confidence for the road ahead. comcom plans $4.5 million ... · ev crash testing underway continued...
TRANSCRIPT
MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF AUTOTALK.CO.NZ – VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 8 | SEPTEMBER 2018
T H E V E H I C L E D E A L E R ’ S N E W S S O U R C E
INSIDE
9 13
GLOBAL VEHICLE LOGISTICS NZ · JAPAN · AUSTRALIA · UK · EUROPE | www.autohub.co
The market leader for over a decade.Shift to the Autohub Team and
experience the Autohub difference.
Confidence for the road ahead.
EV supply stretched 3Running for a good cause 9 Armstrong celebrates quarter-century 10Five decades with Repco 13
ComCom plans CIN crackdown
Dealers face another round of scrutiny from the Commerce Commission.
The Government regulator has con-firmed to AutoTalk it will launch the next round of unannounced dealer visits checking consumer information notices (CINs) later this year.
But a spokesman would not yet dis-close the location.
“[The commission] has an ongoing programme of unannounced visits to retailers, including motor vehicle traders.
“We also undertake ongoing online surveillance around CIN display and the requirement to disclose ‘in trade’ status online.”
During 2016/17 and 2017/18 the commission says it carried out 74 unannounced visits to motor vehicle traders, of which seven were found to be non-compliant at the time of visit.
Other enforcement action against motor vehicle traders arose from online
surveillance and complaints to the commission, the spokesman says.
The regulator also notes 420 com-plaints were made against motor vehi-cle traders during the 2017/18 financial year, compared with 359 in 2016/17.
“As we noted, motor vehicle sales are a big part of New Zealand’s retail economy and we continue to receive a range of complaints about this sector, including misrepresentations about ve-hicle quality and consumers’ rights and the failure of dealers to provide redress for serious fault,” a spokesman says.
“We will identify the systemic issues consumers are facing and step up our education efforts in this area.”
Continued on page 14
$4.5 million invested in new Ford ‘store’
Automotive Holdings Group will open its latest dealership facil-ity early next month, bring-
ing something quite different to the popular Wairau Valley dealer Zone.
The “Ford Store by North Har-bour Ford” sits slightly away from the main strip on Link Drive and is a massive conversion of what was previously a bulk retail-style store. So far $4.5 million has been invested in the project.
It also makes the shift for the business to being an “unbundled” dealership - sales, used vehicles and service are all on difficult sites.
Read more about the store, and check out our video interview with dealer principal Steve Fraser, on page 4.
2 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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Some dealers are finding it tough to get their hands on
electric vehicles.Increased global
demand, increasing fuel prices and natural disas-ters in Japan are among factors behind the delays
GVI Electric general manager Hayden Johnston is one of those who is finding it tough.
“We are looking at four to five-month wait times on some of the brand-new vehi-cles we are ordering from the UK and facing price increases as demand exceeds supply.”
EV City owner Dave Boot from Christchurch says there’s no doubt the second-hand EV market is exploding worldwide.
“With increased demand naturally comes increased prices.”
But Boot says it’s impor-tant not to lose sight of why the EV market is so impor-tant to the entire popula-tion.
“Any argument against EVs is an admission of ignorance. Arguing that the rising costs of second-hand EVs is a
good reason to stick with gas is like saying that it is cheaper to treat skin cancer than it is to use sunscreen.
“We continue to play on the train tracks because we cannot see the train coming. Well guess what, ‘toot-toot’.
“Hopefully, $2.40 per litre helps the masses hear the train coming.”
Another delaying factor is recent typhoons hitting Japan. Typhoon Trami hit on September 30 and October 1, following a similar path to the devastating Typhoon Jebi earlier in September, described as the worst storm there in 25 years.
That’s had an impact on the used car market too, affecting some ports in the worst hit areas and damaging some stock.
“I think it will slow things up too,” says Martin Harwood of Harwood Cars in Auckland,
specialising in second-hand Nissan Leafs.
EV charging infra-structure company Chargemaster managing director Nigel Broomhall says EV uptake is not only rising rapidly here,
but globally too.“Global inventories in
popular models are getting tight,” Broomhall says.
“Delivery times of six months and more are now common in Europe, where most cars are built to order. Some of our clients in New Zealand are ordering the Kona Elite which won’t be here until 2019,” he says.
“I predict that it is going to become increasingly difficult over the next 12 months to secure new EVs in NZ. Sure, we love second-hand cars, but supplies of these may also tighten as global de-mand continues to increase.”
Broomhall says he made his prediction after talking to dealers and buyers.
