Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar and Kia have more than doubled their sales during what has been the best three years on record for the new vehicle sector in New Zealand.

Toyota once again lead total new vehicle sales last year, selling 26,785 vehicles or 18 per cent of the new car market during 2016. Ford sold 16,763 vehicles during the year, followed by General Motors Holden (14,337).

Mazda's (11,219) increasing presence on New Zealand roads continued and it finished 2016 in fourth, ahead of Mitsubishi (9251), Nissan (8626) and Hyundai (8376).

"The new vehicle market for 2016 performed significantly beyond expectations and along the way exceeded every previous record", said David Crawford, chief executive officer of the Motor Industry Association.

146,753 new vehicles were registered in 2016, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared with 2015. It was the third year in a row new registrations have increased.

SUV sales overtook sedans, hatchbacks and other passenger models during 2016.

"SUV's accounted for 36 per cent of the market (52,913 units) compared to 35 per cent for all other passenger vehicles (51,552) and 29 per cent for commercial vehicles." said Crawford.

Passenger vehicles: Toyota holds top spot in the passenger segment, accounting for 17 per cent (17,872) of the market. Holden (10,374), Mazda (9405), Ford (7462) follow in the top four, but all three brands increased their sales numbers compared with 2015 figures. During the year Hyundai (7318) fell fourth to fifth with the brand's final sales figures slightly down on 2015 (7667).

Commercial vehicles: Final figures for 2016 highlighted the success of the Ford Ranger. Year to date, Ranger sales (8478) accounted for 19 per cent of the commercial market, leading the Toyota Hilux (6187), Holden Colorado (3739), Mitsubishi Triton (3182) and Nissan Nirvana (3093) as the top sellers.

Luxury: The luxury market was dominated by the top three German car-makers. Mercedes-Benz came out on top for the year with 2480 units, ahead of BMW (1860) and Audi (1829). The three marques all claimed a 2 per cent share of the passenger car market.

Model: The Ford Ranger took outright model honours, with 8478 registrations it was comfortably the year's top selling new vehicle model. The Toyota Corolla (6274), Hilux (6187), Holden Colorado (3739) and Toyota Rav 4 (3612) completed the top five models for last year.