Tesla's 2025 Model Y 'Juniper'.
The new vehicle market continued its modest recovery in March, with new registrations up 2.6% to 11,920.
After being laid low through 2024 – the year that saw the loss of the Clean Car Discount and the introduction of Road User Charges for light electric vehicles – EV sales continued their 2025 perk-up, too.
There were 639 new fully-electric vehicles registered in March (594 of them light passenger vehicles), a 22% increase on March last year.
And electric vehicles continued their push into a whole new segment too, thanks to the third strong month of sales for BYD’s Shark 6 double cab ute, a plug in hybrid that first went on sale in the new year.
Year-to-date passenger EV sales now sit at 1704 vs 1082 at this point in 2024, with electric vehicles rising from 5.0% to 7.3% of the market (if still a far cry from the 12.6% in the Clean Car Discount-driven 2023).
“Tesla registration numbers are well down compared to prior years,” Motor Industry Association chief executive Aimee Wiley told the Herald.
“March 2025 registrations were down 37.2% compared to March 2024 and, on a 2025 year-to-date basis, Tesla is down 30.2% compared to the same time last year.”
Overall year-to-date pure EV sales, at 1823, are up 49% on this point in 2024 (1223), even if still tracking below the levels of 2023 Clean Car Discount boom.
In March last year, Tesla’s mainstay Model Y topped the charts 74 sales and 244 year-to-date..
This March, the Model Y managed only 69 sales and 145 year-to-date, putting it in third place.
March 2025 EV sales were topped by Tesla’s Model 3 – but in what is now a much more diffuse market, thanks in part to the arrival of a raft of keenly-priced Chinese brands – it managed to gain the number one slot with just 79 sales, 40% lower than the 134 it registered in March 2024.
New Zealand, like several countries, has seen attacks on Teslas amid a broader social media backlash over Tesla chief executive Elon Musk’s role as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief at DOGE – at least among the green-leaning demographic that’s traditionally been Tesla-friendly.
In a market filing this morning, Tesla said its worldwide sales fell 13% to 336,681 for the first three months of this year.
Part of the fall could have been Musk’s cratering popularity with buyers on the left.
Some buyers would have kept their wallets in their pockets as they wait for the 2025 refresh of the new Model Y (sometimes referred to by its Tesla development codename - Juniper).
But counterbalancing that, Tesla was offering discounts of around $10,000 on run-out Model Y inventory during March.
Tesla has only just started to ramp up production. Stock of the new Model Y is not expected until May or June, and buyers sitting on the sidelines, or only just ordering now, will be aware that it’s more than $5000 cheaper than limited supplies of a special, limited-edition launch model.
Another factor is that in March 2024, EVs had yet to lose their Road User Charges exemption.
“We’re seeing a notable shift in the light commercial segment, with strong early adoption of new, lower-emission offerings,” the MIA’s Wiley said.
“Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric light commercial vehicles accounted for 19.6% of registrations in March and 23% year-to-date.
“This signals a growing intention among businesses to diversify their fleets and explore practical alternatives that align with their emissions reduction goals and day-to-day operational needs.
An example of this new trend is the aforementioned BYD Shark 6, priced from $69,990, that combines a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol engine with a 29.6 kWh plug-in battery and electric motors.
The Shark 6 was fifth in light commercial sales with 169 registrations (and 539 sales year-to-date). BYD’s momentum notwithstanding, the segment remained dominated by the Ford Ranger (709 new registrations in March and 1787 year-to-date) and Toyota’s Hilux (669 in March and 1884 year-to-date).
Plug-in hybrids - which now face both fuel tax and road user tax - continued to struggle, with sales falling from 593 in March last year to 298, with the MG HS (42 new registrations) and the BYD Sealion 6 (30) leading the dwindled pack.
Hybrids grew from 2574 sales in March 2024 to 3009 with another near all-Toyota top 5 (only broken by Honda’s HR-V at 4).
Speaking after Trump’s “Liberation Day” speech, Wiley said, “I am not expecting any NZ market disruption or vehicle pricing changes as a result of tariffs.”
There was limited scope for tit-for-tat.
“Supply of NZ-new vehicles from the US only make up approximately 3% of our vehicle imports on an annual basis,” Wiley said.
“In a highly competitive and price-sensitive automotive market such as NZ and Australia, also, vehicle pricing needs to remain competitive to maintain a market share. Because 97% of our vehicles will not be impacted by tariffs, the current price risk for our market is low.
“I expect that OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and their distributors with product impacted – US makes and models – will most likely be considering country of origin supply changes to overcome tariff impacts and associated volume risks.”
Wiley said some car parts might get more expensive if highly specialised suppliers overseas were impacted by tariffs.
But on the upside, US tariffs could see Chinese carmakers look to sell more vehicles in other markets including New Zealand, increasing price competition.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
Greg Flynn is the CEO of Flynn Group, one of the largest franchise operators globally.