The Mitsubishi Triton charged ahead of its New Zealand rivals with 2266 registrations in March 2022 relegating the regular best-selling Ford Ranger to second place with 1934 registrations and the Toyota Hilux in third place with 1580 registrations.
The New Zealand Governments Clean Car Standard came into force on April 1, which saw a March registration frenzy of all new and freshly imported light commercial and passenger vehicles which emit more than 192gm of CO2, and therefore are subject to a fee of up to $5250 under the new legislation.
The only other Ute to make it into the top 10 models for the month in the New Zealand sales charts was the Isuzu D-Max; fifth with 706 registrations. The Nissan Navara slumped from its usual spot in the top five to 12th, with 280 registrations. The Navara has the smallest Clean Car fee of any Ute in class.
The best-selling passenger vehicle of the month was the Tesla Model 3 in fourth overall, with 949 registrations. Behind the D-Max, the Mitsubishi Outlander (625), Toyota RAV4 (496), Mazda CX-5 (378), MG ZS (359), and Haval Jolion (301) completed the top 10.
The Model 3’s success comes in spite of the manufacturer lifting the nameplate’s price on two separate occasions during March. It’s believed that both prices came as a result of overseas inflation lifting the brand’s costs, and component supply shortages caused by the war in Ukraine.
Among the curious anomalys in the data from Waka Kotahi – New Zealand Transport Agency is the Land Rover Range Rover Sport making it into the passenger vehicle top 20 for March. More than 130 examples of the premium SUV were registered last month.
The same data indicates that 3566 Mitsubishis were registered in March, with Ford recording 2363 registrations and Toyota recording 2262 registrations. Mitsubishi’s data matches that of Waka Kotahi, although the brand labels its data “retail sales” as opposed to registrations.
“These results demonstrate a foot flat to the floor burst of sales activity to cross the end of financial year finishing line,” says Reece Congdon, MMNZ Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs.
Mitsubishi were one of the first brands to announce it had specifically ordered a model (the Triton) in bulk in order to get vehicles registered before the Clean Car Discount levies came into play. The move appears to have paid dividends.
“We made a move to secure 5,000 Tritons for New Zealand and ute drivers have responded emphatically ahead of the introduction of the Clean Car Standard in April,” Congdon says.
“We already knew through responses to our online pre-ordering initiatives, and through increasing dealership enquiries, that more and more Kiwis are turning to Mitsubishi for value, aftersales support and all-round compatibility with their lifestyles.
Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand has more than 1500 orders across its Outlander and Eclipse plug-in hybrid variants. These are due for delivery in April, presumably with customers being able to claim corresponding Clean Car Discount rebates.
“Kiwis have embraced the Next Generation Outlander PHEV at levels not seen for a hybrid vehicle in New Zealand before,” says Congdon.
