New Zealand vehicle sales are recovering from the downturn caused by Japan's earthquake and tsunami, with July registrations at 6705, up 11.8 per cent on July last year.
Registration of new passenger cars rose 9.7 per cent and light commercials by 17.7 per cent. Toyota was among the worst hit by Japan's disasters, putting its sales briefly in freefall before turning the corner last month. It retained market share leadership with 15.3 per cent for July - down from 23.6 per cent in January. Sales and operations general manager Steve Prangnell said: "We are still in a tight supply situation with the Corolla hatch, Yaris and most SUVs."
But he said Toyota's factories were running above 100 per cent capacity to catch up. Toyota NZ had halted its usual marketing campaigns and pulled back on discounting to slow demand.
Prangnell said brand strength was what kept Toyota's nose above water. "The strength of your brand is the strongest contributory factor [to sales], then price, then marketing offers." Toyota's Hilux ute was New Zealand's second-biggest seller in July, despite being "thousands of dollars more expensive than any other brand".
Big movers in July were Kia, VW and Suzuki - up 57 per cent to 524 after an Alto promotion and growing demand for the Swift, which topped July's model charts. However, Suzuki is short of SUV supplies, its factories working short weeks since the power station near its Sagara plant shut for tsunami protection measures.
