Strong rental and passenger-vehicle sales helped drive the New Zealand new-vehicle market to a 6.3% increase in sales in October compared to the same month last year.
But Motor Industry Association chief executive Aimee Wiley says the results also illustrate the uneven nature of the market's recovery: "The overall market continues to perform ahead of last year, but growth remains concentrated in passenger vehicles. Commercial registrations remain subdued, suggesting businesses are
continuing to take a cautious approach to capital investment."
Total sales for the month were 15,118. Passenger registrations increased 10.6% to 11,833, while light commercial registrations (which includes utes) declined 2.6% to 2805.
Rentals accounted for 33.1% of sales in October, compared to 27.1% for private buyers. Business remained the top category with 38.4% market share.
Year to date, total registrations have reached 127,342, up 10.7% compared with 2025.
Electric vehicles continue to play an important part, although the MIA points out monthly results highlight "fluctuating demand". Battery electric (BEV) registrations increased 194.4 percent year on year to 1481, while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) increased 188.4% to 1445 vehicles.
Together, these technologies accounted for 24.7 percent of passenger registrations, compared with 9.4% in October 2025.
But BEVs accounted for approximately 10.0% of total market registrations in October, which is down from 15.3% in September and 16.6% in July.
"The growth in electrified vehicle registrations is significant, but monthly results demonstrate that the transition is not occurring at a consistent pace," says Wiley.
The top vehicle for the month was the Toyota RAV4 with 1174 registrations. Another two Toyotas filled out the top three: Corolla Cross (912) and Hilux (871).
The most popular BEV was the GWM Ora (112), followed by the Kia EV3 (98) and BYD Atto 2 (91).
Top PHEV was the Toyota RAV4 (439), followed by the BYD Atto 2 (129) and Geely Starray EM-i (104).
The Corolla Cross (912 registrations) beat RAV4 (735) to be the top hybrid/HEV, followed by the Kia Sportage (474). Rental sales contributed heavily to all three models, accounting for 612, 540 and 285 sales respectively.
NZ'S TOP 10 NEW VEHICLES YEAR-TO-DATE
Ford Ranger (7867)
Toyota Hilux (6853)
Toyota RAV4 (6775)
Toyota Corolla Cross (4357)
Mitsubishi Outlander (3815)
Mitsubishi ASX (3444)
Mitsubishi Triton (3196)
Tesla Model Y (3053)
Kia Sportage (2576)
Ford Everest (2450)