![\"Tesla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260323_120702.jpg\")
\nDespite boost in plug-in market share, Tesla Model Y the only actual EV in the top 5 for May.<\/p>\n
Ute sales drop, passenger cars rise in May.
\nPlug-in models accounted for nearly 30% of sales.
\nDespite all that, Ranger and Hilux still rule the sales charts.<\/p>\n
Light passenger vehicles (a segment dominated by SUVs) were the key drivers behind a much healthier May for the New Zealand new-car industry.<\/p>\n
\nDespite boost in plug-in market share, Tesla Model Y the only actual EV in the top 5 for May.<\/p>\n
While ute\/van registrations dropped for the month compared to April, light-vehicle sales rose 20.1%, helping the overall market to 11,294 units. Year-to-date registrations stand at 57,971, up 12.4% on the same period last year.<\/p>\n
While utes overall are experiencing muted demand (bring on the Fieldays specials?), the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux remained the top-selling individual vehicles overall in May, with 809 and 776 registrations respectively. They were followed by the Toyota RAV4 (531), Tesla Model Y (415) and Ford Everest (340).<\/p>\n
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Nonetheless, MIA chief executive Aimee Wiley says May showed a change in the composition of demand: \u201cThe strongest movement is in the light passenger market, where more buyers are choosing battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is now more than a one-month movement, with plug-in registrations remaining elevated across March, April and May. Elevated fuel prices and uncertainty about future fuel costs are relevant to household and business purchasing decisions, but registration data alone cannot isolate a single cause.\u201d<\/p>\n The fuel situation is “now part of the purchasing environment,” says the MIA.<\/p>\n Against that background, it says stronger battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) registrations appear consistent with buyers placing greater weight on operating costs and exposure to fuel price volatility.<\/p>\n BEV registrations reached 1613 in May, compared with 526 in May 2025. Plug-in hybrid registrations reached 1043 units (350 last year).\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, BEV and PHEV vehicles accounted for 23.5% of total industry registrations in May, up from 8.6% in May 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n But isolating light passenger vehicles, BEV and PHEV vehicles accounted for 29.6% of registrations in May, compared with 10.9% in May 2025, 26.2% in April 2026 and 33.6% in March 2026.<\/p>\n Year to date, BEV and PHEV vehicles together account for 20.1% of total industry registrations, compared to 9.9% over the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) volumes remain comparatively stable. This suggests the current movement is concentrated in plug-in vehicles rather than being a general lift across all electrified powertrains.\u00a0<\/p>\n NZ’S TOP 10 NEW VEHICLES FOR 2026
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<\/p>\n![\"Fprd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ranger-wolftrak-19.jpg\")
\nUtes sales slipping, but Ranger is still the number one vehicle overall… by miles.<\/p>\n
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Ford\u00a0Ranger<\/a> (4043)
Toyota\u00a0Hilux<\/a> (3076)
Toyota RAV4<\/a> (2399)
Mitsubishi ASX (1534)
Mitsubishi Triton<\/a> (1497)
Mitsubishi Outlander<\/a> (1315)
Nissan Navara<\/a> (1275)
Toyota Hiace (1258)
Ford Everest<\/a> (1200)
Toyota Corolla Cross<\/a> (1158)
Hyundai Tucson<\/a> (1153)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ute sales drop, passenger cars rise in May. Plug-in models accounted for nearly 30% of sales. Despite all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6190,138,18930,6210,14426,9476,45702,111,43,139,69,25367,667,5536,1733],"class_list":["post-460088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-bev","tag-business","tag-ev","tag-ford","tag-hev","tag-hybrid","tag-mitsubishi","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phev","tag-sales","tag-tesla","tag-toyota"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}