February EV sales slow

February new vehicle registrations – including EVs – have slumped.

So says Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Aimee Wiley, generally backed by many EV dealers some of whom say secondhand EV sales have also been quiet.

Wiley says there’s weak demand for light passenger vehicles which, at 5951 units is the lowest February result since 2013. 

“Conversely, heavy commercial registrations at 660 units are the best February result yet.”  

About 430 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered last month for a 4.4% share of the market, 164 plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) for a 1.7% share, 1838 hybrids (19% share) and 7202 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles (74.5% share), says MIA, adding that February 2023 registrations were significantly impacted due to Cyclone Gabrielle and that adjusting for this February 2024 is 22.7% lower than February 2022, and the lowest February result since 2015, and 15.6% lower than the average of the prior eight years for February registrations.

The top five new BEVs last month were the Tesla Model Y (145 units), BYD Atto 3 (23 units), Ford Mustang Mach-E (20 units), Kia EV6 (17 units) and Audi e-tron GT (14 units).

Top new PHEV models included the Mitsubishi Outlander (42 units), Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (22 units), Mini Countryman (16 units), Porsche Cayenne (12 units) and Land Rover Defender (eight units), while the top hybrids were the Toyota RAV4 (444 units), Toyota Highlander (154 units), Toyota Corolla Cross (131 units), Toyota Corolla (94 units) and Toyota Yaris Cross (83 units).

EV dealers are hoping for an improvement in coming months, some saying the Clean Car Discount’s demise and tougher economic conditions may have affected February’s result, although early months of the new year have traditionally been slow for vehicle dealerships.

Many dealers are also waiting to see the impact of the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport, due to take effect by July 2024.