After eighteen consecutive months of falling sales, January new car registrations are ahead of 2009 numbers.

Just released NZTA registration data shows that there were 5,601 new cars registered in January, which compares with 5,296 for January 2009 (up 5.8%). Commercial registration figures however are not showing the same signs and were down 9% on January 2009 with 1,102 registrations.

Mr Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association, said that "in spite of the commercial vehicle numbers he was quietly confident that the new vehicle industry has "turned the corner" with industry forecasts showing that we would now see slow but modest growth from here on out"

Toyota holds onto their top spot in all three categories - commercial vehicles, passenger cars and total market, with an overall market share of 22.2%. Next follows Holden and Ford with Mazda taking number four spot. In the commercial vehicle segment behind Toyota was Nissan with Ford in third.

The top selling model for January was the Toyota Corolla, followed by the Holden Cruze, with the Suzuki Swift in third.