Kiwi car owners' love affair with SUVs continued unabated last month - as SUV's edged towards 30% of the new passenger vehicle market.

A year ago, SUVs accounted for 22.6% of the new passenger market - now they have more than 28% market share.

Compact SUVs have taken 13.4% of the new car market so far this year, compared to only 7.2% six years ago.

The recovery in new vehicle sales stopped in a rest area to admire the view during July.

July sales of 4446 new passengers cars were down 23% over June 2010 and 1% compared to July 2009, making it the second smallest month for the year to date.

Commercial vehicles sales rose 25.1% during the month to 1585 from 1267 in July 2009 – reflecting the afterglow of fielday’s deliveries.

Ian Stronach, MTA marketing and communications general manager says: “While it’s never good to see an upward trend in sales falter, it’s not a surprise given the strength of the market in June.

"On the face of it, quite a few sales were brought forward, with customers seeing the array of offers that most distributors had out there in June as being too good to turn down.”

Used import registrations have continued their upward march, reaching the highest level in 26 months during July, according to NZTA statistics.

July’s 7893 registrations were 7% ahead of June 2010 and 28% ahead of July 2009.  For the year to date, used import registrations are 39% ahead of 2009.

Used import commercial sales were in contrast down for the month to 212 units from 237, a fall of 10.5% from July 2009.

Japanese production is improving, according to the latest Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association figures.

Total vehicle production in Japan during June totalled 861,045 units, up 25.9% over June 2009.

Passenger car production - at 739,953 - was up 23.7%. Production of standard size vehicles was up 36%.