Strong September overall

September was a boom month overall, with new vehicle registrations increasing 22% over September 2025 to 17,055 vehicles, and passenger vehicles up 27.9% to 13,243.

On a year-to-date basis, total registrations are now 11.4% ahead of 2025, led by passenger vehicles, which are up 16.7%.

EVs up, petrol and diesel down

“The September data shows customers continuing to embrace a broader range of motive power options, particularly battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles,” MIA chief executive Aimee Wiley said.

Year-to-date, passenger battery electric registrations are up 178.4%, while plug-in hybrids are up 166.6%.

Petrol and diesel passenger registrations are down 14.1%.

Three factors behind EV comeback

Pain at the petrol pump is the most obvious reason why electric vehicle sales have surged to record levels after tanking in 2024 with the loss of the carrot (the Clean Car Discount) and the introduction of the stick ($76 per 1000km road user charges).

But there’s also been strong demand for Tesla’s refreshed Model Y, whose year-to-date sales of 2980 dwarf its predecessor, which had only managed 987 sales by this point in 2025.

And the third factor is the rise of keenly priced, Chinese-made EVs with BYD leading the charge. While a new-ish brand to New Zealand, BYD is backed by a familiar name. Ateco Group, trading as BYD New Zealand, is ultimately owned by Neville Crichton.

“In September, BYD achieved more than 1000 registrations in a single month – a first for any Chinese automotive brand in New Zealand,” BYD New Zealand general manager Warren Wilmot told the Herald.

“What makes this milestone even more meaningful is how we got there,” Wilmot said.

“The vast majority of these registrations were genuine retail sales to private buyers and businesses who walked into a BYD dealership and chose one of our vehicles.

“No mass dealer pre-registrations. No major rental fleet deliveries. No one-off volume deals. Just real customers making real purchasing decisions.

“That’s significant because it reflects a broader shift in the market. With the Clean Car Discount gone and EVs now paying Road User Charges, New Zealanders are choosing lower-emission vehicles on their own merits, lower running costs, advanced technology, and exceptional value.”

BYD has now sold 15,000 vehicles since it launched in New Zealand, Wilmot said.

Green to green stuff

Last month, Evnex founder Ed Harvey said sales of his company’s chargers were no longer driven by greenies.

“There’s been a shift from environmental factors to the economic,” Harvey said.

Talk of possible petrol rationing earlier this year focused people’s minds on the immediate threat to their wallets, but also on what’s likely to happen with future conflicts and instability.

“People are sick of being beholden to high fuel prices.”

Harvey’s firm recently sold its 20,000th charger.

It took 13 years to shift its first 10,000, but just nine months to sell its second.

Top-selling pure EVs in NZ in August

Top-selling plug-in hybrids

Top-sellers overall

Source / MIA

Postscript: What is a new vehicle registration?

Earlier, the Herald asked the Motor Industry Association (MIA) to define a “new registration”, often used interchangeably with sales.

“New vehicle registrations refer to vehicles that have been registered for use on New Zealand roads during that month,” a spokeswoman said.

“In practical terms, this generally means vehicles that have moved through to registration and are either going to customers, demonstrators, fleet users, rental operators, or other first registered use.

“It does not simply mean vehicles that have arrived in New Zealand or are sitting in showrooms/car yards as unsold stock.

“Vehicles can arrive into the country and remain unregistered until they are sold or otherwise put into use.

“So, using an example, if Tesla recorded 936 new vehicle registrations in June, that means 936 new Tesla vehicles were first registered in New Zealand during June. Some of those vehicles may have been ordered earlier, shipped earlier, or held in stock prior to registration, but the registration itself occurred in June.”

The data therefore reflects actual new registrations, not just a glut of EVs sitting in showrooms.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.