“When you combine this with talk of oil hitting US$100 a barrel and the increased price of fuel in our biggest
Dave Boot
EV delivery delays predicted
Nigel Broomhall Hayden Johnston
Continued on page 32
4 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGEOur industry experience means we take each deal on its own merit, helping you finance as many customers as possible. We also understand the importance of increasing margins on every car you sell,which is why we provide generous buy rates and non-discretionary commissions.
DRIVEN BY YOUR SUCCESSOur business model is driven by you selling more cars, we want to do everything to make that easier. Ourparent company is one of New Zealand’s biggest used car importers, so we’re uniquely driven to help you sell more cars with great margins.
PERSONAL SERVICEOur team live and breathe this industry, and we’re passionate about forging a path of growth for ourdealers. We set the standards for levels of communication because we really care about your business.We’re here for you, even if just for a chat.
FLEXIBLE REPAYMENTSWe don’t let roadblocks get in the way of selling more cars. To grow, you may need to be agile and flexible,so we provide flexible repayment dates for your customers and streamlined paperwork for you. Ourflexibility sets us apart.
FAST APPROVALSOur vehicle knowledge and experience financing Kiwis means we can go the extra mile to get loans approved quickly. We have helped many dealerships to succeed and understand that quick turnarounds and going the extra step can be a key to success.
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$4.5 million invested in new Ford ‘store’A
utomotive Holdings Group will open its latest dealership facil-ity early next month, bringing
something quite different to the popular Wairau Valley dealer zone.
The “The Ford Store by North Har-bour Ford” sits slightly away from the main strip on Link Drive and is a massive conversion of what was previously a bulk retail-style store. So far $4.5 million has been invested in the project.
North Harbour Ford dealer princi-pal Steve Fraser says the opening of the new store makes the operation an “unbundled” dealership - with new car sales only on site, used cars taking over the old new car operation on Wairau Road, and service sited a few minutes’ drive away in an impressive new facility on Hillside Road.
Fraser does not believe being off the main strip is an issue.
“We’re a little bit away, but we’re still in, in our terminology, the middle of the Wairau car zone,” he says. We’re just down the road from our friends at Toyota,
and we think there’s a visual link.”Both the new and service facilities are
part of a new Ford global brand standard.“Ford has called it Brand Retail Two,”
explains Fraser. “We’re the first met-ropolitan dealer in New Zealand to go through this new branding exercise.”
He says the new name is very deliber-ate.
“We’ve named ourselves the Ford Store by North Harbour Ford just to get
away from that traditional dealership.”The facility is enormous, with high
studs, a delivery bay - or celebration bay in Ford’s terms - video screens, a com-munity table with iPads for public use, a kitchen with snacks and refreshments, meeting rooms, traditional business man-ager offices and a light commercial zone.
Fraser was not sure of the final square meterage of the facility but knows it ranks as one of the larger single-brand dealerships.
“We’re not sure the exact claim to fame, but we think it’s probably the biggest to-tally indoor car dealership in New Zealand.”
All the cars are housed inside, with the ability to comfortably take 40, though 30 will be the usual level.
“Because my philosophy is we want to make it look like more of a car show than just a good old-fashioned car showroom, where you line them up side by side, and they’re all squeezed. I won’t lay them right out, so there’s lots of room, people can stand back and have a good look at the car.”
There have been tweaks to the customer experience process as well, though Fraser admits this is not some-thing unique to Ford. A concierge will welcome people in and direct them to where they need to go. A delivery spe-cialist will be hired to deal with their side of the process.
“The cars are going to be beautifully presented,” he boasts. “If someone’s bought their new pride and joy, they can go through a lovely experience; it’s in a dedicated area, where they can actually be shown around the car in a nice quiet environment.”
Interestingly, salespeople will not have offices or desks. They will be mobile, on the floor with customers. There are booths they can sit with the customer, using an iPad connected to an AppleTV and big screen for vehicle customisation. For privacy reasons, there are closed offices where business managers can complete their processes with the customer.
The delivery specialist plays a particu-larly important role as with the dealer-ship “unbundled” customers would not necessarily have a direct connection with the service department during the process - something that could impact retention. The solution: The final part of the delivery process involves taking the customer to the service facility.
Continued on page 6
find out more0800 751 851 I autofinancedirect.co.nz
INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGEOur industry experience means we take each deal on its own merit, helping you finance as many customers as possible. We also understand the importance of increasing margins on every car you sell, which is why we provide generous buy rates and non-discretionary commissions.
