Giltrap warns on car import effect
PA Auckland Up to 30,000 used cars are expected to be imported from Japan this year. — a move that could kill the New Zealand car assembly industry — according to a company that plans to become heavily involved in the importing. "I can’t understand why the Government has done this and I don’t believe it is in the consumer’s interest,” Giltrap Motor Group managing director, Mr Colin Giltrap, said. “This is a contradiction, but one has to join the throng.” Industry observers believe that between 17,000 and 21,000 used cars were imported last year. All restrictions on the entry of such vehicles were lifted on January 1. Mr Giltrap said he was surprised that labour unions had not protested strongly about the imported vehicles because of the effect on assembly line jobs. He estimates that 3000 used vehicles would ar-
rive in New Zealand next month and 30,000 by the year’s end. Other importers pick imports of about 25,000 this year with 30,000 saturating the market. Mr Giltrap says the imported cars are slightly cheaper for buyers than the local product, but they do not carry guarantees. He said he would prefer to buy a used car with a known New Zealand history. The Japanese cars looked good, he said, but some were bad. Mr Giltrap has two or three New Zealanders permanently in Japan arranging car purchases. He says he imports only three to four-year-old vehicles, any older being ready for the scrap heap. Giltrap buyers = chose only the models popular in New Zealand — Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Toyota, he said. For cars not popular here, there were often waits of up to four and five weeks for spare parts.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890218.2.99.11
Bibliographic details
Press, 18 February 1989, Page 19
Word Count
286Giltrap warns on car import effect Press, 18 February 1989, Page 19
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.