Registrations were up 12% in 2025 to 97,987, which was a healthy increase. Add to that 85,031 used passenger cars (-13%), which brings the total to 183,000. Toyota is the brand chosen in 23% of purchases. Mitsubishi, Kia and Suzuki followed but a huge gap remains.
The chart below shows market share movement and all the top four have lost market share in 2025. Suzuki was the only one of them that had a sales fall too. Ford relies heavily on the Ranger pickup but as it is treated as a light commercial vehicle, it is excluded from this list. Ford would be second placed if commercials were added.
Chinese brands of note are MG (7th), Haval (10th), and BYD (13th). GWM (which includes Haval, Tank and Ora) is separated here for greater clarity. Jaecoo, Omoda, Chery and Leapmotor are new entrants, so how they progress will be interesting.
A few US brands are arriving, so they are no longer all under GM US as I used to do it. GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac are the brands involved, the latter electric only. The Yukon, Corvette and Lyric are the models represented.
Jaguar stopped making cars a while back but stock must have been secured to keep sales going strong for the whole year. They did taper off toward the end of the year as expected. Punters have been keen to obtain a vehicle before they disappear as an affordable marque.
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Data source: NZTA. Picture sources: Mitsubishi, GWM.