DRIVEN BY YOUR SUCCESSOur business model is driven by you selling more cars, we want to do everything to make that easier. Our parent company is one of New Zealand’s biggest used car importers, so we’re uniquely driven to help you sell more cars with great margins.
PERSONAL SERVICEOur team live and breathe this industry, and we’re passionate about forging a path of growth for our dealers. We set the standards for levels of communication because we really care about your business. We’re here for you, even if just for a chat.
FLEXIBLE REPAYMENTSWe don’t let roadblocks get in the way of selling more cars. To grow, you may need to be agile and flexible, so we provide flexible repayment dates for your customers and streamlined paperwork for you. Our flexibility sets us apart.
FAST APPROVALSOur vehicle knowledge and experience financing Kiwis means we can go the extra mile to get loans approved quickly. We have helped many dealerships to succeed and understand that quick turnarounds and going the extra step can be a key to success.
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6 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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“It’s something we have thought a lot about,” says Fraser. “We don’t think it is a major issue; it’s really just how we look after our customers.”
Fraser acknowledges the introduction of an extended warranty to five years alongside new service packaging and enhancements, like extended roadside assistance, is also helpful in this area.
“Cars don’t fail that often but there is the rare chance, and I think the warranty is really important. It’s a peace of mind thing as much as anything. And it just adds value to the brand in my opinion.”
Usable featuresFraser was keen to explain many of
the features of the building are there to make it usable for more than just vehicle sales.
He notes the high community ta-ble, which the interview was held on, naturally attracts people to congregate. There are iPads for people to use and free Wifi throughout the building.
“We’ve tried to make the building as user-friendly as possible, but it’s not from the salespersons point of view or the business’ point of view, it’s what feels good for the customer. So we have this area where we’re sitting now, we call it the community table - people just gravitate to it.”
Other similar touches include the cus-tomer lounge and accessibility to power and USB points for divide charging.
The light commercial area features three massive projectors casting video onto a huge wall - and Fraser expects events like Bathurst or rugby viewings to happen in the space.
It will also be made available to the community, the first event expected to be the annual awards night for the North Harbour Rugby Union, sponsored by the dealership, which will take over the whole space.
“The whole idea of the building, we really want to make it an experience -a place to go, a place to come and enjoy the dealership, see cars, look at cars, it’s not necessarily just to come and buy a car. We mean that passionately. It’s a destination. We want people to feel welcome coming in.”
Continued from page 4
North Harbour Ford dealer principal Steve Fraser
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8 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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Prominent Auckland yard for lease
One of south Auckland’s most prominent vehicle yards is up for lease.
The 12,000 square-metre-site at 622-630 Great South Rd was once home to Enterprise Cars Manukau, before the dealership moved earlier this year.
Site owner Brandon Orlandini says it could work as one large site or two smaller ones, set out at 6500 sqm and 5500 sqm respectively.
Orlandini expects used car dealers will be the most interested in the site.
“Enterprise had a thriving business there for decades until it shifted. It’s an iconic dealership site.
“They are serious sites in terms of visibility and positioning. They’re not for the faint-hearted.
“It’s always been a car yard. It’s the second oldest in Manukau.”
The site is going to be tarsealed and
fenced, with the new leasehold-ers able to bring portacoms if they wish.
Orlandini says he’s owned the land for about 12 months after buy-ing it off AUT.
“I sort of stumbled over it, even though it was on my back doorstep.
“Eventually it will be some kind of development.”
A couple of banners on the site fence have elicited some interest, but Orlandini is still keen to hear from different parties about long or short-term leases.
Contact Nicholai Orlandini on 027 274 4530 or email [email protected] for more informa-tion.
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AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 9
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AutoPlay founder Craig Brown is putting in the hard yards as he pre-
pares for the race of his life. Brown is the first to admit
he’s not a natural athlete but is taking on the 42-kilometre New York Marathon to raise money for the family of his friend Mark, who died last year after a battle with men-tal health problems.
His goal is twofold – to raise about $25,000 that will help provide Mark’s daughter, who has special needs, with an assistance dog, alongside boosting awareness about suicide prevention.
“For me it’s been a hell of a challenge,” Brown, whose company provides dealers with digital sales tools, says.
“I started training about four months ago. Every time I got over the 5km to 7km mark, my knees would play up.”
A physiotherapist recom-mended strengthening his glutes, which improved the situation, but Brown still couldn’t get past 15km with-out experiencing pain.
“I went to see a special-ist who said I might need an operation. I don’t have time to have the operation before the marathon, so I have to put up with it.
“It’s pretty painful to be fair. It ends up being a fast walk or slow jog at about 7km an hour.”
