MORE CARS TO BE IMPORTED

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27369, 7 June 1954, Page 10

MORE CARS TO BE IMPORTED

EXTRA LICENCES FOR 6000 VEHICLES

1934 TOTAL LIKELY TO SET RECORD

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June B r etw een 6000 and 7000 more motor-] cars ' will be imported this yean on extra licences just authorised. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr J. T. Watts) announced this today. Exchange amounting to £2,500,000 had been allocated for this purpose, as the result of consultations between the Board of Trade and the Reserve Bhnk, said Mr Watts. “The total allowed for this year, in the light of the improved overseas funds position, is now about £18.000,000, compared with £9.300,000 last year,” he said. Imports for 1954 would probably exceed the 1952 record of 39,183 cars, and would be double those of last year, v hen nearly 21,000 cars 'were importel, the Minister said. “Because of earlier increases in licences for the current year, there is already a substantial increase in delivery of cars on to the local market,” he said, “and the extra licences] now authorised should result in greatly increased numbers of cars becoming available toward the end of the year? 1 * _ ’ It is estimated that about 45,000 cars will be imported in 1954. Funds allocated for this year’s imports for all vehicles now total £18,000,000, of which about £ 12,000,00 is available for cars and the rest for commercial | and passenger vehicles.

NEWS WELCOMED

EFFECT ON USED-CAB PRICES DISCUSSED Representatives of the motor industry and a motorists’ organisation /and a dealer in second-hand cars yesterday welcomed the announcement of the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr J. T. Watts) that extra funds were being made available <or the importation of yeair fv ~ j From a safety point of view any' action that resulted in more old cars, some of which had been on the highways for 20 years or more, being eliminated from the roads must have a beneficial effect, said Mr W. R. Carey, president of the Automobile Association (Canterbury). The demand for cars was still seemingly unsatisfied, he said, so that a larger allocation of funds for cars was to his mind “a good thing.” Eventually it would mean that used car values would go down, said Mr Clarence B. Hall, who handles secondhand cars. Used car prices were already going down, he added, but it was likely that they would go down stiU further. The day might even come again, he said, when it would be possible to procure a car for a few pounds. Mr Hall said that one type of postwar car was now “two a penny” about the country. It was natural that as more second-hand post-war cars became available the values of pre-war cars would decline. The 1949 model of one make had been good value at £685 a yeSr ago. but today it was not possible to get £625 for it. The 1951 model of this car could be bought for £675; A car now selling at £4OO might be worth only £275 or £390 in;,another, year. “It suits -us fine/’ said Mr Han when asked how second-hand dealers would regard falling prices for used cars. They would not have to pay the exorbitant prices they had had to pay. The pub lie- would not have to pay aGv more in proportion than they did now. ‘ ‘Piexsiny Reading * ’ The Ministerial announcement would make pleasing reading to the retail motor trade and the general public as a further step towards clearing the huge unsatisfied demand for new motor-cars, said Mr R. A. E. Brett, chairman of the new vehicle section of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Retail Motor Trade Association. He said that this comment was based on the assumption that the increase now announced was in addition te, that of a similar amount granted wane m ago. No. mention had ©«aaa mete of dollarlicences, for which * - xjsted ’ he added. JjZEE motor has always granted the same per*®*’*W& the national export

income as it enjoyed in the pre-war competitive years,’’ Mr Brett said. “If the total allocation for 1954 is £18,000,060, this falls short of the trade request based on conservative estimates of our 1954 trade, /which is sufficiently buoyant to reflect, an improved overseas sterling position. “The Minister says that 1954 importations will exceed the 1952 record of 39,183. and will double last year’s of just under 21,000. It will need to if it is going to make any noticeable impression on the present acute shortage of new motor-vehicles. What has not been said is that the unit total of 1952 and 1953 imports is, .in round figures, 60,000 cars, which represents only two years’ imports based on the pre-war average annual importation of 30,000 units, and makes no allowance for increased production and population with its additional demand upon the country’s transport system. “However, the latest announcement is in the right direction, and, although small, will be gratefully received/’ Mr Brett said. “Its practical effect may not be felt until 1955 because of the procurement, shipping, and assembly procedure involved. “To the person unable to afford a new car it will tend to make a larger number of used cars available at prices probably more within their reach,” he