40% new EVs in New Zealand are Chinese

According to year-to-date EV sales data from EVDB, Chinese EV brands make up more than 40% of all new electric vehicle sales. Image: New EV Brand Market Share (courtesy: evdb.nz)

New Zealand to retain Clean Car Standard till 2027

According to this report in RNZ, New Zealand will not dismantle the Clean Car Standard completely till further review in 2027. It will however, maintain the reduced penalty on high emission vehicles. Penalties were slashed by 80% in November 2025.

Distributor for LDV in New Zealand call quits

UK based Inchscape has announced it will no longer be the LDV distributor for New Zealand. This comes weeks after it made public its plans to end the KGM distributorship in the country.

BYD maintains lead over Tesla in pure EVs

BYD sold a total 867,479 EVs globally by the end of the second quarter as compared to 838,149 units sold by Tesla. BYD sold another 1.8 million hybrid and PHEV vehicles during the same period.

A third of US car shoppers are wary of fuel costs

According to a recent Cox Automotive report, three out of four potential car buyers in the US worry about the rising costs of fuel. Petrol prices were around US$4.5/gallon in May compared to its average of US$3/gallon that consumers paid in February. This is having a significant impact on car buyers who are considering switching to hybrids or electrics.

Sources:

EVDB – https://evdb.nz/sales

RNZ – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/1076355/government-to-retain-labour-s-clean-car-standard-for-imported-high-emissions-vehicles

Driven Car Guide – https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/news/following-kgm-inchcape-drops-ldv-in-new-zealand/

Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/tesla-impossible-comeback-142414857.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANZ5-pZpxdc2Btq6h8K6tBzMKzsH79opy4vYV3-rfKS_wad2jHBxz4ekIOC89e4gjkz166paKuJkzZCDbVDSinos_GSh0y-PtQcisna4Qyhj23Es8q8eqYCWvzMecAo2jhmq_20vlxiYayMJRvpWER10Zy3M_jQBRUzTaZWsWCbb

OPIS – https://www.opis.com/resources/energy-market-news-from-opis/analysis-ev-sales-increase-amid-fuel-price-anxiety-could-hasten-global-oil-demand-decline/