Industry prepares for action after lockdown
A team of experts from across the supply chain for importing vehicles is meeting to start devising a plan to help businesses in the transition out of Covid-19 alert level four.
David Vinsen, chief executive of the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) told Autofile that the first meeting of a new steering group set up in response to the current lockdown was to be held by video conference on April 9.
The group, which has been put together in just a matter of days, aims to compile suggestions as to what types of trade or services should be allowed at the various alert levels. Those recommendations will go to government officials to help them decide when certain companies can resume work.
New Zealand is currently on the highest alert level – number four – for Covid-19 and it is expected to gradually shift down through the levels as the threat of the pandemic weakens. In turn, an increasing number of businesses will be able to reopen as they try to recover from the effects of the lockdown that began on March 25.
Vinsen, pictured, says the steering group features “people from each sector of the industry” and was created after VIA members were worried about a lack of clarity around when people could get back to business. The group hopes to have a list of suggestions to send to officials – including those at the Ministry of Transport, NZTA and Epidemic Response Committee – in two weeks’ time.
“If we prepare something, it means the officials will have something to work from when they start making decisions about what activities are permissible at certain levels,” Vinsen explains. “The whole aim is to have clarity around what we can and can’t do so that businesses can start things as quickly as possible once the alert levels change.
“We want to ensure we are ready for when we come out of lockdown and that we have established protocols for the various alert levels. The uptake has been fantastic and people are keen to participate and come up with ideas.”
Representatives from the Motor Trade Association and Motor Industry Association have also been invited to be part of the discussions to help create a “solution for the whole vehicle industry”.
Vinsen says Kit Wilkerson, VIA’s policy adviser and analyst, has been tasked with bringing “together the different ideas into a draft to help officials when they make decisions”.
“It’s all about our industry showing some leadership on how to come out of this and showing some preparedness, but also making sure whatever recommendations that we make do not fall foul of the intentions of the emergency legislation,” Vinsen adds.
“At the moment people are cash flow constrained, GST bills are building up, cars are going into storage and there’s a whole backlog, so it’s critical we get things going as quickly as possible. The supply chain is grinding to a halt. We have a situation where we want to be able to push these vehicles through and get the money going again as efficiently as we can once restrictions change.
“It’s a very complex situation, we think we’re aware of all the problems we will encounter and we’re working hard to come up with solutions as we go along.”
