Demand for vehicles in Whanganui is high heading into 2022

Michaella Luxton (with her dog Stig) bought a car just before Christmas last year. Photo / Supplied

The demand for new and used cars in Whanganui has remained high heading into the new year.

Wanganui Motors owner Mark Quirk said the current market was very buoyant - across most prices and most sizes of vehicle.

"Our major problem at the moment is supply, although suppliers are saying that it will get better. We all hope so," Quirk said.

"For certain model lines we could be waiting from three to six months."

Driven Magazine editor Dean Evans said the used car values had increased from anywhere between 10 and 30 per cent since March 2020.

"That's because the demand has been high but supply has been restricted, given New Zealand is such an import-driven market."

Late model trade-ins available for resale were few and far between as a result, Quirk said.

Pre-Covid-19, wait times for a new vehicle were usually not longer than a month.

"We might even have had something in stock that the customer could drive away the next day," Quirk said.

"Showroom stock just isn't available for the bigger sellers at the moment."

Whanganui woman Michaella Luxton bought a mid to high-end used car from Wanganui Car Centre just before Christmas and drove it home yesterday.

It was the first time she had bought a vehicle from a dealership.

Luxton said she was after something with low mileage, and she didn't mind spending a little bit extra to secure that.

"I picked a car that was fresh off the boat and hadn't gone through all its checks and things," Luxton said.

"Despite all of that, I thought the turn around was incredibly quick. It was over Christmas and New Year's as well."

Harvey Round Motors owner Antony Rountree said December had been strong for him in terms of used car sales.

"I think people are buying cars because they're not going overseas and they're not spending money elsewhere.

"New cars are selling quite strongly and the same goes for used ones."

A lot of stock came from Japan, and because that country was been affected by Covid-19, the selection of vehicles coming into New Zealand had been harder to obtain, Antony Rountree said.

"In saying that, we can still get them here because Japan has their own car ships, they don't just come over with general goods.

"Delays in bringing stuff into the country haven't been as bad as other goods, it hasn't been months and months.

"It has been a bit difficult finding good stock, but you just have to keep looking."

Dean Evans says 15 per cent of all vehicles sold in New Zealand last year were 'electrified'. Photo / Supplied

Supply issues would probably continue for at least the next six months, Evans said.

"There are lots of different supply issues as well, from electric vehicle batteries to the global semi-conductor shortage that we are experiencing at the moment," Evans said.

"That's basically computer chips, which are used in everything from mobile phones to cars of course. Cars can use thousands of them."

New Zealand had lost its cheapest new car, the Suzuki Celerio ($15,990), at the end of last year, Evans said.

"Now it's the MG3 at $19,490.

"You would have to really dig deep to find cars that appreciate in value, but on the other hand, the depreciation factor has reduced over the last one to two years."

Evans said 15 per cent of all vehicles sold in New Zealand last year were 'electrified', whether that be hybrid, BEV or PHEV.

"Come April 1, we are going to see more even more of a demand for electric vehicles, but also for economical vehicles.

"We've had a shift away from smaller hatchbacks and cars over recent years, but there might be a shift back again.

"SUVs and utes account for effectively three-quarters of the vehicles sold in New Zealand."

Quirk said more inquiries about electric vehicles were being made, and two electric charging systems were recently installed at the dealership.

"It's the affordability that's the harder part to get around at the moment. The prices are expensive on the EV product.

"In time, that might possibly get better.

"Every manufacturer has to have some kind of vehicle in there, otherwise they will be left behind."

Rountree said fully electric vehicles didn't offer good value for money and had the chance to depreciate in value much more than their petrol-fueled counterparts.

"For me, hybrid would be the way to go for people who want to save a bit of money on fuel."