Car dealers report their strongest September sales month on record, looking for an all-time annual record of vehicle sales

The car dealers of New Zealand are expecting 2014 to deliver record vehicle sales.

Data released today shows that 11,840 new vehicles were registered in September, the highest September level on record.

Unlike the real estate agents, car dealers are not using the election period as an excuse for soft demand.

Of these, 8,382 were new passenger cars and 3,458 were new commercial vehicles.

New car sales are now +10.3% above year-to-date levels from a year ago, and commercial vehicles are +21.5% higher on the same basis.

Registration data for used imports are not yet available.

Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of September with 20% market share (2,321 units) with Holden second on 11% (1,349 units) and Ford third with 10% (1,151 units).

The Toyota Corolla was the top selling new vehicle model in September with 629 new registrations, followed by the Ford Ranger with 595, the Toyota Hilux in 3^rd with 526 registrations.

The sale of sports utility vehicles continues to be the strongest selling segment with 28% of all vehicles sales in September, followed by pick-ups/chassis-cabs with 19% and small passenger cars at 16%.

It is clear now that purchases of new vehicles were unimpeded by the election during September.

"Healthy economic confidence combined with competitive pricing is fueling strong demand for new vehicles.  If sales keep at this level it could over 124,000 new registrations for 2014, exceeding the previous best year of 123,247 new registrations in 1984," said David Crawford of the Motor Industry Association.