Kiwis snap up new wheels

The Suzuki Swift. Photo / Supplied

The new-vehicle market in New Zealand is showing signs of buoyancy, five months after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disrupted production and supply worldwide.

July registrations were ahead of the same month in 2009 and 2010, says the Motor Industry Association.

"The new-vehicle industry is beginning to regain ground lost over the past three months, when sales were impacted by stock shortages," said its CEO Perry Kerr.

Registrations of new passenger cars in July totalled 4879 units, up 9.7 per cent on last year. Likewise, commercial registrations of 1826 were up 17.7 per cent on 2010.

Toyota regained the top spot with total sales of 1026, made up of 616 passenger cars and 410 commercials.

Ford finished second with 709 sales (465 cars and 244 commercials) with Holden coming in third with 687 sales (564 cars and 123 commercials).

The best-selling model for the month was the Suzuki Swift with 325 sales. This result has given the Suzuki Swift overall model leadership year-to-date with 1978 registrations, just ahead of the Toyota Corolla with 1960.

The next best-seller was the Toyota Hilux (262) followed by another light commercial vehicle, the Nissan Navara (248).

In the passenger car market, Holden took out three of the top four best-selling models with the Holden Commodore number two (204 registrations) followed by the Captiva (163) and the Cruze (154).

The Toyota Corolla is still affected by stock shortages and was in an uncharacteristic ninth place.

US drivers not upgradingAmericans have difficulty paying for costly vehicle repairs and are driving older cars longer, says a survey.

Almost 25 per cent of drivers said they would be unable to pay for expensive repairs to their vehicles.

More than 50 per cent of drivers said they were still driving an older vehicle "because they do not want the financial burden of a new one".

The American Automobile Association finding is the first of its kind.

It said: "Economic conditions have taken their toll on many Americans resulting in them neglecting their cars and leaving them at increased risk for very expensive repair bills."