Electrified new passenger car share soars

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are almost at a 20% share of the new passenger car segment.

That’s according to figures which put BEVs at 11.6% share and PHEVs at 7.8% for March and April combined, as many people were registering car purchases early or late during the two months as the Clean Car scheme extended from April 1.

While ute sales dived in April (the MIA expects these to pick up again later to some degree), hybrid sales were boosted in April with some buyers delaying buying them for the rebate these vehicles now get under the Clean Car plan.

PHEV registrations also rose in April (1113 units) with the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (497 units), Mitsubishi Outlander (479 units) and MG HS (28 units) the top three sellers.

New car registrations at 9756 were the lowest in seven years and under half March’s 1,044 record.

The Polestar 2 (81 units) was one of the best-selling new EVs in April, ahead of the Nissan Leaf (71 units) and Hyundai Kona (70 units).

About 871 EVs were registered last month, while 1227 PHEVs were registered, according to Ministry of Transport data.

A slight drop in EV registrations is blamed by various media on no bulk shipment of Tesla Model 3s arriving in April.

Global issues are still impacting new car production and shipping, according to some industry commentators.

Automotive manufacturers continue to suffer from a shortage of microprocessor units which is impacting their ability to ramp up production to pre-pandemic levels, while COVID-19 continues to hit manufacturing and supply – reflected in extended delivery times for new vehicles.

Meanwhile, vehicle imports here are down 11.6% year-on-year with 20,237 arrivals hitting the wharves in April compared to 22,905 in the same period last year.

The total number of passenger vehicles was down 8.2% year-on-year with 16,889 arrivals in April compared to 18,410 the year prior, according to New Zealand Customs Motor Vehicle Statistics.