Big sales for little cars

[MotherBear]

Latest figures show big sales for little cars
11:06AM Monday April 07, 2008

Smaller cars are growing in popularity as New Zealand motorists continue to buy new vehicles despite toughening economic times.

The Motor Industry Association said 6364 new cars were sold in March.

While that was down 6.3 per cent on March 2007, last month had two fewer selling days due to the early Easter, the association said.

New commercial vehicle sales were buoyant, with 2492 deliveries, a slight increase on March 2007.

For the first quarter of 2008, new car sales were 3.6 per cent ahead of the same period last year, while new commercial vehicle sales were up 8.8 per cent, the association said.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Could be time to grab a bargain. With properties hitting a slump as well, it sounds like a great time for new immigrants to get themselves set up with a house and car.

Car sales hit brakes as dollar flows to groceries
5:00AM Tuesday April 15, 2008
By Brian Fallow

Retail sales were weak in February as the consumer dollar flowed to necessities like food and away from big ticket items like cars.

Total retail sales fell 0.7 per cent from January levels when adjusted for seasonal and leap year effects, Statistics New Zealand said.

The fall was largely due to a decline of $41 million or 5.8 per cent in vehicle sales.

Core retail sales, which exclude the automotive sector, rose 0.2 per cent but only because of a 1.6 per cent rise in supermarket and grocery sales. Excluding that, core retail sales were flat.

Much of the increase in supermarket and grocery store sales would have reflected higher prices; food prices rose 0.8 per cent in February.

More here .