Ford Ranger is the top selling commercial vehicle in New Zealand.

The latest sales figures show that the Ford Ranger outsold all other commercial vehicles in New Zealand for July 2014, however overall vehicle sales again saw Toyota number 1, with 16% market share with 1,665 units and Ford second on 12% with 1,210 units and Holden in third with 11% and 1,157 units. Combined these three vehicle manufactures tied up almost 40% of New Zealand’s new vehicle market.
 
Looking at the top positions for individual models for commercial vehicles we can see that this market continues to grow in New Zealand. The gold medal for July sales went to the Ford Ranger on 17% of market share with 537 units. Silver medal was awarded to the Toyota Hilux on 13% and 411 units and bronze for the Nissan Navara on 10% with 332 units. However looking at year-to-date sales the Toyota Hilux just hangs on to the lead with 16% and 3,326 units closely followed by the Ford Ranger also on 16% but 32 units behind with 3,294 units.
 
If you didn’t already know SUV’s (Sports Utility Vehicles) continue to be the fastest growing segment of our market here in New Zealand. SUV’s accounted for 28% of all new vehicle sales in June 2014 and were closely followed by commercials, that’s pick-ups or chassis-cabs, coming in at 23% market share. Combined these two vehicle types make up over half of all New Zealand’s new car sales. The passage car segment is now down to 16% and continues to drop. Expect to see more and more SUV’s and commercials on our roads.
 
So lets have a closer look at the Ford Ranger, what is this vehicle and what is its story? Well it’s a midsized pick-up truck manufactured by the Ford Motor Company and first unveiled in October 2010 at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney. It replaced two regional Ranger platforms know as the Mazda BT-50 model sold in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America and the Mazda BT-50 model sold in select markets in Latin America.
 
The Ford Ranger is sold in many different countries and at last count was around 180, however it will never be sold in Canada or the USA. This is because it’s too close to the very popular F-150 truck and sales are declining currently in this part of the market for smaller or midsized trucks. There is also a long-standing import tariff of 25% imposed on non-American built light trucks and commercial vehicles and so this prohibits the Ranger from being imported into North America.
 
The Ranger that we see is manufactured at Ford’s Rayong Plant in Thailand and production of the latest platform began in 2011. Ford will also make Rangers in South Africa and South America at some time soon. Mazda also offers a rebadged, re-engineered version of the Ranger as a second generation Mazda BT-50. Although the Mazda BT-50 shares one or two exterior and interior parts with the Ranger both trucks share the same platform and are the same mechanically.

September 2014