The most popular cars in New Zealand in 2025
The Toyota RAV4 was the most popular, taking over from the Ford Ranger. New cars and used imports, by the year they were first registered here.
- First registered
- 216,862
- 2025
- Most popular
- RAV4
- 11,642 Toyotas
- Top electric
- Leaf
- 1,400 registered
- Top used import
- Aqua
- 8,874 registered
The top 20, 2025
How many were registered, and how each moved since 2024.
- 1
ToyotaRAV411,642Up 1 - 2
FordRanger9,737Down 1 - 3
ToyotaAqua8,889Same place - 4
ToyotaHilux8,184Same place - 5
ToyotaCorolla7,844Up 1 - 6
ToyotaPrius6,056Down 1 - 7
MitsubishiOutlander5,210Same place - 8
MitsubishiAsx4,966Up 5 - 9
MazdaCX-53,741Up 2 - 10
NissanX-Trail3,595Same place - 11
NissanNote3,563Up 4 - 12
FordEverest3,337Up 11 - 13
ToyotaC-HR3,325Up 1 - 14
SuzukiSwift3,316Down 6 - 15
MazdaAxela3,294Down 3 - 16
MitsubishiTriton3,294Down 7 - 17
KiaSeltos3,180Same place - 18
HondaFit3,145Same place - 19
ToyotaLand Cruiser2,724Up 8 - 20
SubaruImpreza2,663Down 4
New and used imports
Many of the cars New Zealand adds each year arrive used, most of them from Japan.
New
Electric and hybrid
The most registered of each in 2025. Hybrids include plug-ins.
Electric
Over the years
Where 2025's top ten placed each year since 2016. Tap a year for its list.
| Car | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota RAV4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Ford Ranger | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Toyota Aqua | – | – | – | 21 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Toyota Hilux | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Toyota Corolla | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Toyota Prius | 28 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Mitsubishi Asx | 40 | 27 | 27 | 22 | 20 | 10 | 16 | 43 | 13 | 8 |
| Mazda CX-5 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 11 | 9 |
| Nissan X-Trail | 19 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 10 |
Cars, utes and vans by the year they were first registered in New Zealand, new or as a used import, from Waka Kotahi's Motor Vehicle Register. Counts are of those still on the register, so older years are lower than they were.
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