Car imports tumble

The number of passenger vehicles crossing our borders dropped last month but new light commercials are well ahead of where they were this time last year.

Posted on 08 February, 2022

There were 6,956 used passenger vehicles imported into New Zealand during January, which is 39.4 per cent lower than for the same month a year ago.

Last month’s total included 6,493 cars coming in from Japan, which claimed a market share of 93.3 per cent, according to the figures from Customs NZ. This was slightly below 94.8 per cent for the whole of 2021.

Next up in January was Australia with 273 units and 3.9 per cent of the monthly total. The UK claimed third place with 62 and was followed by the US on 50 and Singapore with 46.

The overall total meant 4,515 units fewer crossed our borders than in January 2021. The latest figure was also 35.4 per cent lower than the 10,766 used cars imported in December last year.

As for used light commercials, there were 271 imports in January – an 11.4 per cent decrease from 306 units a year ago.

Last month’s figure was also down 55.5 cent from the 609 units imported in December 2021.

New imports

There were 6,400 new passenger vehicles imported in January, which represented a nine per cent decrease from the 7,031 units in the same month of last year.

The monthly tally was also down 38 per cent from December when 10,322 new cars crossed our borders.

For new light commercials, there were 3,241 units imported last month, an increase of 38.7 per cent from January 2021. However, the figure was 44.5 per cent lower than the 5,844 units seen in December this year.