New cars in demand again

The Toyota Corolla was the most popular vehicle purchased last year.

Rotorua residents are increasingly making the shift to purchasing new cars, according to a local car dealer.

New Zealand Transport Agency figures show 833 new vehicles were registered for the first time in Rotorua last year, while 1242 used vehicles were registered.

The model with the most new registrations in the region was Toyota Corolla at 86 vehicles, followed by Mazda Axela at 77 and Hyundai I20 at 71.

Grant Johnstone Nissan and Suzuki principal dealer Sue Johnstone said there had been a notable increase in new-car buyers.

"New cars have really good finance rates," she said. "Nissans have one per cent finance rates where used cars generally have 14 per cent finance rates so you can basically get a new car for only a little bit more than buying a high-end used car."

The low dairy payout meant farmers hadn't been renewing their vehicles but strength in other sectors, such as construction, had meant sales had been good overall in the commercial sector, she said.

Privately, there was a clear move towards smaller cars and SUVs.

"There's definitely a move away from six cylinder vehicles because people find them too expensive to run. A lot of families nowadays buy SUVs and utes.

"They like having an everything vehicle that they can drive around town and take to the lake at the weekend."

NZME. regional motoring editor Colin Smith said record sales of new commercial vehicles meant a strong year for dealers.

Growth in the SUV market was particularly evident - nearly 30 per cent of the market was SUVs in 2014.

"More makes are 2WD, rather than 4WD, meaning they have lower running costs," he said.

"It also comes down to the fact there's such a huge amount of SUVs now. And they're a fashion thing. Families are buying them because they look good and have good features."

The price of new cars had remained relatively static in the past five years, he said.

"A vehicle that was $50K five years ago, will still be $50K now with a few more safety features so there's a perception of them having better value."

A catch-up from the global financial crisis when businesses and individuals didn't renew their cars had probably also contributed to the strong 2014, he said. NZME.