NZ Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-July)

Registrations for PCs were up 15% in August and 15%YTD. Toyota has had a slow start, as it often does and while it had a good August, it still lags behind 2025. It holds 18.5% market share but that is down from 22.9% on a full 2025. 

Mitsubishi is in the same boat as Toyota, only a bit worse. BYD has raced into the top ten, with Haval and MG are there too and Chery closing in quickly on that achievement. The Haval H6 is above, right. The Chery Tiggo 4 below.

Japanese sourced passenger cars have reached 38% and Chinese 29% penetration 2026 YTD. EVs are up to 17% and hybrid cars (all types) 46%. 

Data source: NZTA. 

Lotus Technology Deliveries : 2025/26 (H1)

Lotus reported that it's half year sales result was up 39%. Going on their unaudited 2025 figure as as seen to the right, it's +35%. 

According to the company, growth was driven by the launch of the Eletre X, a new PHEV model. The sports car division meanwhile maintained a stable volume. 

Data source: Lotus Technology.

Photos: Lotus. (Eletre, Emira & Eletre X).

Regionally, China experienced strong growth in total deliveries with an increase of 60% YOY, outpacing the premium passenger automotive segment amid an increasingly competitive landscape. 

Lifestyle vehicle deliveries (Cars/SUV) increased to 77% of the total sales. It was 70% in 2025. Sports cars are, as mentioned already, holding up well, but not growing to the same degree. 

Eletre X, a new PHEV model. It helped Lotus enter the range extended PHEV segment. Eletre X has been delivered in China and six other markets. Deliveries in mainland Europe are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by the UK in mid 2027. 

GAC Aoin/Hyptec Deliveries 2020-2025

Aion is an electric car maker which is a subsidiary of GAC. The first cars arrived in 2018, the S model. In 2019, 32,100 S cars were sold and 1,300 of the LX model were sold. 

The chart here starts a year later with 59,500 units delivered. The next three years, excellent growth was achieved and in 2023, the 480,000 sales made Aion the third largest EV brand in the world, behind only Tesla and BYD. 

The Hyptec EV marque started in 2022 and comes under Aion. Aion targets the mainstream EV segment while Hyptec aims toward more premium and performance vehicles.  

As things deteriorated in China, so did the sales. In the two years from 2023, the drop in volume was 40%. In 2025, exports were prioritised.

With the turn toward exports, how has Aion/Hyptec been going in 2026? We will cover that in a future article coming soon. 

Data source: GAC.

Photo source: GAC.
(Aion UT & Hyptec GT).