Imported vehicles bring busy market

The Suzuki Swift was the most popular new car registered in Northland last year. Photo / File

More than 4500 imported vehicles were registered for the first time last year in Northland, reflecting a "busier than usual" market, with the Suzuki Swift the most popluar.

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, 1835 of the vehicles were new and 2677 were used. The model with the most new registrations in the region was the Suzuki Swift at 220, followed by Toyota Corolla at 137 and Nissan Tiida at 115.

IC Motor Group used cars sales consultant Scott Batchelor said 2014 seemed to be busier than usual. IC sell new Nissan, Volkswagen and Hyundai vehicles and a number of used makes and models.

"The economy's on the rise so people are not quite as frugal with their money as they have been over the last few years," Mr Batchelor said. "New cars are getting cheaper and cheaper so used cars are coming down in price as well."

A number of factors were bringing prices down, he said.

"[The market's] getting pretty competitive. Car companies are making their cars far cheaper by sharing technology with other brands and there's pretty good finance deals."

Northland Toyota sales manager Aaron Budrewicz likewise said 2014 had been a strong year for sales.

"It's always a competitive market but now is just as strong as ever," he said.

"There's more importers bringing cars in that are driving the competitiveness.

"More buyer confidence is also a big driving factor. The competitive prices mean people can get extremely good value for money nowadays."

Prices were so good some people who would usually buy late model used vehicles were buying new, he said.

"There's also been really low-interest rates because financing is so competitive. People can borrow a lot more easily."

The growing popularity of SUVs was a notable shift in the market, Mr Budrewicz said.

"They seem to be more a vehicle of choice than generic large passenger cars that we used to sell a lot of.

"People are attracted to the functionality of one vehicle that is practical for family and lifestyle."

NZME regional motoring editor Colin Smith said record sales of new commercial vehicles had meant a strong year for car dealers.

Growth in the SUV market was particularly evident - nearly 30 per cent of the market were SUVs in 2014.

"More makes are 2WD, rather than 4WD, meaning they have lower running costs," he said.

The large and medium car segment had become a smaller slice of the market as a result, he said.