MOTOR IMPORTS INCREASE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 891, 7 February 1930, Page 11

MOTOR IMPORTS INCREASE

TOTAL OF £4,278,000 SPENT LAST YEAR

MORE ENGLISH CARS

Thirty-six per cent, was the increase shown in the importation of motor-cars to New Zealand during 1929, and in the 12 months ended on December 31 last the total sum of money sent out of the country for the purchase of cars, motor-buses, trucks, and chassis amounted to more than £4,278,000. But although only 20 per cent, of this amount went to the United Kingdom, it marks a 72 per cent, increase in the use of the British car. The total numerical increase over the mentioned period of last year was over 15 oer cent. Following: is an analysis of the dutiable values of the imports during 1929: Great U.S.A. Canada Britain Others £ £ £ ;£ Cars . . . 1,355,283 1,303,769 625,255 4,033 chassis . 25,431 32,041 59,571 2.504 Commercial vehicles 574 65,220 7,.023 Commercial chassis 458,982 173,216 161,906 3.612 1,840,570 1,547,246 853,755 10,149 There was an increase of 42 per cent, in the total number of cars and car chassis imported from all sources, while the actual number was 23,361, compared with 16*,504 in the preceding 12 months. British cars and chassis totalled 4,064, compared with 2,364 in the previous year, which gives a 72 per cent, increase in the use of the British car, although as yet on the local market it still holds a~small position numerically. The origin of imports on the numerical basis in 1929 was as follows; Canada, 46 per cent.; United States, 36 per cent.; Great Britain, 17 per cent.; Continental countries, less than 1 per cent. Following are details of the car imports for the past three years:

10,871 16,504 23,361 Over the past few years the average value of the imported cars has shown a steady decrease, for in 1922 the average car was valued at £202 at the port of shipment, but last year the figure stood at £147. The average price of English cars in 1929 was £172, as against £196 the preceding year, and the high figure of £547 seven years ago. Buses, trucks, vans, and commercial chassis imported last year numbered 5,795, two and a-half times the total for 1928, when the importations of this type of vehicle numbered 2,282. The previous record was in 1925, when 3,496 heavy vehicles were landed. In 1929, the United States supplied 52 per cent, of the commercial motors; Canada, 39 per cent.; and Britain only 9 per cent., a heavy decrease compared with the previous year, when the proportion was 18 per cent.

From the following table,' which gives the details of the commercial motors imported during the past three years, it is evident that although Great Britain has lost ground proportionately m the commercial vehicle field, this has been due only to the exceptional increase in the importations of both Canadian and American trucks:

United States 1927. . . 6,122 Canada . . 2,336 Great Britain . . 2,128 2 361 France Italy Belgium 12 12 Germany .. ., 2 1

United States .. Canada Great Britain . France Italy Belgium Germany 1927. . 1,112 688 410 9 1928. 1,465 366 404 34 1 • 1929. 2,995 2,273 ' 519 S 2,233 2,282 795