cent market share, followed by Mitsubishi at 17 per cent and Kia with 12 per cent.

Four models, all of them SUVs or utes, were responsible for nearly a quarter of New Zealand vehicle sales this year so far.

The Toyota Hilux was the best-selling ute last month, well ahead of the Ford Ranger. Photo / Supplied

The Mitsubishi Outlander, Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton combined had 23 per cent of all sales in the year to date.

In June, the three most popular models were the Outlander, then the Hilux and then the Kia Sportage.

The MIA's Mark Stockdale said the overall market was weakening due to rising living costs, supply constraints, high fuel prices, and a faltering national economy.

Total vehicle sales were down year-on-year from the same time in 2021.

In the year to July, 81,987 vehicles were sold, whereas this time last year the total was 84,598.

New commercial vehicle, SUV and other car registrations were all down on June 2021.

Heavy vehicle registrations were fairly stable last month at 575 units, compared to 588 in May.

Across the entire market, Mitsubishi and Toyota have been neck-and-neck in sales this year.

Last month, Toyota was top with 18 per cent market share and 2209 units, with Mitsubishi selling 2006 units.

But in the year to July, Mitsubishi was first with 17 per cent of the market and 13,768 units, ahead of Toyota at 12,911 units.

The two Japanese carmakers were well ahead of third-placed Ford, which recorded 6562 new registrations.