Toyota remained the biggest seller of passenger cars in July/XINHUA-File

New passenger car sales totalled 6,208 in July, up 27.2 percent from July last year, while new commercial vehicle sales were 2,153, up 17.9 percent, according to the MIA.

In the first seven months this year, total new car sales were up 19.5 percent, to 58,210 vehicles, from the same time last year.

The figures also showed that new passenger car sales are on track to exceed sales of imported second-hand cars this year for the first time since 1993, with 44,353 new passenger cars sold in the year to July compared with 44,299 used imports.

“Business and private buyers are recognizing the full benefits of a New Zealand new vehicle with their outstanding value, world class life and injury saving safety benefits and improving fuel economy,” MIA chief executive officer Perry Kerr said in a statement.

“The new vehicle industry continues to outperform other sectors of the economy and has well and truly shaken off all of the supply problems they faced during 2011.”

Toyota remained the biggest seller of passenger cars in July with 1,098 registrations, followed by Holden with 735 and Ford in third with 628, and was also the leader in commercial vehicle sales, followed by Ford with 376 and Nissan 218.

China’s Great Wall continued to make inroads into the New Zealand commercial vehicle market, with 490 sales in the year to date, exceeding its 2011 full-year total of 412.

Great Wall ranked eighth in commercial vehicle sales with 3.54 percent of the market in the year to date, up from 11th place for the whole of 2011 with 2 percent of the market.

Its rise in the rankings saw it overtake Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Isuzu.