Spending on cars jumps $7m

Year-on-year increase for motor vehicles but August’s total was down from the month prior.

Posted on 18 September, 2025

Retail expenditure on motor vehicles using electronic cards totalled $201 million last month, a jump of $7m or 3.6 per cent from August 2024.

The latest seasonally adjusted figure also shows transactions for the sector fell by $1.7m or 0.9 per cent when compared with July this year.

Transactions for fuel declined by $500,000 or 0.1 per cent month-on-month to total $477m in August, according to Stats NZ.

Spending on fuel using electronic cards also fell by $40m or 7.7 per cent on an annual basis.

Overall spending in the retail industries rose by $45m or 0.7 per cent to $6.94 billion last month.

Hospitality reported the biggest monthly climb in dollar terms, rising $21m or 1.4 per cent to $1.46b.

In actual terms, cardholders made 174 million transactions across all industries in August with an average value of $54 per transaction.

The total amount spent using plastic, which includes debit, credit, and charge cards, came in at $9.3b last month.