New Zealand plug-in registrations up 174 per cent as petrol tops $3.50

New Zealand registered 3,317 new plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles in October, 174 per cent more than a year earlier, the Motor Trade Association said.

Our count of NZ Transport Agency data on the MTA's vstat site agrees. Battery electric registrations rose to 1,526 from 559, and plug-in hybrids to 1,791 from 651. Diesel fell to 2,372 from 3,284.

October was still below September, when 4,163 plug-ins were registered.

The numbers

Registrations are from NZ Transport Agency data on vstat. Fuel prices are MBIE's average pump prices for the week to 1 November 2026 and the same week in 2025.

Petrol above $3.50

Regular 91 petrol averaged $3.57 a litre at the pump in the week to 1 November, according to MBIE's fuel price monitoring. It peaked at $3.62 in the week to 18 October.

Larry Fallowfield of the MTA said there was a growing belief that high fuel prices "aren't just a spike" and that this was "clearly influencing buyer behaviour".

A year ago, 91 cost about $2.61 a litre. The ministry's weekly table shows it was still there in early March, passed $3.50 by mid-April and has now been above $3.50 for four weeks in a row.

Diesel averaged $3.22 a litre in the week to 1 November, up from about $1.92 a year earlier, the same table shows. This year it peaked at $3.84 in mid-April.

Some of October was catch-up

Plug-in registrations first jumped in March, to 3,839 from 1,361 in February.

Fallowfield said some of October's figure was "registrations catching up with sales in March", when buyers panicked and there was not enough stock. Almost 60 per cent of October's battery electric vehicles went to private owners, he said.

Tesla's October registrations

Tesla registered 97 new cars in October, seventh among battery electric brands, behind BYD's 288. A year earlier Tesla was first, with 84. In September it registered 650.