KEY POINTS:
- Top-selling passenger cars of 2025: 1st: Toyota RAV4 – 2nd: Mitsubishi ASX – 3rd: Kia Seltos.
- Top-selling EVs of 2025: 1st: Polestar 2 – 2nd: Tesla Model Y – 3rd: BYD Atto 3.
- Top-selling passenger car brands of 2025: 1st: Toyota – 2nd: Mitsubishi – 3rd: Kia.
Top Selling Cars in New Zealand
According to the most recent government statistics, from 2013 to 2023, the number of cars, utes and motorbikes on our roads grew by a third, from around 3.4m to 4.5m.
And over the past few years, our appetite for new automobiles has remained strong:
- 2021: 112,008 new cars
- 2022: 116,334 new cars
- 2023: 110,488 new cars
- 2024: 87,435 new cars
However, last year, as you can see from the above figures, due to the tighter economic climate, cars sales were down considerably, by around 21%.
It’s worth noting that commercial vehicle sales, including ever-popular ute models such as the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton and the Nissan Navara, were up, increasing 7.5% from 38,518 sales in 2023, to 41,393 in 2024. Although these number are down on the 48,479 new commercial vehicle registrations in 2022.
So, how are car sales progressing so far in 2025? Let’s take a look.
In this article
→Related article: Top Selling Utes in New Zealand
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Top 10 selling car models New Zealand
The top five best-selling cars in 2022 and 2023 were the same: the RAV4, Outlander, Model Y, Swift and Eclipse Cross.
However, last year, there was a bit of a shake-up at the top. The Eclipse Cross was usurped by its little brother, the ASX, and the Model Y dropped out of the top 10 best-sellers altogether.
Just 826 new Tesla Model Ys hit our roads last year. That’s a drop of 79% on the Model Y’s sales numbers (3936) over 2023. Did the end of the Clean Car Discount, the introduction of road user charges for EV owners and increased competition in the EV market pull the plug on Tesla sales? It certainly looks like it!
| Top Selling Cars 2024 | Top Selling Cars May 2025 | Top Selling Cars 2025 |
| 1 Toyota RAV4 (10,533) | 1 Toyota RAV4 (666) | 1 Toyota RAV4 (3806) |
| 2 Mitsubishi ASX (3763) | 2 Mitsubishi ASX (457) | 2 Mitsubishi ASX (1717) |
| 3 Mitsubishi Outlander (3248) | 3 Ford Everest (277) | 3 Kia Seltos (1434) |
| 4 Kia Seltos (3140) | 4 Kia Seltos (274) | 4 Mitsubishi Outlander (1413) |
| 5 Suzuki Swift (2704) | 5 Mitsubishi Outlander (167) | 5 Suzuki Swift (914) |
| 6 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (2394) | 6 MG ZS (162) | 6 Ford Everest (863) |
| 7 Ford Everest (2341) | 7 Suzuki Swift (160) | 7 MG ZS (857) |
| 8 Toyota Corolla (1854) | 8 Hyundai Kona (145) | 8 Mazda CX-5 (661) |
| 9 Toyota Yaris Cross (1841) | 9 GWM Haval H6 (140) | 9 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (657) |
| 10 Kia Sportage (1730) | 10 Mazda CX-5 (123) | 10 Kia Stonic (648) |
Top 10 selling electric car models New Zealand
In 2022, EV and hybrid passenger vehicles accounted for just over a third of all new car registrations. And in 2023 that percentage increased to 41%. Overall, pure EV models increased from a 10% market share in 2022 to 14.5% in 2023.
However, it’s clear the end of the EV subsidies has had a big effect. While hybrid sales remain strong, new EV numbers have plummeted. Just 5% of vehicles sold last year were EVs. And it’s important to note that of the 34,635 hybrid cars registered in NZ last year, just 10% were plug-in hybrids, this compares to 23% across the same period in 2023, which probably reflects the fact that plug-ins are now subject to road user charges.
