In the SUV section you might feel that there are some popular models missing, especially amongst the small SUV section. This is due to the fact that the manufacturers have moved to primarily supply 2WD/FWD models to this market. Some retain one AWD specification, but a lot like Mazda with the CX3 only have FWD models. As we are proudly a 4WD magazine they don’t fit into this guide, they are however covered in our NZSUV 2022 guide which was published a few months ago.

SUV’s continue to grow in popularity – to the end of October 2022 over 75 per cent of passenger vehicles sold new were SUV’s (up around one percentage point from 2021). Interestingly the medium SUV’s have had a surge overtaking by some margin the small SUV’s that had the highest volume last year.

There are a number of new and updated models this year. New to the guide is the Toyota Corolla Cross, Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6 and BMW 1x. There were significant model updates to amongst others the Ford Everest, Mitsubishi Outlander, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Suzuki SCross.

There are a lot more hybrid, PHEV and EV options than a year ago, as the popularity of these variants grows with their economy and green credentials,

There was less change in the utes, with the only major upgrade being the new Ford Ranger, Mazda added their top end Takami model to the BT-50 range. There are still no hybrid, PHEV or EV utes – maybe 2023 will see a few additions here although we suspect it is sometime before we see significant electrification activity in the ute segment.