KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's love affair with cars is far from over, but its passion for big engines is cooling.
More new cars were sold in the country last month than any month in the past 17 years, with growth in small cars the strongest.
Figures show 7791 new cars
were sold, also marking the highest number of sales for October - a traditionally strong month for car sales - in 22 years. But while the appetite for new cars has grown, high fuel prices have taken some of the gloss off big-engined gas guzzlers.
The Motor Vehicle Association said sales of small cars so far this year have increased 8 per cent, but sales in the large-car sector are down 17 per cent.
"The dynamics of a quest for fuel efficiency is steadily eroding the New Zealand love affair with big-engined cars," spokesman Andy Cuming said.
He said the October increase in sales could be partly attributed to people who planned to buy new cars next year trading in earlier.
"They're saying, 'If we're buying a small car to save on fuel costs, why don't we do it now?"'
Such buyers also included motorists who traditionally favoured powerful cars but, out of the concern over fuel prices, had test-driven small-engined models.
"They're finding out that they're big cars inside," Mr Cuming said.
October was also a strong month for rental and company-fleet sales and this year was no exception, he said.
Overall, new car sales are running at about the same level as last year, but the Land Transport New Zealand figures revealed that Toyota - which has strong small-car sales - is widening its gap over closest rival Ford.
Toyota sold 1702 cars last month, a market share of 21.8 per cent, compared to second-placed Ford's 1200 cars, or 15.4 per cent market share.
Top among Toyota's models was the Corolla, which was also the highest-selling car of the month.
But while the Corolla has fuelled growth in the small-car sector, it has been unable to topple the Holden Commodore from its position as top-selling car of the year so far.
The Falcon also remains Ford's top-selling model, suggesting loyalty runs deep among big-car fans.
Fourth place behind Holden, which sold 998 new vehicles last month, was Mitsubishi, with 635, followed by Mazda (437) and Hyundai (400).
Sales of hybrid vehicles did not increase markedly because manufacturers Toyota and Honda were struggling to keep up with worldwide demand.
"They're selling all the hybrids they can get," Mr Cuming said.
The used-imports market, meanwhile, remained down on previous years by 20 per cent, but was now at "sustainable levels", he said.
In July, the Weekend Herald revealed that a glut of imports had created a dramatic slump in the market, giving buyers the upper hand.
Mr Cuming said the volume of used cars entering the country was now in tune with pre-2003 levels.
In 2003, 2004, and last year, competitive interest and exchange rates had led to an unusually high volume of imports flooding the market.
"Those sales almost ran out of steam. It was unsustainable," Mr Cuming said.
He predicted the conditions would continue to force some used-import dealers out of business, but believed it more likely to be the "opportunistic types".
