NZ Lower Volume Brands (Mainstream - China) : 2026 (Jan-Apr)

The brands here are basically the budget end of the market pricewise. They offer plenty of bang for your buck. Most are new but not all.

LDV arrived in 2016 but have mainly been selling in the LCV market, so haven't done much with passenger cars. 

Omoda and Jaecoo have been just under three years, Chery and Leapmotor two, Dongfeng one and a bit and Forthing their first.

At the price poin they operate at, they must want to be doing better than this and they may achieve that. 

Data source: NZTA. Photos: Cherry (Tiggo 4) & Dongfeng (Box).

NZ Low Volume Brands (Semi-Premium - China) : 2026 (Jan-Apr)

Here are the model sales for some of the smaller Chinese brands in NZ. They will have dealers in major centres but national coverage isn't there. They aspire to be above the maintream brands. That is why MG's IM is here as it is a notch up on its parent brand. 

All these brands are new or nearly new to NZ. Tank is in its third full year and Geely its second. All the others are in their first full, with Zeekr a partial 2025. So early days but pushing on from here will be their expectation.  

Data source: NZTA.

Photos: GWM Tank (300) & Geely (Starray).

NZ Luxury Car Sales : 2025-26 (Jan-Apr)

The small marques in a car market can be overlooked due to their diminutive sales. However, in monetary terms, a lot is tied up in a relatively few vehicles. For a small country, 53 luxury car registrations in just four months isn't too bad a tally. 

The top sellling model were the Bentley Continental and Lamborghini Urus, each with eight. The 12Cylindri and DBX come close with seven.

Data source: NZTA.

Photos: Aston Martin (DBX) & Ferrari (Amalfi). 

NZ Pick Up Sales : 2025-26 (Jan-Apr)

The pick up market in NZ is a popular segment and the variety has been growing recently. Models from China have been the reason for the increase in variety. 

The colours below are based on where the brand originated. Blue is the US, pink Asia and yellow Europe. MG and LDV are now Chinese brands but with UK origins. 

For now it seems the legacy brand pick up trucks are still the most popular and not being unduly affected by the new entrants. The Ford Ranger has 36.4% of the market as an example of that. 

The =/- column compares four months of 2026 with twelve months of 2025. That's why they they are virtually all negative. With registrations currently running at -70%, a number lower than that gets a green up arrow. 

Data source: NZTA. Photos Ford & Nissan (Ranger & Navara).

VW Group Car/LCV/CV Deliveries: 2025-26 (Q1)

The VW Group's Q1 is broken down into four parts. 

The first one shows deliveries are down 4% YTD. Just over half (53%) are for VW PC, which is down 8%. Audi is down 6% and Porsche 15%. Škoda is up 14% and VW light commericals 10%.

The truck division is known as Traton. Man is up 15% but the rest are down. That puts the division 6% lower than 2025. When added to the above, it brings VW Group to 2,048,900 units. 

The regions involve adding the two above for a complete VW Group. Western Europe leads the way with 41% of the total and a 4% increase. China continues its trajectory down, now just over a quarter of the total but -15%. 

Finally, we look at how electric vehicles are faring. Virtually all of them are sold in Europe (88%) and it was the only region that increased. Frankly, everywhere else is pathetic. The USA and China experienced a collapse in volume but as the numbers involved aren't large, it mitigated the impact. 

Dacia Brand Car/LCV Deliveries: 2025-26 (Q1)

Since 2021, Dacia has increased each year. Then suddenly it delivers a 16% drop in Q1 2026! Pressure from value focused Chinese carmakers has affected sales. 

Dacia's market share in its home market of Romania have dropped from 29% share in 2025 to just 18% in Q1 2026 which is big. The home market is very important to Dacia.

So is this volume reduction a realignment of volume for the brand or simply a short term hiccup? In a world of indulgence and excess, I like that a no frills, budget brand can survive and prosper. The questionably achieved advantage that Chinese brands have may put pay to that.

Data & photo source: Renault Group. 

Alpine Brand Deliveries: 2025-26 (Q1)

Renault has resurrected the Alpine brand designed to lift Renault's image as sporty and fun. It seems to be working. From the A110 coupé, the A290 electric hot hatch to the new A390 electric crossover. 

Q1 deliveries were up 55% on 2025. Of those, the A290 reached 2,452 units (75% of the total). The A110 545 sales (17%) and the new A390 249 (8%).

