4 Nov 2014

Vehicle sales for Oct best in 30 years

3:12 pm on 4 November 2014

Vehicle sales are booming with the number sold last month being the highest for any October since records were first kept in 1975.

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said there were 12,023 new vehicles registered in October, up 12.4% on that month last year.

The number of passenger vehicles sold went up by almost 12 percent to 8910, while the increase for commercial vehicles was 14 percent to 3113.

The commercial sector had been strong for some time, particularly for light vehicles. Mr Crawford said the heavy vehicle sector had also been strong - a reflection of the strong economy throughout New Zealand and mirroring good returns to farmers.

Mr Crawford said the figures reflected a high level of consumer confidence in the economy.

"The rate of vehicle ownership is going up again and I think people are saying they're confident about the economy, they're confident that they can buy a vehicle of their choice at this present point in time."

However, Mr Crawford warned that as the price of milk goes down, those sales might be affected in the future.

Toyota was the overall market leader in October, with a 26 percent share of sales, followed by Ford with 11 percent and Holden with 10 percent.

Overseas, the month of October was also strong for the American car market.

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