So far this year, petrol-hybrid sales have increased their market share, while EV sales are up slightly and plug-in hybrids have continued their decline in popularity:
| Sales by Engine Type 2025 |
| 55% Petrol/Diesel |
| 34% Petrol Hybrid |
| 7% EV |
| 4% Plug-in Hybrid |
Top selling totally electric vehicle models
Over 2024, EV sales were down 70% on 2023’s numbers: 6341 new EVs were registered last year, compared to 21,032 during 2023. However, despite many new models breaking into the top-seller list, Tesla remained the country’s most popular EV.
However, so far this year, Tesla has lost its crown as the No.1 EV marque in NZ. Its market share has slipped to 14% – putting it in equal second place with Polestar, behind BYD (16%) – on the back of sales that are down around a third (31%).
Although it’s worth noting that BYD does have four car models – the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal and Sealion – compared to Tesla’s two: Model 3 and Model Y. And it will be interesting to see how Tesla’s new and improved Model Y fares over the second half of the year, as the vehicles arrive in the country.
| Top Selling EVs 2024 | Top Selling EVs May 2025 | Top Selling EVs 2025 |
| 1 Tesla Model Y (826) | 1 Polestar 2 (86) | 1 Polestar 2 (356) |
| 2 Tesla Model 3 (461) | 2 Tesla Model Y (50) | 2 Tesla Model Y (229) |
| 3 Ford Mustang Mach-E (452) | 3 BMW i Series (36) | 3 BYD Atto 3 (200) |
| 4 BYD Atto 3 (383) | 4 Kia EV3 (30) | 4 Tesla Model 3 (130) |
| 5 Nissan Leaf (308) | 5 Kia EV5 (16) | 5 BYD Dolphin (117) |
| 6 Volkswagen ID.4 (275) | 6 Geely EX5 (15) | 6 BMW i Series (106) |
| 7 MG4 (256) | 7 BYD Sealion 7 | Mini Aceman (14) | 7 Kia EV5 (104) |
| 8 Volkswagen ID.5 (232) | 8 BYD Atto 3 | Mini Countryman (13) | 8 Kia EV3 (81) |
| 9 Kia EV9 (197) | 9 Audi Q4 E-Tron (12) | 9 Toyota BZ4X (72) |
| 10 Polestar 2 (188) | 10 Leapmotor C10 (11) | 10 BMW X1 (66) |
→Related article: Best Hybrid Cars in New Zealand
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New Zealand’s favourite passenger car brands
Japanese brands have long been the top selling cars in NZ, especially if you also count commercial vehicles. Between them, Toyota and Mitsubishi make up a third of the market.
However, while Japanese brands hold a large share of the overall market, Korea’s Kia and Hyundai are also big players in the passenger sector. But it’s the upstart brands of GWM and MG that have made the biggest inroads into the top car charts over the past two years, displacing EV brands BYD and Tesla in the process.
New passenger car/SUV registrations by brand, no. sales and market share %:
| Top Selling Brands 2024 | Top Selling Brands May 2025 | Top Selling Brands 2025 |
| 1 Toyota 20,723 (24%) | 1 Toyota 1313 (19%) | 1 Toyota 7557 (21%) |
| 2 Mitsubishi 9916 (11%) | 2 Mitsubishi 749 (11%) | 2 Mitsubishi 3709 (10%) |
| 3 Kia 8683 (10%) | 3 Kia 612 (9%) | 3 Kia 3542 (10%) |
| 4 Suzuki 5198 (6%) | 4 Ford 393 (6%) | 4 Suzuki 1962 (5%) |
| 5 Ford 4664 (5%) | 5 MG 341 (5%) | 5 MG 1798 (5%) |
| 6 Mazda 3731 (4%) | 6 Suzuki 335 (5%) | 6 Mazda 1650 (5%) |
| 7 Hyundai 3641 (4%) | 7 Mazda 319 (5%) | 7 Honda 1550 (4%) |
| 8 Honda 3176 (4%) | 8 Hyundai 318 (5%) | 8 Ford 1477 (4%) |
| 9 MG 3067 (4%) | 9 GWM 254 (4%) | 9 Hyundai 1264 (3%) |
| 10 GWM 2636 (3%) | 10 Honda 211 (3%) | 10 GWM 1239 (3%) |
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About the author of this page
Bruce Pitchers is Canstar NZ’s Content Manager. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the Driven, Stuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines and newspapers, including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery book 5 Minute Murder.
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