NZ new car registrations up in October - NZTA

WELLINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - New Zealand new car registrations rose 1.6 percent to 5,680 in October on the the previous month, but were still 24 percent lower than a year earlier, the New Zealand Transport Agency said on Thursday.

Used car registrations -- generally imported used cars -- totalled 6,044 last month, up 2.1 percent from September but 8.6 percent down on a year ago, the government agency said in a statement.

New commercial vehicle registrations during the month were 1,159 down 15.5 percent from a month earlier, and down 34.4 percent on October 2008.

The top selling make in September was Toyota (7203.T) with 1,775 new cars, followed by Holden GM.N with 660 and Ford (F.N) with 645.