MOTOR IMPORTATIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19247, 26 February 1925, Page 3

MOTOR IMPORTATIONS

YEAR’S HEAVY INCREASE. OVER 18,000 VEHICLES. i TOTAL VALUE OF £3,500,000. | MOST VEHICLES FROM CANADA, i A substantial increase in the number i and value of motor-vehicles imported ! into New Zealand is shown by the ' figures for 1924, when compared with those for 1923. According to a return j specially compiled for the New Zea- ! land Herald by the Comptroller of Customs, 18,629 vehicles were imported into the Dominion last year, against i 14,006 in 1923, an increase of 4623. 1 The vehicles included cars, lorries, vans, trucks and buses, and also chassis for which bodies were built locally. The value of the vehicles totalled £3,537,578, against £2,424,815, an increase of £1,112,763; or over 45 per cent. The returns are more imposing when the importations for 1922 are considered. In that year only 3999 vehicles were imported, the value being £881,137. The figures are the current domestic values in the countries of export plus 10 per cent. The average value of the cars imported last year was £lB9, compared with £173 for the previous year. Tt is interesting to note the countries from which New Zealand imports | her motor vehicles. Canada is far and away the most impressive supplier, and easily heads the list, both for the number of vehicles and their aggregate value. The United States of America comes next, followed at a long interval by the United Kingdom. Then come Italy, France, Belgium and Australia in that order. Canada supplies the cheapest motor-car, at an average of £154, with America next at £2lO. The product of the United Kingdom is over 100 per cent, dearer than the Canadian, and costs £352 on the average. Nevertheless the demand for English motor-cars is an improving one, for during last year 1015 cars canw 1

into the Dominion from England, against 496 for 1923. The part, that is played by local coach-builders in making bodies for motor-trucks is illustrated by the fact that during last year only 93 completed trucks (which term includes lorries, vans and buses) were imported from Canada, while 1666 chassis were imported. Exactly the same sort of thing occurs in the, case of trucks imported from other countries. The most strik-' ing example is that of Great Britain, which sent only six completed motortrucks, but no fewer than 392 chassis. It is thus seen that the bodies for nearly all the heavy vehicles are built locally to meet local requirements. The majority of motor-cars imported arc complete models, but last year 1359 chassis came into the country for which ; bodies were manufactured locally. The import of motor vehicles into I Auckland during 1924 increased at aj rate proportionate to that of the Dominion as a whole. In 1924, the port received 4895 vehicles as against 4199 for the previous year. The value of the imported vehicles last year was £914,465, an increase of £226,321 when compared with the figure for 1923, £688,144. I'or the December quarter of 1924. New Zealand imported 4540 vehicles, compared with 3702 for the corresponding period of last year. The value of the vehicles for the quarter was £927, 277, compared with £671,434 for the December quarter of 1923. The North Island imported almost twice as many vehicles as did the tSouth Island last year. To North Island ports came 12,188 vehicles, while the total for the South Island was only 6441. The value of the North Island importations was over twice as much as that for the South Island, the actual figures being:—North Island, £2,367,503; South Island, £1,170,075.