Most of his longer efforts take place over the weekend, reaching 30km so far, with the goal of getting up to 35km before the 42km marathon.
“The big thing is I will never be able to go out and do 33km without it having a big impact on my body.
“I need to allow a cou-ple of quiet days afterwards when I get back on the horse and keep pushing it.
“I’m normally known for
running to a bar, rather than around the block.”
Brown has a unique way of preparing for a big training session that works for him.
“Plenty of red wine the night before a big walk helps keep the blood flowing and mind focused. You certainly don’t feel like any after it.”
Along with running a business and having a young family, Brown says finding the time needed to train is a challenge.
But he’s had some great support from his family, includ-ing sister-in-law Laura Pattie, who has done the Coast to Coast and Ironman events.
“She’s been great with plenty of advice. She a great supporter and over-the-phone coach.”
Brown hasn’t been able to do any training with his running partner Isaac Piper who lives in Nelson, but the pair plan on running together during the mara-thon itself.
In fact, he’s used to train-ing by himself, even when away on business.
“It’s just making sure when you’re travelling, you’re going to the gym or doing some training in the park.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m doing
it for enjoyment. I’m doing it for a good cause.”
The marathon itself is a huge event, but Brown is determined not to get over-whelmed.
“In New York, they reckon it’s like the city of Invercargill doing the race, with the whole of New Zea-land supporting it.”
Brown says Peter Loft from Giltrap North Shore, who has run the marathon 21 times, gave him some valu-able advice recently.
“Peter told me to take in the carnival atmosphere but stick to my own pace. Keep at 7km an hour rather than trying to keep up with those doing 12km an hour.
“I think I’m mentally strong enough to do that.”
Brown is also encourag-ing his clients to sponsor one
kilometre for $500 to boost the fundraising effort.
The ultimate aim is to make the run an annual event.
If people are struggling with their mental health, Brown says they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help.
“Once it gets hold of you, it can be pretty relentless.
“There’s lots of support networks out there for peo-ple. It’s quite a big step to go to a support group.
“Or if you don’t want to go to a support group, talk to your mates.”
Click here to donate or email Brown at [email protected] to talk about sponsoring a kilometre.
To view an interview with Brown about the run visit Auto Media Group’s YouTube page.
Brown takes on New York challenge
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10 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
Armstrong Motor Group has cel-ebrated its 25th anniversary in style.
The company organised events for staff at its Mercedes-Benz Botany dealership in Auckland, Armstrong Pres-tige dealership in Wellington, Mer-cedes-Benz dealership in Christchurch and at The Vault restaurant in Dunedin, in recognition of the milestone
Managing director Rick Armstrong says it was important to acknowledge the large part staff have played in the company’s success.
“We decided we would celebrate with our staff instead of celebrating with our customers for a change.
“They are the ones that did all the hard work. At the end of the day, if the staff are happy, the customers are happy.”
Many staff have been with Arm-strong’s for more than a decade, with some getting close to 20 years, he says.
“When you look back and analyse how we got here, it’s not necessarily all strategic. A lot of it just kind of hap-pened. It’s just due to hard work.
“We’ve got a fantastic team of more than 500 staff.”
Armstrong says the company has come a long way since he started a small Christchurch-based used import dealership in 1993.
“In 2001 I figured the used import market wasn’t sustainable and got into the franchise game, which started off with Renault.”
Armstrong doesn’t think the busi-ness would have developed as a na-tionwide company, unless he had lived in Christchurch, then Wellington and finally Auckland.
Being owner-operated is another strength, he says.
“I think that allows us to be incredibly
DEALERTALK
Staff key to Armstrong’s success
Armstrong Motor Group chief financial officer Troy Kennedy, managing director Rick Armstrong and advisory board chair Mark Darrow.
The Armstrong Prestige Dunedin team enjoying the fantastic food in the White Room by The Vault, Dunedin.
Sarah Wong – Armstrong Prestige Wellington, Robyn Milne – Armstrong Nissan Lower Hutt, Carol McCrae – Armstrong Motor Group Lower Hutt, Jade Cosgrove – Armstrong Motor Group Lower Hutt, Annie Lynch - Armstrong Motor Group Lower Hutt.
Continued on page 12
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 11
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EV crash testing underway
Electric vehicles are about to jolt the Australian market into life, as Hyun-
dai, Nissan and Tesla respec-tively lead the charge to get the Ioniq, Kona, Leaf and Model 3 into showrooms.
But how do they respond to crash tests compared with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles?
