Figures released by the Motor Industry Association this week show the Ford Ranger was the top selling overall vehicle in New Zealand for 2015.

With a total of 6,818 sales last year, the Ranger became the first commercial vehicle to outsell a passenger model with the Toyota Corolla coming in at second place with its 6,520 sales.

The Ford Ranger was New Zealand's bestselling overall and commercial vehicle in 2015. Photo: Ford NZ

MIA chief executive David Crawford says it was a record year with a total of 134,041 new vehicle registrations in New Zealand during 2015 – up by 6,862 vehicles (5.4 per cent) on 2014.

'It is the highest ever level of new vehicle registrations in New Zealand's history and the first time new registrations have broken through the 130,000 barrier,” he says.

Commercial registrations also set a new annual record with 39,077 units in 2015, which was up 2,415 units (6.6 per cent) on 2014.

Once again, the Ford Ranger claimed top spot for commercial vehicles with 17 per cent of the market share, beating out the Toyota Hilux (5,623 sales) and the Holden Colorado (3,586 sales).

The Toyota Corolla was the bestselling passenger vehicle and second bestselling overall vehicle in 2015. Photo: File

While passenger vehicle registrations in 2015 saw a total of 94,964 units which was also by 4,447 units (4.9 per cent) on 2014.

For passenger vehicles, the Toyota Corolla took seven per cent of the market share and claimed first place over the Toyota Rav4 (3,519 sales) and the Holden Commodore (2,710 sales).

In the battle of the mainstream brands, Toyotas topped the market for the 28th year in a row with 26,330 sales in 2015, followed by Holden with 14,001 sales and then Ford with 13,808 sales.

While in the luxury car market Mercedes-Benz regained first place with 2,095 sales, followed by BMW with 1,952 sales and Audi with Audi 1765 sales.

Kiwis' love affair with SUV's also continued with a total of 45,376 registrations, which accounted for just over one out of every three sales in New Zealand during 2015.

The Toyota Hilux was the second bestselling commercial and third bestselling overall vehicle in 2015. Photo: File