WELLINGTON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Immigration and a thriving business sector helped drive another record month in new car sales in New Zealand in June, the Motor Industry Association (MIA) said Monday.
The economic factors were bolstered by the staging of the country's largest agricultural expo, Field Days, in the North Island city of Hamilton, MIA chief executive officer David Crawford said in a statement.
"The 2016 new vehicle market continues to perform beyond expectations with sales in June up 5.1 percent on June 2015 and delivering a steady 5.3-percent growth for the year to date," said Crawford.
New registrations of 13,699 vehicles made it the strongest month of June since 1982 and the second highest month ever on record.
In the year to date, 69,057 new vehicles had been registered in New Zealand compared to 65,653 for the same time last year.
"There were 9,186 passenger vehicle registrations and 4,513 commercial vehicle registrations, which was once again the highest month of June on record for commercial vehicle registrations," said Crawford.
"Those distributors that attended the annual Field Days reported healthy demand for new vehicles. Other factors that are key drivers of new vehicles are record levels of net immigration, healthy trade sector and strong business confidence."
Toyota was the overall market leader in June with 19 percent market share, followed by Ford on 11 percent and Holden on 9 percent.