Australasian New Car Assessment Pro-gram chief executive James Goodwin told EVTalk there are similarities and differences.
“Put simply, electric and hy-brid vehicles are subject to the same test protocols and rating procedure as conventional vehicles.”
However, for ratings from 2018 onwards, the approach to model variants includes specific provision for electri-cal safety, on top of other occupant protection con-siderations that were part of previous rules.
“For electric and hybrid vehicles, whether based on conventional drivetrain vehicles or not, the electrical safety provisions are intended to ensure that vehicle occu-pants, rescuers and test facility personnel are protected from electric shock from high volt-age sources in the vehicle,” Goodwin says.
“This can be seen in a crash test of an electric or hybrid vehicle, where the test labora-tory must perform additional checks after the test to ensure that there is no dangerous voltage on the body of the ve-hicle and that the high voltage battery has been isolated.”
This includes the use of safety equipment following the test.
“After the test, technicians
will approach the vehicle with thick insulating gloves and a rubber mat and measure the voltage between the vehicle
body and the ground – before touching the vehicle in any other way.
“An indicator (red light visible from outside the car) is also placed on the high-voltage supply of the vehicle – indicat-
ing whether or not the battery supply has been cut by the crash
system. Voltage from the battery is also measured and recorded throughout the crash sequence.”
Manufacturers can also ask ANCAP to implement its variants policy for pre-2018 vehicles.
That allows ANCAP to look at extending ratings to vari-ants of vehicles that weren’t physically tested,
“In considering the ex-tension of a rating from a conventional vehicle to a hybrid or electric variant, or vice-versa, there are some key considerations in terms of the crash performance of the vehicle,” Goodwin says.
One factor that needs to be considered is mass.
As mass increases, the amount of energy to be absorbed in the vehicle front structure increases, as does the possibility of intrusion, Goodwin says.
“Modern vehicles typically have structural elements that manage the crash energy well, and there is usually some margin, even in the severe 64km/h frontal offset test, before intrusion.
“Where vehicle mass is changed beyond given limits (usually 10%), ANCAP will ask
James Goodwin, ANCAP
Continued on page 14
12 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
DEALERTALK
flexible in the market. We can make very quick decisions.“We’re definitely a lot more strategic than 10 years ago, but
I don’t have to write a report and send it off to see what other people think if an opportunity presents itself.”
“There’s never been any doubt in my mind that we won’t achieve goals set for the group.”
And Armstrong is positive about the future.“For the next 25 years, we’ve laid a strong foundation to
position us in the market. But If I’m still here in 25 years, shoot me,” he jokes.
Armstrong says it could yet turn into a real family business, with his son James working in the head office and his teen-age daughter also interested in getting involved.
Rick Armstrong cuts the 25th birthday cake in Wellington.
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Savannah Cook – Mercedes-Benz Botany, Caitlin Hale – Rick Armstrong Holdings, Melissa Randell-Clark – Mercedes-Benz Botany, Sydney Marston – East Auckland Hyundai.
Armstrong Motor Group staff at the 25 year celebration in Wellington.
Continued from page 10
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 13
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Spending 50 years at the same company is a rarity these days, but Repco’s Gary Morgan has bucked
the trend.Morgan, who has worked as a
storeman for various incarnations of the company since September 1968, said goodbye to his distribution centre workmates at a farewell lunch marking his 50-year stint last month.
“For the most part, I have really en-joyed the job and friendships developed with work colleagues.
“It also offered job security for me and my family.”
He started off with the business when it was known as Motor Traders, before it was acquired by Andrews & Bevan, followed by Motospecs and finally Repco.
Morgan has spent more than half that time in Mt Wellington, but also worked in Newmarket, Mt Eden and Wiri for the company.
Along with the name variations, there has been plenty of changes in how parts
are shipped out during his five decades.“We used to have invoices and check-
lists to keep track of the parts, but a lot of that has been taken over by technology.
“It’s definitely faster and better in most respects. You’ve just got to move with the times.”
Another change Morgan had to get used to was the introduction of a com-pany uniform several years ago.
They replaced his beloved blue coats that were worn to protect employees’ personal clothes.
“I had plenty of coats, but once the new uniform came in, my wife made me put them in one of those charity clothing bins.”
Morgan estimates he has seen about 25 different managers at various levels come and go over the years, with cur-rent distribution centre manager Dene Osborne and warehouse manager Natalie Leaf two of his favourites.
“When Dene came into the company in 2006, he was walking around the warehouse after he had just been ap-
pointed warehouse manager.“I was the first one to go up and
shake hands with him. Everyone can get pretty nervous when a new manager comes in.”
