Our take on the latest Car registrations (Thu 4 Mar 2021)
Used car registrations fell 15%pa in February
New car registrations up 10%pa
New rental car registrations up 4.5%pa
The key numbers...
- Total car registrations fell 4.6%pa in February, driven by a 15%pa drop in used cars, but limited by a 10%pa rise in new car registrations.
- The drop in used car registrations is dominated by a fall in small used cars (1600cc and under) which over the past three months are down 33%pa, a steep fall compared with the 6.4%pa drop in large used cars (over 1600cc) over the past three months.
- Provisional import statistics have new car imports up 74%pa in February while used car imports are down 20%.
- New rental car registrations grew 4.5%pa in February, the first month of annual growth in rental cars in the last 12 months.
Large and small used car registrations
Annual running total, Source:NZTA
...and our reaction
- The trend of stronger new cars and weaker used car registrations continued in February.
- The availability of cars appears to be the main factor affecting sales right now, as new imports have managed to recover, allowing previous sales orders to be filled.
- New car availability is dependent on manufacturing while used car availability is mainly dependent on car turnover in Japan, which appears to be slow, particularly for small cars.
- A shortage of semiconductors is limiting overseas production as the rebounding automotive industry struggles to secure vital production inputs.
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