New Zealand sees record new car sales in 2014

A record number of new cars were sold in New Zealand last year, reflecting the strong economy and the relative strength of the country's dollar, the head of the New Zealand Motor Industry Association said Thursday.

"An astounding total of 127,179 new vehicles were registered in 2014, more than for any previous year and up 12 percent on 2013," MIA chief executive officer David Crawford said in a statement.

"The previous highest year for new vehicles sales was 30 years ago in 1984 where 123,247 new vehicles were registered for that year."

Last year also saw the most commercial vehicles sold in any one year at 36,662 units, up 19 percent on the previous record set in 2013.

Passenger vehicle registrations of 6,797 units last month made it the strongest month of December since 1976, and commercial vehicle registrations of 2,797 units were the highest for a December month since the MIA started keeping commercial vehicle records in 1981.

The combined passenger and commercial vehicle sales of 9,594 units last month were the a record for a December month and the highest since December 1976.

Toyota was the overall market leader for the month of December with 26 percent market share, followed by Ford on 12 percent and Holden on 11 percent.

Toyota was also the overall market leader for the 2014 year with 19 percent market share, followed by Ford and Holden, both taking 11 percent.

"The outlook for 2015 is for another strong year, but the MIA does not anticipate significant growth over 2014 volumes; more likely a small to modest increase anticipating sales of new vehicles to be around 127,000 to 128,000," said Crawford. Endi