For 46 of his years at the company, Morgan has been a union delegate, before stepping down earlier this year.
At 68, Morgan is happy to have reached the 50-year milestone, but says it’s time to call it a day.
“It’s getting harder for me to do the job. Age is definitely a factor.
“I want to go out while I’m still reason-ably on top of it. I want to spend time with my grandkids and follow some other interests like yoga and rugby.”
The death of two workmates this year has also confirmed to Morgan that he’s making the right decision.
He faced his own battle with mor-tality more than a decade ago, when he developed a life-threatening form of leukaemia.
Treatment included six months of chemotherapy and an uncertain prog-nosis about whether he would survive.
However, he remains grateful of the support he received from Repco.
“Repco management were wonderful and retained my employment through-out the illness, which was a relief as my wife had to give up her job during that time to care for me.”
Repco look after their older em-ployees well, with initiatives like allow-ing them to work four days a week.
“They offered that option a few years ago and I took it up. It’s helped me reach the 50-year mark.”
Osborne says Morgan has been a respected member of the team during his time with the company.
“Gary has always shown integrity and loyalty and we sincerely wish him a fulfilling retirement.”
Fifty years, one employer
14 | AUTOTALK OCTOBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
NEWSTALK
VIA’s viewThe Imported Motor
Vehicle Industry Associa-tion (VIA) has doubts about whether the value of CIN cards, but it urging people to follow the rules.
“It’s a pretty simple requirement. There’s no ex-cuse not to do it,” VIA chief executive David Vinsen says.
“People should be mak-ing purchases based on full information.”
However, Vinsen says the commission has only recently started enforcing the rules.
“Up until now they’ve largely ignored it unless
they’re prosecuting some-body for a range of other offences.
“There are other, more important things they could be turning their minds to.”
VIA also has problems with what can be physically listed on the cards.
“Unfortunately you can’t put anything on there that’s useful. You have to put on there the exact stuff the legislation requires.”
Information required on the CIN includes make, model, number plate, fuel type, the year first registered
and whether it was imported as a damaged vehicle.
Vinsen says he would love to see dealers given the ability to display other relevant information, like the inclusion of specific safety features includ-ing electronic stability control or autonomous emergency braking.
While VIA would like to get the legislation the governs CINs changed, Vin-sen describes it as a “huge exercise”.
The organisation put in submissions on the issue in 2002 and 2003, but had no success.
“There wasn’t much practi-cal consideration for what’s going to go on there,” he says.
“We need to be working with the Commerce Com-mission and others to make sure we can be genuinely providing the best informa-tion to consumers before and at the time of sale.”
As for the rising number of complaints against motor vehicle dealers cited by the commission, Vinsen isn’t concerned.
He describes 420 complaints compared with hundreds of thousands of sales per year as a “minis-cule percentage”.
David Vinsen
ComCom plans CIN crackdownContinued from page 1
a manufacturer to provide additional evidence, includ-ing additional crash testing,
to show that the vehicle’s rating remains valid.”
Another factor that needs to be considered is structure of the vehicle and associated amount of “crush space”.
Protecting occupants in both frontal and side impact tests requires a balance between absorbing energy, minimising acceleration of occupants, and avoiding intrusion into the occupant cell, Goodwin says.
“Large solid objects, such as an engine or gearbox, cannot be crushed – and if not carefully managed can intrude into the occupant cell. In considering an extension of a rating, ANCAP will consider differences in the shape and layout of the engine bay, and any additional solid items that may increase intrusion.
“These considerations are similar to those for a change of engine block layout – such as to cover inline 4 vs V6 engine. Where these differences may affect the rating of the vehicle. ANCAP will similarly require ad-ditional crash test evidence
to show that extension of a rating is appropriate.”
Goodwin says the various options taken up for EV rat-ings are varied.
Euro NCAP published a rating for the Nissan Leaf in April 2018.
ANCAP is gathering more information on local speci-fications before publishing an Australasian rating once the vehicles are offered new locally.
ANCAP also published a five-star rating for the Hyundai Ioniq in March 2017 to coincide with its New Zealand launch, based on results obtained through European testing.
It is working to determine the specification and safety performance of locally-sup-plied variants.
Goodwin says at this stage, ANCAP does not have plans to test the Tesla Model 3.
EV crash testing underwayContinued from page 11
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NEWSTALK
The New Zealand Hydrogen Asso-ciation has been
established to help advance hydrogen en-ergy as a low emission fuel source.
