Cortina tops N.Z. sales

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 25

Cortina tops N.Z. sales

Ford's Cortina, soon to be phased out of production and replaced with a Japanese front-drive car from Toyo Kogyo. topped the New Zealand new car sales chart in April and No. 2 on the list was its smaller Japanese origin front-drive relation, the Ford Laser. From the top of the March chart, the Holden Commodore slipped to No. 3. After what almost amounted to panic buying in March. new-car sales slumped by more than 1800 in April. New-car registrations amounted to 7575 compared with 9403 in March. April was the first month this year in which new-car sales were down on sales in the corresponding month in 1981. However, more than 31.280 new cars were bought by New Zealanders in the first four months of this year, whereas in the same period in 1981 they bought 27.900.

The April sales slump was not unexpected. New-car buyers rushed dealers' showrooms in March to beat the end of the financial year and to insure against a rumoured sales tax hike. Now the motor industry’ expects newcar sales to be maintained at the present level for two or three months. About that time the Budget is expected ■> h; ifliK

to have an influence on sales and it is also expected that a change in the method of calculating customs duties will push up new-car prices. Ford was the biggest-sell-ing motor assembler in April, capturing 20 per cent of the market with 1515 newcar registrations. Next in line were Todd Motors with 18.6 per cent (1407), and Toyota with 13.5 per cent (1027). They were followed by NZMC, Datsun, General Motors, Mazda and Subaru?

Japanese cars accounted for 76 per cent of the April sales.

April sales by models (with March placing in parentheses) were: Ford Cortina 708 (4), Ford Laser 666 (2). Holden Commodore 659 (1), Mitsubishi Sigma 625 (3), Mirage 480, Honda Civic 451 (5). Toyota Corolla 445, Mazda 323 442, Datsun Sunny 391, Mitsubishi Lancer 283.