Spending on cars increases
Retail card spending on motor vehicles increased by $4 million – or 2.1 per cent – in March, when compared with the total consumers splashed out in the month prior.
The increase took the industry’s seasonally adjusted figure to $195m last month, the highest it has been since April 2024, according to data from Stats NZ.
Spending on motor vehicles, excluding fuel, recorded the biggest month-on-month percentage change of the six retail industries covered in the latest statistics.
The only other climber was consumables, which were up $9.5m, or 0.4 per cent, over the same period. The amount splurged on fuel fell by $12m, or 2.3 per cent.
March’s total value of transactions using electronic cards for motor vehicles matched what was achieved in the same month of 2024, when it also came in at $195m.
The latest seasonally adjusted values show overall spending in the retail industries dropped $52m, or 0.8 per cent, between February and March this year.
In actual terms, cardholders made 169m transactions across all industries in March, with an average value of $54 per transaction. The total amount spent using cards was $9.2 billion.
As for figures for the first three months of 2025, motor vehicles were the biggest climber as spending rose $9m, or 1.6 per cent, from the December 2024 quarter to $569m.
