March saw 2275 sales of full battery EV cars, the most since the end of the EV subsidy scheme ended in December 2023, according to NZTA data.
This was up from 634 in February, and 594 in March 2025.
But despite the surge, it was still much lower than the 3357 in December 2023 when buyers rushed to get some free taxpayer funding. Prior to that distortion, the highest month EV sales total for new vehicles was 2637 in March 2023.
Clearly, geopolitical realities is focusing the minds of car-buyers, both personal and fleet.

Hybrid sales in March were another 4360, and together NEV sales accounted for 65.9% of all new car sales, only bested by the artificial surge in December 2024 when it was 81.4%.
ICE new car sales in March came in at 3458. New commercial vehicle sales were 4828 in March, and used imports were 8230 (and that was the most for any month since July 2024). 610 of the used imports were NEVs, mostly hybrids.
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