New vehicle sales down 30% from a year ago, used car sales down 41%

New vehicle sales in New Zealand in January fell 30%, and used car sales fell 41%, from January 2008, figures from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) show. New and used car sales are an indicator of consumer willingness to spend big chunks of money almost a year into a recession. It shows the New Zealand car market is almost as depressed as the US car market and reinforces any moves by the Reserve Bank to keep cutting the Official Cash Rate. There were 6,508 new vehicle sales in January, made up of 5,296 passenger vehicle sales and 1,212 commercial vehicle sales. The figure for commercial vehicle sales was the lowest since January 2002. In January 2009 there were 5,425 sales of used imported cars, 41% down from the 9,334 sold in January 2008. In the year to January 2009 there were 94,152 new vehicle sales in New Zealand, down 9% from the year before. Annual sales are falling at a rate of 10,000 per year since June 2008, when 104,238 cars were sold in the prior 12 months.