The association has been formed with significant input and funding from a num-ber of private sector companies, as well as seed funding from the Ministry of Busi-ness, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), association chairman Michael Fulton says.
He says it grew out of a private sector consortium of companies progressing the use of hydrogen as a low emission fuel source.
The association aims to support the use of New Zealand’s renewable energy resources to decarbonise domestic energy needs and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.
MBIE sees the hydrogen economy as not only reduc-ing carbon emissions but also developing the potential for a key export industry, its principal policy adviser Mark Pickup says.
“We encourage other par-ties working in the hydrogen space to join and support the
association. We see this as an important development in the Government’s plans for a zero carbon and sustainable future.”
Association founding member Real Journeys chief executive Richard Lauder says his company’s specially designed fleet of bullet coaches travel 1.3 million kilometres each year between Queenstown and Milford Sound. “The prospect of low emission hydrogen fuel cell coaches running this route would put Real Journeys at the forefront of tourism globally,” he says.
HW Richardson Group chief executive Brent Esler says the association’s forma-tion is an important step forward for industry.
The group is one of New Zealand’s leading transport companies, employing more than 2500 people and op-erating a fleet of more than 1000 vehicles in heavy trans-port, including businesses involved in fuel distribution and ready-mix concrete.
“We believe hydrogen will become a critical part of our energy mix in the future and are pleased to be a founding member,” Esler says.
Contact Energy is also a founding member, and its commercial and new ven-tures head Todd Spencer says there’s strong potential for developing renewable hydro-gen exports using low carbon, locally produced electricity.
Dr Linda Wright is the association’s chief execu-
tive, described by Fulton as a driv-ing force behind its formation as well as previ-ously forming the New Zealand Hydrogen Energy Consortium.
Membership is open to all busi-nesses, organisa-tions, individuals and academic institutions.
Fulton Hogan national develop-ment manager
Michael Fulton says his own company is evaluating the use of renewable hydrogen to replace the fossil fuels used in its day-to-day opera-tions.
An association found-ing member, Fulton Hogan employs more than 7500 people across the trans-port, infrastructure, water, energy, mining and land development sectors in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.
Other association found-ing members include Hyundai New Zealand, Siemens (NZ), Green Cabs, Venture South-land, and Southern Hemi-sphere Proving Grounds.
Hydrogen association formed
Dr Linda Wright with Hyundai’s fuel cell Nexo
16 | AUTOTALK OCTOBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
CRAWFORD’S CASE
INDUSTRYTALK
Political Pressure RisingT
he political process continues apace, nothing new there, it has been pretty much the norm for
successive governments. One might be tempted to say, “move on nothing to see here”. But that is not the case.
The Productivity Commission final-ised its report on how to achieve a low emissions economy by 2050 and ACC is consulting on new vehicle levies which has implications for light vehicles and motorcycle owners. Along with in-creases in fuel prices over the last few months, new fuel taxes have come into play in the last month as well.
For a Government who said no new taxes in its first term, the plethora of levy changes already implemented in its first year in office underscores the reality of political process. And the Beehive wonders why people find it hard to trust politicians.
ACC’s proposal to give a rebate to motorcyclists if they take a Ride Forever
course is a welcomed initiative. The MIA Motorcycle Group has argued the case for this with ACC for the entire time of my tenure to date with MIA. We know from practical experience that training pays huge dividends in rider safety.
To be fair, ACC had to persuade the boffins in the Treasury that training pays when it comes to reducing road trauma from motorcycle accidents. In a previous
life when I was an official working in the road safety area, getting the Treasury to agree to initiatives on training and adver-
tising was problematic. They always argued, with some merit, that there was no empirical evidence, anywhere in the world, to show categorically training reduced accidents. Kind of ironic given that there is heaps of evidence to show that training in the work place does lead to a safer working environ-ment.
What ACC has done though, is to carry out an empirical analysis of riders who have completed Ride For-ever courses and their accident rate follow-ing training compared to those who have not undertaken rider training. The evidence, not surprisingly to us, shows a definite cor-relation. ACC now has empirical evidence to show their Ride Forever course leads to signifi-cant improvements in rider safety outcomes.
They are to be commended for this work.MIA strongly supports the proposal to
rebate motorcyclists if they take a Ride forever training course.
As readers will know, the new stink bug season is under way and it is not without significant consequences to both new and used imported vehicles and machinery. New processes operating under approved systems are bedding in, the cost of which is born by industry. It is another incremental cost of doing business that eats away at already paper-thin margins.
Nine months into the year, already, and the new vehicle market landscape is changing. Year to date the market is flat, albeit at historically high levels. However, segments within the market are perform-ing differently.
