Surging demand for electric vehicles helped propel car sales to record levels last year, although petrol and diesel ute sales remain streets ahead.

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) reports that more cars and commercial vehicles were sold last month than any other December, spiking 44.3% year-on-year to 12,097 vehicles. 

Of that, 1,143 were classed as fully electric, with another 1,235 hybrids and 149 plug-in hybrids snapped up. 

The Tesla 3 led that category with 619 vehicles driven off the yard, but the top three slots were all held by utes, with the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton and Toyota Hilux selling a combined 2,179 units – or roughly one in every six cars sold during the month.

That helped drive new car registrations for the year to 165,287 units, an increase of 38.3%, or 45,837 more cars than the prior year. 

New battery powered cars accounted for a combined 23,154 units, or 14% of all sales – up from 9.2% the prior year.

The pre-owned market kept pace, up 7.7% to 121,860 units overall – turning around three years of declining used car sales.

Association chief executive David Crawford said small and medium size sports utility vehicle (SUV) sales dominated, with 19% of the market, while ute sales overall were at 16% of the total market.

That helped reinforce the market dominance of Toyota and Ford, brands which accounted for more than 40% of all new car sales through December.

Toyota NZ general manager of new vehicles Steve Prangnell said hybrid and ute sales had pushed 2021 into the record books for the manufacturer. 

That was led by the Hilux, which had sold 8,427 units and the RAV4 hybrid, with 4,598 sales.

It's not just a NZ trend – Toyota ended 2021 as the top car brand in the US, with sales of 2.3 million vehicles – up 10% on 2020.

Prangnell said more than a third of the Japanese car maker’s customers are now opting for hybrid options, and Toyota dealers are also reporting a significant waiting list for the new pure battery-powered bZ4X SUV.

That car, the first non-hybrid option for NZ buyers, is expected to arrive in NZ later this year. 

Supply issues

Todd Hunter, chief executive of Turners Automotive, said the big challenge for the industry was in securing supply, which in turn had seen price increases, particularly for good quality, newer stock.

Some of that, he said, was motivated by covid related spending, and as people opted into newer vehicles.

He said the government’s clean vehicle incentive and penalty regime will also start coming into play this year, pushing demand for EVs and increasing prices for near-new commercials.

The scheme rewards buyers of new low-emission EVs under $80,000 with a rebate of up to $8,625. The scheme will extend to used imports from this July, with rebates of as much as $3,450.

To pay for that, heavy emission vehicles such as diesel powered utes will attract a penalty of as much as $5,175 for a new vehicle or $2,875 for an imported used one.

Hunter said Turners sourced about 95% of its cars domestically, but there could be "significant implications" for dealers more reliant on the imported market.

They will be unlikely to be able to get their hands on enough imported EVs to service that growing part of the market.