{"id":558869,"date":"2026-08-04T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558869\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:32:10","slug":"iran-conflict-eases-but-new-zealand-electric-vehicle-sales-continue-to-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/558869\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran conflict eases but New Zealand electric vehicle sales continue to boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Year-to-date, battery electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles represented 28.5% of new registrations, more than double the 12.8% share at this point last year.<\/p>\n

On track for new sales record<\/p>\n

The figures put electric vehicle sales on track for a new annual high in market share.<\/p>\n

EV sales surged to just over 20% of the market in 2023 at the height of the clean car discount, which offered a rebate of up to $8265 on a new EV, before halving in 2024 as the rebate was axed and road user charges were introduced.<\/p>\n

Telsa leads the pack<\/p>\n

Tesla\u2019s well-reviewed, refreshed Model Y was again the top-selling EV. Elon Musk\u2019s company recorded a bump in revenue worldwide in the June quarter, but investors were disappointed at a profit miss and delays to its robotaxi rollout and other projects, which meant its stock, down 26.5% for the year, continued to slump.<\/p>\n

Along with SpaceX\u2019s dive from a post-IPO closing high of US$201.80 (about $344) to a recent US$104.83, Musk has lost his world\u2019s-first-trillionaire status and is now worth \u201conly\u201d US$690 million, according to Forbes\u2019 real-time wealth tracker.<\/p>\n

Zeekr, brought into New Zealand to bolster Giltrap Group\u2019s expanding EV line-up, had the second best-selling model in July.<\/p>\n

Commercial vehicle slump<\/p>\n

\u201cThe July result reflects a resilient market, but with increasingly divergent performance across vehicle segments,\u201d MIA chief executive Aimee Wiley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrong passenger vehicle registrations offset a significant decline in commercial vehicle registrations during the month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Light commercial registrations fell by 28.2% from a year ago and heavy commercial registrations were 20.9% lower. <\/p>\n

EVs only have a marginal share in the heavier vehicle categories.<\/p>\n

Wiley is cautiously optimistic about the overall market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe broader economic outlook is gradually improving, creating a more supportive foundation for new vehicle demand over time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLower fuel cost pressures and a more moderate interest rate outlook are expected to improve affordability and support household purchasing and business investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top-selling pure EVs in NZ in July<\/p>\n

Tesla Model Y: 403Zeekr 7X: 151BYD Atto 3: 131Geely EX5: 111BYD Sealion 7: 99<\/p>\n

Top-selling plug-in hybrids <\/p>\n

Toyota RAV4: 515GWM Haval H6: 105BYD Sealion 6: 131BYD Sealion 8: 93BYD Sealion 5: 49<\/p>\n

Top-sellers overall<\/p>\n

Ford Ranger: 738 (July 2025: 837)Toyota RAV4: 699 (600)Toyota Hilux: 608 (868)Tesla Model Y: 403 (103)Mitsubishi Triton: 335 (276)<\/p>\n

Source \/ MIA<\/p>\n

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald\u2019s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Year-to-date, battery electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles represented 28.5% of new registrations, more than double the 12.8%…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[274887,16424,3013,6150,803,2837,60827,14037,202724,16609,5832,130,117,111,43,139,69,136164,56719,667,131,1529,61,6845,80],"class_list":["post-558869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accounted","tag-boom","tag-but","tag-conflict","tag-continue","tag-during","tag-eases","tag-electric","tag-hybrids","tag-iran","tag-july","tag-more","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plugin","tag-pure","tag-sales","tag-than","tag-three","tag-to","tag-vehicle","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558869","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=558869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}