Watch on our video page here. Watch on YouTube here. Alex Tarrant presents an Economic Weather Report in association with BNZ. There was some good and bad news for New Zealand's car market in December. The good news was that there was a jump in first time registrations of used imported cars, up 15% from November to 7,604, its highest level since May 2008. The bad news, however, continued for the new vehicle market. Registrations of new passenger vehicles fell in December to 3,973 - the fourth month in 2009 in which they fell below 4,000 (and also only the fourth month below 4,000 since our records begin in 2002). News was even worse in the commercial vehicle market. There were 1,021 new commercial vehicle registrations in New Zealand in December (from just over 1,200 in November and almost 1,600 in December 2008) - the lowest monthly total since our records began in January 2002. So overall there was mixed news for the New Zealand car market in December, as sales of used imported vehicles jumped, masking the downturn that remains in place for the new vehicle market.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.