The New Zealand passenger EV market has recently shown an improvement from a low point in February, with nearly 10% of passenger vehicles sold in March coming with a plugin. This brings the quarter’s average to about 6% plugin vehicles. Compare this to 2023 when NZ averaged a penetration rate of 27% for passenger cars only. When including all light vehicles entering the NZ fleet, the penetration drops to 4.7% when utes are included.
Is this the new normal for the New Zealand market? Only time will tell.
In March, pure petrol vehicles accounted for 48% of new vehicle sales, followed by HEVs at 35%, diesel at 8%, BEVs at 6%, and PHEVs at 3%. Out of approximately 7,500 total vehicles sold, the market was down significantly from February but similar to January. Many thanks to James at EVDB for providing access to the figures.
In Q1 of 2024, approximately 1100 new fully electric vehicles were registered, with the Toyota RAV4 hybrids and Ford Rangers also showing strong registrations. The market seems to be reflecting trends from 2021.
The top ten best selling battery electric vehicles in New Zealand in March 2024 were:
- Tesla Model 3 (125)
- Tesla Model Y (74)
- MG4 (42)
- VW ID.4 (28)
- BYD Dolphin (20)
- Seal (19)
- BMW iX (17)
- BMW i4 (13)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 (12)
- KGM Torres (12)
A standout mention goes to the KGM Torres, with 12 sales on debut. The Ford Mustang Mach-E dropped out of the top 10, and discussions around various EV models in the market are ongoing.
New Zealand is anticipating the launch of several new battery electric cars this year, further driving the growth of the electric car market.