Passenger Car Sales In NZ, New vs Used

...and still they come. 

New Zealand is a relatively small car market. Manufacturing has never been undertaken for that reason, although there was assembly from kits (CKD). The inefficiency of that system lead to the government removing protection and cars were imported instead. By 1998, all assembly plants were closed.

In the late 1980's restrictions on used cars was eased. NZ cars are right hand drive as they are in Japan. Also the Japanese have a policy of removing older but still very good cars off the road to help the local car industry. Instead of them all being scrapped, better ones were bought and imported. That led to a tsunami of used car flooding the country.

Below is a chart showing how that is the case, data from MIA, NZ. The late 1980's it started and by 1990, more used than new were being sold. It nearly reached 70%! The 2014 figure is for nine months.

	Year	New	Used	Total	% Used
	1975	78,750	4,863	83,613	5.8%
	1976	70,251	3,276	73,527	4.5%
	1977	59,074	2,750	61,824	4.4%
	1978	64,468	2,681	67,149	4.0%
	1979	68,159	2,682	70,841	3.8%
	1980	75,671	2,701	78,372	3.4%
	1981	89,466	1,907	91,373	2.1%
	1982	83,667	1,812	85,479	2.1%
	1983	74,085	1,766	75,851	2.3%
	1984	96,418	2,019	98,437	2.1%
	1985	81,516	2,918	84,434	3.5%
	1986	76,075	3,946	80,021	4.9%
	1987	77,499	12,129	89,628	13.5%
	1988	71,218	17,371	88,589	19.6%
	1989	83,862	50,966	134,828	37.8%
	1990	74,422	85,324	159,746	53.4%
	1991	55,615	47,351	102,966	46.0%
	1992	52,964	39,146	92,110	42.5%
	1993	53,822	43,841	97,663	44.9%
	1994	61,765	62,088	123,853	50.1%
	1995	65,680	80,976	146,656	55.2%
	1996	64,414	111,769	176,183	63.4%
	1997	58,558	97,041	155,599	62.4%
	1998	54,154	99,937	154,091	64.9%
	1999	58,195	131,118	189,313	69.3%
	2000	57,618	116,124	173,742	66.8%
	2001	58,162	128,693	186,855	68.9%
	2002	64,086	136,418	200,504	68.0%
	2003	70,453	156,972	227,425	69.0%
	2004	74,755	154,042	228,797	67.3%
	2005	77,825	152,488	230,313	66.2%
	2006	76,804	123,390	200,194	61.6%
	2007	77,454	120,382	197,836	60.8%
	2008	73,397	90,841	164,238	55.3%
	2009	54,404	68,757	123,161	55.8%
	2010	62,029	88,613	150,642	58.8%
	2011	64,019	80,852	144,871	55.8%
	2012	76,871	78,311	155,182	50.5%
	2013	82,436	98,971	181,407	54.6%
	2014	66,865	94,840	161,705	58.7%

So what effects has it had in NZ?

With not enough new cars to supply the used demand, that kept used prices high. They fell quickly with the deluge of second hand cars coming in. 

New car prices probably dropped a bit but not by much as new cars are still quite expensive here compared to say Australia. Occasionally very popular imports caused new car importers to realise there was a demand for such as a new car as well, so started bringing them in.

The age of the fleet grew with so many used cars arriving, leading the government to legislate to favour newer used cars imports. 

New car buyers dictate what cars are available used. Sometimes their tastes are different to used buyers. So models that would never sell new sometimes proved popular as second hand imports. For example, the Japanese have domestic only models. Some are small MPV models that come in to NZ and have met a need the new car market wasn't providing for. 

The gains of cheaper imports hasn't always been passed on to consumers as big importers made too much on them I feel. The price of new cars often seem to dictate what they sold for rather than the price to bring them in plus a modest margin. No one understands how to overcharge like a New Zealander, I'm sorry to say. Still, that is the way everything is here, so it is all relative. I think it is better now.

There are other aspects to used imports as well, arguments for and against from those with have a financial reason for an opinion. As one who doesn't have a vested interest one way or another, I feel they have been good for most New Zealanders. It has made good, reliable cars available at a better price on the used market.