WELLINGTON - Most Chinese automakers in the New Zealand new car market saw sales accelerate last year, with rates of sales growth well above average.

Both Great Wall and Chery continued to add sales, although they still ranked well below market leaders Toyota, Ford, Holden and Nissan, while Geely saw its New Zealand sales plunge in 2012, according to confirmed figures released by the Motor Industry Association (MIA) on Tuesday.

Great Wall saw the biggest gains of Chinese manufacturers, building on its growing strength in commercial vehicles, where it ranked ninth, almost doubling total sales.

Great Wall commercial vehicle sales rose by 94.2 percent from 412 in 2011 to 800 last year, while its total sales of passenger and commercial vehicles were up 95.1 percent from 512 in 2011 to 999 last year.

Chery and Geely both featured only in the passenger car market, where Chery saw sales up 32 percent from 172 to 227, while Geely saw a drop of 85.7 percent from 56 to just 8.

Toyota maintained a 25-year lead as New Zealand's biggest selling new car marque, with commercial sales up 15.5 percent to 6, 628 last year, passenger car sales up 27.1 percent to 14,992, and total sales up 23.3 percent to 21,620.

MIA chief executive officer Perry Kerr said December passenger car registrations of 6,102 were the highest monthly total since 1976, the year after the MIA began collating industry numbers.

"December registrations were up 14.6 percent (776 units) on December 2011. Commercial registrations of 1,649 were a massive 43.4 percent (499 units) ahead of 2011 and were the highest monthly registrations since 2000," Kerr said in a statement.

Toyota took a 36-percent (2,202 units) share of new passenger car registrations and a 30-percent (500 units) share of the commercial segment.

In the passenger car sector, Ford held second place with 534 registrations (9 percent) followed by Holden with 467 registrations (8 percent).

With commercials, Nissan was second with 187 registrations (11 percent) and Ford third with 177 registrations (11 percent).

Total New Zealand new car sales numbered 100,584 last year, up from 84,361 in 2011.

Great Wall saw passenger vehicle sales accelerate from just 97 in 2010 to 126 in 2011, while commercial vehicle sales more than doubled from 209 to 412. Chery saw sales rocket from just one vehicle in 2010 to 172 in 2011.