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Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 86, 12 April 1941, Page 5

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/ NEW CAR SUPPLIES. iifcn

jjgp: ; PREDICTION. IfcteWELLINGTON", this day.

■ t rpe months il may be impossible • a few car in New Zealand. This was made by the manager $ 1 $ 011 e of tlio largest motor linns in Wellington. v*. ears had disappeared from the ffijpff- n f w **r 'market many month* ago. Jiej ififcjjspciinted out. and there were onlv a few] ■Bg-Jundred light ears of all makes left.! Kgl' at they will 1 >,■ the last new cans put the roads for mmi: months at least! ®^;{v >#howi > by the fact that the Covern-j ' la * " ot yiven permission to 'Import any ens during this year. Kvcnj fit restriction on the. ini])ortation ofi wmjft . r *. ' s relaxed in 19-12. it mav not be'| by then to procure them fromi i|jks';!?*' ma nufaetui 4 ing countries because of war. fare cannot be obtained from| and recently it was announced 11153f man «f»<*turer« ill the United States felt ■ mer ' ca were producing fewer cars I W> : " thcy cou,d «'H. I '?! es lew motor cars are now only 1 Pr 1 a 1" ar(pr <»f what they were two |J? aiß a .?°- In January and February I |||&vT."," new ears ;l nd 10:} commercial I C ! es were registered,, whereas in I ®l. anfl Fehl »«''.v.- 1939, 4013 cars I 0*5., ♦ ■ commercial vehicles were | jKfV ; 'ii^ lS^red . The three months' stock of I ' no . w ' on band would have lasted I fS&fw : three weeks • in the aarly I ■ of ■ 11)39.

Used-Car Market

Import restrictions, petrol restrictions the war had affected the set-also. Petrol restrictions and the rtain future might discourage pros've purchasers of cars, but there ' reasons for the owner of a car 'IHg it, and, moreover, keeping it ;ood condition. In the absence of cars a conliniiance of the demand lised cars wks expected and a car in ■condition, and capable uf.being kept. °0d condition, would continue lo be

The satisfactory prices that secondhand cars were bringing were regarded as confirmation by the public of that view of the present situation. Old cars liable to require repairs were not being sought, partly because many of the mechanically-minded young men who were willing to own and maintain such cars had enlisted in the forces and partly because the procuring of spare parts and tyres .for them was becoming diflicult; Spares were still being imported, but the tendency of dealers was' to use their import licenses for the importation of the spares that would sell ' most readily, which were those for the comparatively recent models on the roads in large numbers.

The same trend Mas expected in respect to tyres. Importers would be reluctant to import kinds of tyres that might not sell as readily as others, so that the owner of a car that used tyres similar to those used by, for instance, cars popular for taxis and commercial work would have a more assured supply. A shortage of some kind* of tyres existed at present, and rctreaders were very busy, but shipments soon were expected to bring relief.

(ienerally the motor trade was still busy and was expected to continue so if the petrol ration was not reduced.