CLEAN CAR SALES: The top electrified vehicles of 2022

As the New Zealand new-vehicle market heads towards a massive change in April, overall sales hit another high in February.

While the year-to-date volume is down 1.2 per cent on 2021, 2022 marked the highest February sales on record (albeit up just 0.5 per cent on the same month last year).

Demand remains huge for Electric Vehicles (EVs) of all kinds as the Clean Car Discount for plug-in models continues, but that’s been tempered by the supply issues that are affecting the entire industry on the back of Covid-19 and component shortages. When the ships come in, back orders mean the sales clock up.

Case on point is Tesla. The Model 3 is the best-selling Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) by far year-to-date, with 352 units registered. Second is the Hyundai Kona Electric II (132), then another Hyundai: the new Ioniq 5 (85). Total BEV sales for 2022 are 1159.

The most popular Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) is the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, again by a huge margin with 274 registrations. Next comes the MG HS +EV (110), followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (31), which is at the end of its runout as an all-new model comes on stream.

The Honda Jazz e:HEV is a surprise first-timer at the top of the Hybrid Electrified Vehicle (HEV) charts, with 291 registrations. It’s followed by Toyota’s RAV4 (264) and Yaris (213).

Total sales of electrified vehicles YTD are 3602. Hybrids remain the most popular, despite not being eligible for Government Clean Car rebates until April, followed by BEVs and PHEVs.

In terms of the overall market, if we remove light commercials (given there are no electrified utes and only two EV vans), electrified vehicles account for 21 per cent of total sales YTD.

However, utes continue to dominate overall new-vehicle sales; partly because they always have, but also consumers may be fast-tracking their purchases (where supply permits) ahead of the Government’s Clean Car “feebate” programme kicking in on April 1. Most diesel utes will attract fines under the programme.

The top-selling vehicles overall YTD are the Ford Ranger (2063), Mitsubishi Triton (1973), Mitsubishi Outlander (1731), Toyota Hilux (1396) and Nissan Navara (685).

Mitsubishi still leads the market YTD with an 18 per cent share, ahead of Toyota (12 per cent_) and Ford (10 per cent).

“As anticipated with the pending changes to the Clean Car Discount scheme from 1 April, there has been a shift in sales patterns ahead of the full feebate coming into effect,” says Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford.

“Sales of passenger cars and SUVs has softened slightly, whereas sales of light commercial vehicles, most of which will pay a fee from 1 April onwards, have strengthened. This is expected and will likely to be repeated in March sales. Once the full Clean Car Discount (the feebate side of the scheme) comes into effect it is anticipated sales of light commercial vehicles will soften”.

NZ’S TOP 10 ELECTRIFIED VEHICLES FOR 2022

• Tesla Model 3 BEV (352)
• Honda Jazz e:HEV (291)
• Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV (274)
• Toyota RAV4 hybrid HEV (264)
• Toyota Yaris hybrid HEV (213)
• Toyota Corolla hybrid HEV (166)
• Hyundai Kona Electric II BEV (132)
• MG HS +EV PHEV (110)
• Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid HEV (97)
• Hyundai Ioniq 5 BEV (85)