New car sales plunged in April

Soaring petrol prices hit new car sales hard last month and encouraged a trend to smaller-engined cars, latest Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) vehicle registration figures out today showed.

New car registrations fell 28.2 per cent to 5109 in April from March and were down 7.4 per cent on April 2005.

Used car registrations -- imported used cars -- fell 24.1 from April 2005 to 9805, LTNZ said in a statement.

New commercial vehicle registrations fell 21.8 per cent on a year ago to 1482 and were down 43 per cent on the 2592 recorded in March.

The Motor Trade Association put a positive spin on today's figures, saying it was the first time this year monthly sales had dropped below the same month last year.

"So far this year, new car sales are still ahead of figures recorded last year -- despite the range of other economic indicators pointing to what should be a declining trend," spokesman Andy Cuming said.

Sales of new cars in the first four months of 2006 totalled 24,482, up 4 per cent on 2005 -- which was itself a boom year for new car sales, Mr Cuming said.

It was the growing strength of sales of smaller cars as motorists attempted to combat rising fuel costs that was keeping the heat on sales rates this year, he said.

"Overall, it is expected that 2006 sales would be on a par with 2005, which was the highest annual volume since 1989."

Toyota was the big beneficiary of the trend to smaller cars. It topped sales with 763, heading off traditional leaders Ford (726) and Holden (645), which have big-engined gas guzzlers to lead their brands.

Mr Cuming said Toyota was well placed to meet growing demand for more fuel-efficient cars, selling a range of small models plus the "pin-up" hybrid-fuelled Prius.

Small car sales in 2006 are up 22 per cent up the same period last year while the large car sector is 10 per cent down.

Sales of four-wheel drive vehicles are down only 1 per cent as companies have marketed smaller-engined models to counter concerns about fuel consumption.

- NZPA