65,000 the limit

Press, 17 August 1978, Page 21

65,000 the limit

The Government has told i™ c ar * assembly industry that New Zealand cannot afford more than 65,000 passenger vehicle registrations a year for a number of years. The conference of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Federation in Rotorua was told by Mr D. C. McDonald, president of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, that in fact some sections of the Government considered the figure should be less than 60,000 a year, the Press Association reports. In a country of 3M people and about 1,200,000 cars, a 60,000 a year car replacement rate was hardly enough to ensure that cars on the road were both serviceable and safe, he said. “Within the next five years the nation will have to face the problem of re-

placing its cars and this is needed for safety and for servicing and fuel costs,” said Mr McDonald. “For the next few years we are going to see great strides in the technoloeical development of. fuelefficient vehicles and as New Zealand has a balance of payments problem and a need to conserve energy, we must take advantage of the most efficient vehicles.” “It is absurd to suggest

that New Zealand can rely on fewer passenger vehicles than we have at present. “Our whole way of life is geared to urban sprawl and to the mobility and freedom we have come to expect in the last 40 years, and we are not likely to give up these freedoms in the short term—that is, in the next generation,” he said.