EV sales ease as Clean Car Discount bounce fades

Tesla's Model 3. Photo / Tesla

EVs soared to account for one in five sales in the wake a new tax perk designed to spruce sales - but have now fallen back to just over one in 10.

Vehicles with some form of electrification accounted for 11 per cent of NZ's new-car market in January, according to figures MIA figures.

That was up on EV's 8 per cent share in January 2021, but well off September when electrified vehicles accounted for 21 per cent of new-car sales as the Government's Clean Car Discount, which allows for a rebate of up to $8625 for a new EV, kicked in, and pent-up demand generated by the long-anticipated subsidy was unleashed.

By November, sales of EVs were still strong, but had slipped to 17 per cent of the new-car market.

Similarly, while Tesla's Model 3 was the top-selling vehicle overall in September, with 1066 sales, dethroning Toyota's Hilux (648), the Model 3 did not make the top 10 for January (see foot of story).

While sales of Tesla's Model 3 (easily its most affordable model) remained well above their 2020-level for the remainder of 2021 (with 96 sales in October, 408 in November and 619 in December) they never got close to the high water market set in September.

In the EV market for January, there were 470 battery electric vehicles (BEVs sold), 208 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and 828 hybrids among the overall total of 13,514 registrations: an 11.2 per cent share.

NZ's top-selling new vehicles for January 2021.

The top BEVs were the Hyundai Kona Electric (78), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (59) and the BMW i brand, which covers the entire range including i3 and the new i4 coupe and iX SUV (42).

Burgeoning new brand MG charged to the top of PHEV sales with the HS (53), followed by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (46) and Kia Sorento (20).

The top hybrid was the Honda Jazz (149), followed by Toyota's Yaris (87) and RAV4 (77).

The higher-end EV market could be in for a pep-up in 2022 with Giltrap introducing the well-regarded Polestar 2 - made by Volvo spin-off Polestar.

Today also saw EVs take another step toward the mainstream as Aston Martin said it will stop making pure combustion vehicles by 2026.

• Mitsubishi Outlander (1188)

• Mitsubishi Triton (1118)

• Ford Ranger (953)

• Toyota Hilux (507)

• Nissan Navara (384)

• Hyundai Kona (304)

• MG ZS (302)

• Mitsubishi ASX (298)

• Kia Sportage (288)

• Kia Seltos (268)