Rural spend-up a driver of ute sales
Car dealers are bracing for a busy six months as farmers look to upgrade their utes before new charges kick in next year.
Following the June 13 announcement of a new fee for high-emission vehicles, there was a steady flow of visitors to dealers’ stands at the National Agricultural Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, on Thursday.
Isuzu Utes New Zealand general manager Sam Waller said sales had been stronger than expected over the first two days of the event.
‘‘It’s going to be a busy six months – we’re already seeing it with farmers,’’ he said.
‘‘The rural community have had a good year so they’re looking to spend, and we’ve got stock on the ground.’’
The Government’s Clean Car Discount scheme will make lowercarbon cars more affordable for New Zealanders, with a fee placed on high-emission vehicles, including utes.
The levies will be applied from January next year and could add almost $3000 to the cost of a new petrol-run Toyota Hilux.
Ford New Zealand spokesman Tom Clancy said it was too early to know if the Government’s announcement was affecting sales, but there had been ‘‘massive’’ demand for the company’s Ranger ute recently.
With Covid-19 putting pressure on the supply chain, some buyers were having to wait for delivery of their vehicles.
However, waiting times varied depending on the model and accessories requested.
‘‘Some customers could be lucky and find what they want in stock. Worst-case scenario, if someone wanted a particular colour or accessories, it could be three or four months,’’ he said.
‘‘We have been lucky in that New Zealand is a small market, and we’ve been able to pull some vehicles from larger markets, like Thailand. They can send 200 units to us and it’s nothing to them.’’
Although Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand was not exhibiting at Fieldays, spokesman Reece Congdon said the company had seen unprecedented demand across its entire range since last year and he expected a rush on sales in the final quarter of this year.
However, getting the vehicles to buyers could pose problems.
‘‘Like every brand, we are experiencing supply issues driven by manufacturing delays and high demand levels,’’ Congdon said.
‘‘We’re working hard to secure stock to mitigate those effects and hope to maintain our strong position in 2021.’’
Congdon said supply would remain tight for at least the next year and the Government’s push to bring in the Clean Car Discount during a global car shortage was ‘‘very puzzling’’.
Motor Industry Association of New Zealand chief executive David Crawford said global shipping capacity was still a long way off pre-Covid levels and wasn’t expected to return to normal before the end of the year.
‘‘Manufacturers are still grappling with a worldwide shortage of semi-conductor chips and production is being slowed down or temporarily suspended to match chip availability,’’ he said.
On top of shipping and supply issues, as the rest of the world came out of Covid-19, overseas consumers were doing what New Zealanders did last year – spending up large on new items.
‘‘Worldwide demand for new vehicles is outstripping production capability ... We remain hopeful supply will come back to normal this year, but that may not be the case,’’ Crawford said.
The association reported strong monthly vehicle sales for May, and the first five months of this year were the strongest on record. There were 14,551 vehicle registrations in May, up 75 per cent (6239) on May 2020.
This included 276 pure electric vehicles, 120 plug-in hybrids and
1232 hybrids sold.
The top two spots were still held by utes, with the Ford Ranger
(876 sold) edging out the Toyota Hilux (795 sold).