KEY POINTS:
Smaller cars are growing in popularity as New Zealand motorists continue to buy new vehicles despite toughening economic times.
The Motor Industry Association said 6364 new cars were sold in March.
While that was down 6.3 per cent on March 2007, last month had two fewer selling days due to the early Easter, the association said.
New commercial vehicle sales were buoyant, with 2492 deliveries, a slight increase on March 2007.
For the first quarter of 2008, new car sales were 3.6 per cent ahead of the same period last year, while new commercial vehicle sales were up 8.8 per cent, the association said.
Chief executive Perry Kerr said some significant shifts in favour of smaller cars were showing up, but overall sales were still happening.
Toyota's market lead continued, with the surprise in March being Honda's second place in new car sales.
In the year to date, Corolla was stretched its lead over the Holden Commodore as the top selling individual model, with Suzuki Swift firmly established in third place.
In March, 481 Corollas were sold, 433 Swifts, and 317 Commodores.
Last year, Commodore was the most popular car with 6080 sales, followed by Corolla with 5081, while the Swift was fourth with 2456.
For the year to the end of March, Corolla led with 1710 sales, followed by Commodore with 1390 and Swift with 934.
The Ford Falcon, in third place last year with 3198 sales, has slipped to fourth place for the year so far with 530 sales.
- NZPA
