Market Share: New Passenger Cars
The new passenger car segment is evolving faster than any other New Zealand automotive market segment.
This report includes new passenger cars registered each month.
This segment belongs to the broader light vehicle market and does not include used imports, utes or vans (light commercial).
See the light vehicle market share report for the entire market.
Market share by fuel type
The fuel type of new cars registered in NZ in the most recent month.
Explore make and model by fuel type
New passenger cars are grouped by fuel type, vehicle make, down to individual model numbers.
What’s the market share of different fuel types?
There is a clear increase in hybrid passenger cars, beginning in 2021.
Plug-in cars experienced a surge of growth between 2022-2023, followed by flatter demand in 2024.
How many new cars are being sold each month?
There were considerable monthly fluctuations during 2022 and 2023 (a consequence of government policy and vehicle supply). In 2024, significantly fewer new passenger cars were purchased (across all fuel types).
How has EV market share changed each year?
After strong growth years (2022-2023), market share has retreated.
New cars are just one segment of the market
New passenger cars are showing a transition to some form of electrification.
However, this is not reflected in the broader light vehicle market.
Around half of the vehicles added to the monthly register are used imports (vehicles that have already been driven for a number of years in another country).
Most of these used imports are petrol or hybrid vehicles (except for the Nissan Leaf BEV). This reflects the Japanese Domestic Market, NZ’s primary used vehicle source market.
Another significant segment is the light commercial class of vehicles.
In this segment, over 75% of vehicles are utes, most of which are diesel. The market share of these combustion vehicles has remained unchanged.
