Car man’s plea for lower hire-purchase

Press, 14 April 1978, Page 8

Car man’s plea for lower hire-purchase

PA Nelson New-car sales in New Zealand this year might be 10,000 short of the figure set last year by the Government. The 10,000 drop in sales, worth at least S6OM to the motor trade, represents a year’s output for almost 700 New Zealand workers. It is this serious shortfall in sales which has crippled manufacturers’ ability to retain staff, the general manager of the New' Zealand Motor Corporation’s assembly division (Mr W. L. Cook) has said in Nelson. Staff at the Nelson assembly plant were told that the decline in sales was forcing the corporation to put off 49 men and women workers. “The industry accepts completely that there must be a limit on new-

car sales,” said Mr Cook. “We could live with the Government’s limit of 65,000 sales this calendar year . . . But we cannot go below that figure.” Mr Cook said that the Government had relaxed some restrictions on newcar sales but apparently they did not go far enough. “With the present 12month hire-purchase period, some buyers could find themselves having to repay $2OO a month. The number of people who can afford this sort of repayment is small. “It is the shortest hirepurchase repayment period for motor-vehicles in the world today and is obviously very restrictive,” Mr Coak said. “The Government could lift sales immediately if the period was extended to three years.”