Car import boom over

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 1

Car import boom over

The growing trend of importing Japanese sports cars is over, according to a Christchurch sports car dealer, Mr Tony Pearson. The boom began six months ago when private buyers started buying used sports cars cheaply in Japan and importing them into New Zealand to sell. “It started as a cheap way of getting a nice car or paying for a trip to Japan,” Mr Pearson said. “At the outset people could expect to make about $4OOO once the car had been sold and the trip paid for.”

It reached the stage where many people became involved and as a result it would be difficult for the buyer looking to make any profit ■ . “Japanese dealers have realised that they, too, can get in on the deal and have put their prices up,” Mr Pearson said. New Zealand car dealers had become involved “overnight” and were selling the imported cats on behalf of private buyers, he said. Mr Pearson’s dealership, Christchurch Sports Car Centre, had been selling cars “on behalf’

for the last six months. “Although we have done all right out of it we won’t be disappointed to see the boom end

as it has taken away demand for the more traditional European cars,” he said. Some dealers had people buying cars on behalf of the dealer who would then import them to sell.

Mr Pearson said this was a breach of the Customs Act and the Motor Vehicle Dealers’ Institute’s code of ethics. “This was the wrong way to do it and it seems that the dealers

stand to get their fingers burnt from possible Motor Vehicle Dealers Institute action. “The net result of all the market pressure is a drop of up to $7OOO on the retail price of certain models,” he said. M.V.D.I. Canterbury branch president, Mr Stuart Ware, said: "At the moment we are not looking at any local dealer concerning the importation of Japanese cars.”

The- M.V.D.I. code of ethics related directly to the breach of any law, he said.