Ports groaning under weight of vehicle imports

March was a record-breaking month for vehicle imports, with Customs New Zealand reporting 32,800 new and used vehicles arriving in the country. This is a 39 per cent increase on March 2016, and a 19 per cent increase on February this year. 19,579 used passenger vehicles were imported last month, a 50.6 per cent increase on March 2016. This is the largest month in recent history, with the previous record 16,450 in May 2014. 18,446 of these vehicles came from Japan, taking 94.2 per cent of the market. Japanese imports increased 50 percent in March compared to last year.  Next was Australia, with 630 used imports, increasing 33.5 per cent year-on-year, and Great Britain, with 241 imports; a massive 288.7 per cent year-on-year increase. Year-to-date, used cars are 27 per cent ahead of the same period. Used commercial imports also increased, up 34.2 per cent to 722 units. 94 per cent of these vehicles came from Japan, according to provisional Customs statistics, with Australia second on a two per cent market share. New vehicle imports were also strong in March. A total 12,499 new vehicles were imported last month, 17 per cent higher than February and a 26.3 per cent increase on March 2016. New passenger vehicles rose 21.7 per cent year-on-year to 9,200. Of these, 3,399 were from Japan, a 36 per cent market share. Next was Korea, with 1461 new passenger imports, a 15 per cent share, and then Germany, with 1255 imports. Australian imports fell further to 322 units, from a six-month high of 846 last October.  New commercials imports increased 31.3 per cent compared to March 2016, with 3,299 vehicles. 76 per cent of these new imports were from Thailand, where several top-selling utes, such as the Ford Ranger, Nissan Navara and Toyota Hilux, are manufactured. Next was Japan with an 11.6 per cent share and then China on three per cent.