Carmakers celebrate sales peak

The new-vehicle industry is popping champagne corks - sales figures are the best for two decades. New-car sales hit 77,825, with 25,623 commercial vehicles registered, taking the total to 103,448. That's 1130 below the 1985 figure.

Perry Kerr, chief executive of the Motor Industry Association, says 2005 was a watershed year for the industry.

"It marks the dawning of a new age as the industry moves well clear of the negative cycle brought about by the buoyant early years of used imports."

Toyota was the big winner, topping the sales charts by 2480 units from second-placed Ford to take 18 per cent of the overall market, and 16.76 per cent of the car market.

Holden took third, but with a reduced share and reduced overall sales thanks in part to a drop in Commodore sales.

Yet the Commodore still took top spot for the seventh year in a row. This time a smaller Corolla replaced the Ford Falcon in second, with the Ford third.

Do reduced large-car sales and a corresponding rise in the popularity of small cars confirm a trend? Kerr is conservative.

"It does appear that there's a shift away from large cars. In previous years there's been a shift into four-wheel-drives. I think it'll take another six or 12 months to be sure the move from large cars and SUVs is a trend, rather than a statistical blip."

There's little movement between the top names on the table apart from Suzuki, which doubled its market share. Further down the charts relatively large changes happen.

The biggest-growing brand of 2005 was the tiny SsangYong, with an increase of 206 per cent. This still brought the tally to only 562, but that's 89 ahead of Land Rover, and having numbers on the road raises public awareness of a brand which is clearly getting the value-for-money message across.

Managing director Russell Burling cites well-chosen sponsorship as a key to the success. SsangYong is heavily involved with motorcycle sport, in which utes and four-wheel-drives play a part. Burling says several new models and upgrades are due, and the company is targeting 1000 sales this year.

Further up the charts, Kia entered the top 15. It almost tripled its sales thanks to a new distribution team that's got the bit between its teeth, and a raft of new models like the latest Sportage, the Cerato hatch and sedan and the smaller new-generation Rio.

It's gone from also-ran to 13th spot on the MIA's charts, ahead of Daihatsu and only 22 cars below Subaru.

The general manager of Kia Motors NZ, John Keenan, is delighted with the rise in Kia passenger-car sales, and cites the brand's value-pricing policy.

"We're building on that policy with the introduction of drive-away pricing on all our advertising, a totally transparent pricing scheme." No doubt the five-year warranty won't hurt, either.

Another brand to cite pricing policy as a key to its success is Honda, in eighth place overall and fourth in terms of passenger car sales.

Honda New Zealand managing director Graeme Seymour says, "At Honda, consistent, reliable prices that represent value for money applied equitably to all customers is a religious belief, because to do otherwise is to undermine our existing customer.

"I struggle to understand how some makes focus only on short-term volume at the expense of their existing customers."

"Motor vehicles are not just any old commodity item," Seymour says. "They represent the largest or second-largest purchase item for most people. A sales campaign that undermines the resale value of a customer's car is the quickest way to destroy customer loyalty."

Much of the sniping about big discounts and their harmful effect on residual values and customer confidence is no doubt aimed at Toyota, which is notorious for large fleet discounts, and the disparity between recommended retail price and the actual cost to the customer.

It doesn't seem to be hurting the Japanese giant, which is poised to topple GM as the world's largest automotive manufacturer, and which tops New Zealand's sales charts overall.

Commodore was still New Zealand's favourite car last year, but Corolla sold more units in December than Commodore and Falcon combined. That may indicate greater change among the giants this year, while several smaller distributors expect shifts in sales after a management shake-up.

Renault New Zealand has a new broom, Robert Nash, who proved himself at Volvo by hanging on to sales in the face of ageing product.

He'll be rejigging the French brand's stance in what will be a busy year, given the arrival at the international helm of Carlos Ghosn, who is expected to initiate a shake-up as he did at Nissan.

Meanwhile the Premier Automotive Group suite that includes Land Rover and Jaguar now gets former Subaru hot-shot Wallis Dumper, who will need to dig his heels in since Jaguar sales are in freefall.

Since New Zealand is a market largely driven by new model launches, he and Nash may have a hard row to hoe given the paucity of new models on their horizons. Both will be looking to consolidate this year, and come out firing in 2007.

"It'll be an exciting year," Nash says, "but first I've got to get through this one."