Looking back on the latest registration data, it seems that September was the fifth month in a row in which 2025 new passenger car sales exceeded the same month in 2024. As a result, passenger car sales for the year to the end of September had reached 70,643, up by 14% on the first nine months of 2024. Over recent months there has also been a lesser recovery in new light commercial vehicle sales (utes and vans), which are now up by 6% year-to-date on 2024.
In terms of what makes and models of vehicles are selling, much has remained the same, but some interesting things have changed.
On the life-as-usual front, Toyota continues to lead Mitsubishi, Kia and Suzuki as the most popular new passenger car make. However Mazda and MG now rank fifth and sixth, while Ford has dropped from fifth to seventh, and Hyundai and Honda have slipped from seventh and eighth to ninth and 10th, ahead of GWM.
Add in light commercials and Ford jumps to second behind Toyota, while Nissan slots in fifth, ahead of Suzuki and Mazda, but behind Mitsubishi and Kia. MG, BYD and Hyundai round out the top 10.
Considered by new car model, Toyota’s RAV4 leads the Mitsubishi ASX, Mitsubishi Outlander and Kia Selos on the charts, as was the case last year. Behind this bunch the Ford Everest and MG ZS have pushed ahead of the Suzuki Swift, while GWM’s Haval H6 is placed firmly in the top 10 for the first time.
With light commercial sales still soft, the Ford Ranger has slipped behind the RAV4 as New Zealand’s top-selling new vehicle and the Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton have also lost ground. On the other hand, the Nissan Navara has had a strong year, and BYD Shark 6 is a new entrant in the light commercial top 10.
Used import registrations have been behind 2024 in each of the first nine months of the year, though the gap last month was quite small compared to September 2024, which may be a positive sign.
Formula 1
Changing tack completely, I fear the messages now emanating from Red Bull about Liam Lawson’s F1 future are not nearly so mixed and unfortunately point to the Kiwi getting the chop from Racing Bulls for 2025.
I do hope I am proved wrong on this matter, but Yuki Tsunoda has definitely had his cause helped by obvious improvements in the Red Bull. And while he started behind Lawson’s Racing Bulls car on the grid in both the sprint and main race at Austin, the Japanese driver showed considerable determination to finish ahead of Lawson and actually score points in each of the two races.
With Red Bull due to confirm its line-ups after this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Lawson basically has a final chance of salvation. That requires, at the least, a solid points scoring finish, ideally ahead of both Tsunoda and Isak Hadjar this weekend. Fingers and toes crossed.
Setting aside patriotic priorities, right now we are witnessing one of the great comebacks in F1 history, as Max Verstappen hauls himself back into serious contention for a driver’s title that even he seemed to believe was beyond reach a few weeks ago.
Currently the previously imperious Oscar Piastri is driving like he’s in sniper’s alley with a large painted target on his back and — to be frank — his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris looks to be better equipped mentally to hold Verstappen at bay.
With just 40 points between the trio and with five races still to run this season, the title fight is truly on a knife’s edge. The only sure thing is that Verstappen will remain confident. Piastri, therefore, needs to urgently regain his, and should he fail to do so this weekend, McLaren may just have to make the hard call and throw its weight behind Norris in the final race for the driver’s crown.
