Car registrations hit record high

Press, 27 June 1989, Page 24

Car registrations hit record high

PA Wellington Motor vehicle registrations accelerated to new records in May, according to official figures. Old records were broken, with 8602 new registrations in May, excluding cars first registered overseas, New Zealand Post figures show. This was 15 per cent up on April and 59 per cent up on May last year. If former overseas cars are included, the monthly tally hit 13,634 — 17 per cent up on April, 116 per cent up on May last year. Registrations were boosted in February and March by the introduction of new models and cuts in import tariffs passed on to the consumer. Sales were particularly strong in provincial areas, reflecting a recovery in rural incomes from booming export

prices. Sales settled back in April, before being turbocharged in May — possibly as consumers took, advantage of lower prices before GST goes to 12.5 per cent. In the first five months of this year, 57,439 vehicles were newly registered — 78 per cent more than for the same period last year and equivalent to eight months’ registrations last year. An influx of foreign-registered cars — which started in earnest in November — has contributed in a large way to this growth. If cars first registered overseas ' are excluded, however, new car sales have evidently been healthy, registrations totalling 37,263 so far this year — 36 per cent up on the same period last year.