Liz Dobson: Car sales forecasts blow hot and cold

Norm Wilkinson, and Barb Wilkinson hang out of the sun roof of their new Honda, with Neil Dunn, general manager at Honda in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Thinking of buying a new car this year? Well vehicle distributors will be happy to hear that after 2014's bumper year of registrations.

With a record over 126,000 new passenger vehicles registered last year, some punters may be expecting that that figure will be beaten on December 31, 2015.

But others in the motor industry aren't so sure that we'll have another record year.

At a couple of car launches recently the feeling from bosses was that we've peaked and instead we will stay at last year's figure and not beat it.

At his Genesis luxury sedan launch, Hyundai New Zealand general manager Andy Sinclair told motoring journalists that it was "hard to predict what will happen this year [with new car sales] ... I think we'll plateau".

At this week's TT sports coupe launch, Audi New Zealand's managing director, Dean Sheed, suggested "slightly less growth" than last year.

But for the luxury brands, 2015 has started off with a roar.

Porsche New Zealand sold 74 vehicles last month, with an array of sports vehicles from the German marque registered - from Boxster to Cayman and Cayenne.

They were joined in the 'sold' bracket by six Bentley, eight Aston Martin, four Ferrari, eight Maserati, a Lamborghini, four McLaren and one Rolls-Royce.

The start of 2015 saw a total of 11,667 new vehicles registered, making it the strongest January monthly sales on record.

That figure was made up of 9010 passenger vehicles and 2657 commercial vehicles.
The Driven team also has queries from friends, colleagues and readers most days about what new vehicle they should buy.

So, do you plan to buy a new vehicle this year? Let us know at nzherald.co.nz/driven