Spending on vehicles up $17m

Automotive industry records the biggest quarterly increase of all the retail sectors in percentage terms, despite numbers dropping in the month of December.

Posted on 19 January, 2023

Retail card spending on motor vehicles jumped $17 million, or 2.9 per cent, in the December 2022 quarter, when compared with the September quarter of the same year.

The seasonally adjusted spend for the industry came in at $625m for the last three months of 2022, which topped $608m in the September period and also eclipsed the $613m achieved in the December 2021 quarter.

In actual terms, the latest quarter’s tally reached $649m, which was 1.3 per cent more than the $641m seen a year earlier.

The latest data from Statistics NZ shows the motor vehicle industry had the biggest percentage jump year-on-year among the six retail categories, when adjusted frop seasonal effects.

Consumables were next with an increase of 2.1 per cent, or $154m, over the same timeframe.

Overall spending in the retail industries increased $110m and 0.6 per cent, but was dragged down by the value of card transactions for fuel tumbling $197m, or 9.8 per cent.

Actual retail card spending hit $22 billion in the December quarter, up nine per cent from the same three months in 2021.

Monthly dip

There was less cause to celebrate for the automotive industry when looking at figures for the month of December alone, after retail card spending on vehicles fell by $6.1m, or 2.9 per cent, when compared with November.

December’s seasonally adjusted total was $202m, which was also a $9m drop from the same month of the previous year.

In actual terms, last month’s tally reached $223m, which was down 4.7 per cent year-on-year but also the highest monthly figure since December 2021 when it totalled $234m.

Statistics NZ says overall retail card spending fell $166m, or 2.5 per cent, between November and December, when adjusted for seasonal effects.

Spending fell across five of the six retail industries, with the only increase going to consumables – groceries and liquor, which were up $39m and 1.5 per cent. Fuel slipped by $26m and 4.3 per cent.

Ricky Ho, business performance manager, says: “The fall in retail card spending is large for a December month, and this month’s drop is the first in nine months.”

The total value of electronic card spending, including the non-retail categories of services and non-retail, fell $104m, or 1.2 per cent, in December.