Alpine has avoided the outright two seater convertible sports car that is currently not particularly in favour. That said, the A110 is a two seater sports car but with a hard top which makes it a coupé. Does that make a difference? Not sure it does. 

Data & photo source: Renault Group (A290 & A390 shown).

Renault Brand Car/LCV Deliveries: 2025-26 (Q1)

Renault brand sales are cruising along, up 2% for Q1. Not having a presence in China helps with that as foreign brands are increasingly marginalised there. 

The Clio is the leading model with 77,900 YTD, up 5%. The new R4 and R5 models are going well too. 

Data & photo source: Renault Group (Clio & R4).

Regional. This includes all brands in the Renault Group. In this setting deliveries are down 3%. Europe has 71% share and it being down 4% was the reason for the drop. Still, in these challenging times, that seems a decent result as many others are doing much worse than that. 

EAME (Eurasia, Africa & the Middle East) broke even with Asia/Pacific up 4%. I don't know what countries are covered by 'Others'. 

Albania Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Mar)

Sometimes things just don't add up, yet it's true. The Albanian car market in 2026 is unprecedented in an extreme way but more on that in a moment. Most new cars sold here are not through Albanian dealers but imported through non-official channels rather than traditional local dealership networks.

Hyundai was the leading brand for 2020 and 2021, then VW took over for three years. BYD's first full year in Albania was in 2024, managing 5th place with 7% market share. 

In 2025, it rocketed to first place with 34% share and so far this year has over 60% of the registrations.  

It's hard to understand how that can happen in what is, by my understanding, an open market. Chinese penetration is now overwhelming and growing. Legacy car brands are for the most part getting battered. 

Data source: Dpshtrr. Photos: BYD. 

Nissan Global Deliveries : 2024-26 (Q1)

Deliveries: They were -1% in 2024, -4% in 2005 and for Q1 2026 -5%. That means two years of quarterly decreases but none of them large. 

Production: They have been -9% in 2024, -6% in 2025 and -6% in Q1 2026. As deliveries are consistently higher than production, I assume Renault and Mitsubishi produce some of their vehicles.

Data & Photo source: Nissan (Leaf, Juke EV & Qashqai).

Regional Production: The U.S. and Japan are the largest producers for Nissan in Q1, 2026. mexico has dropped to 18% of the total and China 17%. The U.K. is up to 12%. 78% of the total manufacturing is made outside of Japan. 

Regional Sales: They are down 5% with 84% outside of Japan. North America accounted for 41% of the total deliveries. China is down to 16% and while Europe is up to 12%, that surely has potential for improvement. 

Mazda Global Deliveries : 2025-26 (Q1)

Deliveries were down 10% for the first quarter, the fourth consecutive quarter of decrease. With the proliferation of Chinese brands aggressively seeking customers, it's hardly surprising. Mazda do not offer a meaningful sales breakdown by model.

Data & photo source: Mazda.

As for regions, all bar Europe were down. China is now barely of any relevance, such has been the decline there. With 'Others' now making up over half the volume, adding some more regional breakdowns might be a logical step forward.

Xiaomi Global Deliveries : 2025-26 (Q1)

Xiaomi is laid back when it comes to revealing sales data. It seems 80,000 units is an accepted volume for Q1 and with no official word, that is it. It's just 5% up on the corresponding period of 2025. 

The target for 2026 is an ambitious 550,000 units, or in excess of 52,000 per month from here to December. There are refreshed models arriving soon so one could expect an uplift then. 

The market is conjested and competition fierce so so few car manufacturers are expecting an increase in 2026.

Deliveries increase through the year for Chinese manufacturers, so while its target looks overly optimistic, it's achievable. 

Data source: Xiaomi.

Indonesia Vehicle Sales : 2026 (Jan-Mar)

Registrations in Indonesia were down 13% in March and up half a percent YTD. Toyota and subsidiary Daihatsu are not far off commanding half of the market. Chinese brands have arrived in a feeding frenzy but seem to be unable to have much impact on the better selling Japanese brands. At present, they seem to be canabalising sales off each other. 

It never ceases to amaze me how in Asia, car pictures on company websites are so bland or downright cheesy. Do people actually like them? We have here the Toyota Innova (above) and Daihatsu Sirion (below). 

Data source: Gaikindo.