Car makers deny Opposition allegations

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 4

Car makers deny Opposition allegations

Staff reporters Three big car manufacturers denied last evening Opposition allegations that the Government, in a move to avoid paying the fringe benefit tax, had cornered the market in New Zealand van production this year. The Opposition spokesman on revenue, Mr Michael Cox, said yesterday that anyone considering buying vans, which are exempt from the tax, would have to compete with the Government. Figures obtained from the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, showed that the Government had ordered 407 Mitsubishi vans, 120 Ford vans, and 45 Mazda vans, he said. Mr Cox said that these orders would virtually clear out the market but representatives from the three companies disagreed. The chief executive of

Todd Motors, Ltd, Mr Denford McDonald whose firm holds the Mitsubishi New Zealand franchise, said that the 407 vans ordered represented about 15 per cent of the company’s total production. The Government order would probably be spread over a period of time but there were plenty of vans available and “in most of our dealerships you could buy a van right now,” he said. The public affairs manager of the Ford Motor Company, Mr Russell Scoular, said the annual production of Ford vans could be measured in four figures and so the 120 vans were only a small part. Depending on the specifications, a person could probably buy a van off the floor of any Ford dealer now, he said. “With big orders there is a delivery timetable agreed

to. The number of vans we have available are taken into account when we take a large order.” The public affairs manager of Mazda, Mr Robin Curtis, said that 45 vans were certainly not a big percentage of Mazda vans. “That would hardly be one month’s production. We have vans available now for anyone who wants one.” Comment could not be obtained last evening from the Minister of Finance, but Mr Douglas’s figures were given in answer to a question by Mr Cox. Mr Cox had asked specifically for the number of vans made by Mazda, Mitsubishi and Ford ordered or purchased by the Government in the current year and whether this was the total van allocation for the year for those makes. Mr Douglas had replied, giving the figures, and then

said, “The Government contract allows for the purchase of vehicles during a 12-month period, but the above figures would represent the bulk of Government requirements for this year.” Mr Cox described the orders as an extraordinary move, though there was no indication whether the orders were more or less than usual for the Government. Mr Cox said , the Government orders would severely hamper those who generally wished to use vans as a means of providing staff with transport. “Those local bodies, education boards, and private sector groups that are trying to minimise the instance of a fringe benefit tax will be in for a shock when they come to order the vans they require. The cupboard will be bare — the Government got there before them,” he said.