World Cup boost for car industry

Hyundai Motors NZ plans to land its Veloster coupe. Photo / Supplied

The new vehicle industry goes into 2011 divided over potential sales in a year marked by the Rugby World Cup tournament and a general election.

Some executives and analysts are picking a hike for passenger cars of 14 per cent, identical to last year's growth. Others are pegging 2011 gains at 4 to 6 per cent.

BMW managing director Mark Gilbert goes lower - he is not alone in believing that 2011 will be fairly flat, with overall passenger car sales similar to 2010 registrations of just over 62,000 units.

"Despite last year's gains, there is still uncertainty in the marketplace ... But I do believe the premium segment will grow in 2011."

Those picking overall growth are banking on economic benefits from the rugby and general election. RWC organisers expect 1.6 million spectators to attend the games.

Land Rover, for one, expects to capitalise on the rugby - it is the tournament's official vehicle sponsor and will have more than 110 vehicles to ferry officials and VIPs around. Some of the vehicles will go up for sale, complete with RWC logos.

Toyota won't let the RWC slip by - it expects to finish 2011 as New Zealand market leader for the 25th year in a row. Its first new vehicle for 2011 is the heavyweight FJ Cruiser.

Nissan will show off its all-electric Leaf in Wellington around the time of the rugby. The plug-in hatchback is due here later next year.

Renault reinvents itself in New Zealand this year, beginning with a line-up of Megane variants from next month. Hyundai Motors NZ will land its Veloster coupe. The two-door made its first public appearance at this week's Detroit motor show. Hyundai describes the Veloster as an "eco-focused" model. There's no word on price in New Zealand yet.

There are a host of new vehicles in 2011, from modest runabouts to megabuck supercars. The new vehicle industry finished last year on a strong note with passenger cars up 14 per cent and light commercials up 17.8 per cent on 2009.

Sales totalled 80,453 units, comprising 62,029 cars and 18,424 commercials. The top-selling car last year was the Toyota Corolla with 4890 registrations, followed by the Suzuki Swift (2724) and Holden Commodore (2564). Toyota took just over 20 per cent of this segment followed by Ford's 10.9 per cent and Holden's 10.2 per cent.

The Swift was number one among private buyers, after rental sales were removed. Toyota headed the commercial segment, too, with 3454 Hilux sales for 30.4 per cent of the market. The Nissan Navara held on to second place with 2077 registrations followed by the Ford Ranger with 1654 sales.

1963
There were 1,038,592 vehicles on the roads in New Zealand, including 636,319 cars, 2756 rental cars, 2794 taxis, 137,230 trucks, 3004 buses, 112,149 trailers and caravans, 29,123 motorcycles, 14,899 mopeds (scooters) - and 100,318 vehicles (tractors, for example) that fell under the exempt or miscellaneous category.

1973
Numbers jumped to 1,698,885 vehicles. Rental cars (5215) had almost doubled; trailers and caravans (243,504) had doubled. Trucks totalled 196,187, mopeds 24,081, taxis 3087, buses 3023.

1983
There were 2,279,132 vehicles roaming the roads in 1983. Private and business car registrations stood at 1,400,624, trucks at 284,324, motorcycles at 128,937, taxis at 2962, buses at 4113.

1993
There were 2,416,461 vehicles. Cars totalled 1,598,142, trucks 336,592, motorcycles 56,310, taxis 4054, buses 8544. Tractor numbers appeared for the first time and 18,615 were registered. Rental car numbers stood at 11,137.

2003
The vehicle population jumped to 3,053,229. There were 2,114,453 cars, 386,293 trucks, 401,381 trailers and caravans, 25,875 rental cars, 14,601 buses, 39,697 motorcycles, and 25,242 tractors. Taxis totalled 8073.

2010
The car park totalled 3,482,654, made up of 2,363,403 cars, 33,691 rentals, 7549 taxis, 430,774 trucks, 470,995 trailers and caravans, 63,461 motorcycles, 29,590 tractors. There were 19,459 mopeds. Just under 34,000 vehicles were in the exempt and miscellaneous columns.