Electrified passenger registrations hit record 38% share in June

Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles take 38.2% of new passenger registrations in June 2026, the highest electrified share NZ Transport Agency data records for any June and more than double the 18.4% of a year ago. The commercial segment moves the other way over the same month, held back by a single dominant model.

New electrified passenger registrations reach 3,806, up 151% on June 2025. Battery-electric vehicles make up 2,610 of that, up 155%, with plug-in hybrids adding 1,196, up 143%. Battery-electric vehicles alone now hold 26.2% of the new passenger market and plug-in hybrids a further 12%.

Battery-electric leaders

Tesla leads the battery-electric market on 936 registrations, more than double its year-ago total. BYD is second on 473, ahead of Kia on 263, Jaecoo on 227 and MG on 209.

The model order follows suit. The Tesla Model Y is the clear best seller on 908, well ahead of the field. The Jaecoo J5 is next on 227, then the BYD Atto 3 on 195, the Kia EV3 on 180 and the BYD Atto 2 on 162.

Plug-in hybrid leaders

Toyota tops the plug-in hybrid market on 544, all of them RAV4, which takes nearly half of all new plug-in hybrid registrations for the month. That figure is plug-in only and does not include the 277 conventional RAV4 hybrids registered in June. GWM is second on 165, led by the Haval H6, then Chery on 89, BYD on 61 and Geely on 50.

Among plug-in models the RAV4 leads on 544, followed by the GWM Haval H6 on 132, the Chery Tiggo 7 on 57, the Geely Starray EM-i on 50 and the Jaecoo J7 on 37.

BYD is the one major brand moving backwards in plug-in hybrids, down to 61 from 173 a year ago as the Sealion 6 gives way to its growing battery-electric range. Its battery-electric tally rises to 473 over the same period.

Used market

The used import channel is far smaller but growing at a similar pace. Used electrified passenger registrations reach 459, up 150% year on year, made up of 385 battery-electric and 74 plug-in hybrid. The Nissan Leaf remains the backbone of the used market on 232, giving Nissan 61% of the used battery-electric segment, while the Mitsubishi Outlander leads used plug-in hybrids on 47.

Commercials buck the trend

Electrified commercials run against the passenger market in June. Electrified registrations of new goods vans, trucks and utilities fall 29% to 331, taking 10.2% of the commercial market, down from 13.7% a year ago. The drop sits entirely with plug-in hybrids, down 45% to 236, while battery-electric commercials more than double to 95.

The cause is one vehicle. The BYD Shark 6 plug-in ute takes 185, down from 410 a year earlier, and that decline alone outweighs the gains made elsewhere. Below it the field is widening, with the Farizon V7E electric van on 50, the GWM Cannon plug-in ute on 34, the Ford Ranger plug-in ute on 17, the Kia PV5 electric van on 16 and the Ford Transit electric van on 15. A year ago the segment was almost entirely Shark 6.

The longer view

June 2026 stands out across six years of data. The new electrified passenger share has run 3.7% in 2021, 13.5% in 2022, 22.6% in 2023, 12.2% in 2024 and 18.4% in 2025 before reaching 38.2% this year. The 2023 peak and 2024 fall coincide with the Clean Car Discount, which ended on 31 December 2023, and road user charges arriving on electric vehicles from April 2024. June 2026 sets a record share with no purchase subsidy in place.

Year to date, new electrified passenger registrations total 14,058, up 146% on the same period in 2025, for a 27.3% share of the market over the six months to June. Electrified commercials add 1,669 year to date, up 24%.