Year to date, passenger cars and the luxury segments are down on the first nine months of 2017. SUV and light commercial segments remain strong, al-though the 4x2 ute segment is no longer in the top four segment spots for two months in a row. What we are seeing is a trend to downsize - from larger vehicles to smaller ones.
Distributors generally are reporting that there is also increased interest in BEVs and PHEVs. Some are now having to put in place waiting lists for EVs, as supply to New Zealand is constrained.
As we all know, New Zealand competes with the world for EVs and there is excep-tionally strong demand for these vehicles in markets that are larger than ours and/or where markets carry incentives. Given our light vehicle market for new vehicles in New Zealand is a little under 0.3% of total world production in 2017, it is no wonder manufacturer board rooms often wonder where New Zealand is!
Predictions for the total market come year end is for a flat market. The jury is out on whether 2018 will be another record year, it will be close.
A lot will depend on how the market continues to react to political interventions here and around the world. Punters are easily spooked, and sometimes they are spooked even when the underlying market factors are still quite good. The trouble is, in recent times, between fuel price increases and a bevy of new levies (taxes), punters are only seeing bad news and that affects their purchasing decisions.
Distributors generally are reporting that there is also increased interest in BEVs and PHEVs. Some are now having to put in place waiting lists for EVs, as supply to New Zealand is constrained.
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INDUSTRYTALK
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Discount Pricing strategy - do you have one?
Too often a discount pricing strategy only forms an informal part of vehicle trader’s marketing
mix. Although it’s a key part of selling it’s often not planned strategically and is implemented on an ad hoc basis without much analysis or consider-ation of all the available options.
When used properly, discount pricing has several advantages including: - Attracting potential customers - Driving sales - Freeing up space on your yard - Moving older stock units off your
yard - Helping with cash flow - The ability to differentiate your
business from competitors - Demonstrating value to buyers who
are keen to haggle on price.So where do you start?
Analyse the dataUse your data to take a look at your
least popular vehicles each month. A great starting point is to select about 10% of these vehicles and spend time analysing each of them individually.
Things to consider should include: - The number of days the vehicle has
been listed for - The number of views to the num-
ber of watchlists (view to watchlist conversion)
- How long the vehicle has been in your stock
- The amount of money the vehicle owes you.
- The next step would be to consider which factors about the listing you may be able to adjust to elicit a differ-ent response. Consider questioning:
- Is the vehicle priced correctly? - If the vehicle is priced higher than
most in the market, is it because it offers more than the usual and if so has this been highlighted?
- Does the listing have good photos? - Is the description appealing to the
right audience?
Weigh up the options: Discount vs promote
Before slashing the price, consider whether it makes sense to reduce the price or to promote the vehicle - or both?
Consider the following situation: If you’ve allocated $500 to reducing the price of the vehicle, could you promote the vehicle for less and still achieve the same result? What if you threw in a free vehicle accessory like a towbar to ap-peal to a specific target market - would you get the same result?
It’s about understanding each individu-al vehicle and tweaking it to help it sell.
Some dos and don’ts to considerDo: Understand exactly what days of
the week or month you’re more likely to get an increased number of watchlists, enquiries and sell vehicles. Why does this matter? It’s about co-ordinating your offers to coincide with reaching the most audience and getting the best hit rate.
Do: Discount your vehicles strategi-cally - having all your vehicles marked
down screams “sales tactic” to poten-tial buyers and could possibly create more doubt than generate sales.
Don’t: Raising your initial vehicle price only to discount it down to what it would normally have been listed for is not a real sale. Buyers have access
to lots of resources and we know that buyers are researching more and more, so they’re very likely to spot this tactic and shy away from your offers.
Don’t: Run an “always on” sale on all your vehicles - this lessens the effec-tiveness of discounting your vehicles by reducing the sense of urgency to buy while the price is reduced.
Discounting also comes with a num-ber of responsibilities and it’s important to familiarise yourself with the guidelines surrounding discount pricing. If you’re us-ing discounted pricing you should: - Ensure you’re not being mislead-
ing or deceptive with pricing – the price should be accurate and unambiguous.
- Only use discount pricing for amounts that reflect real value for consumers.
- Make sure the original price reflects the “normal price”, taking into account your own sales while on Trade Me. The discounted price for was/now pricing should be accurately advertised against any previous sale prices.
- Make sure discounted pricing doesn’t apply for more than 28 days. Tackling your discount pricing strategically on a regular and ongo-ing basis should help you attract more potential buyers and help you sell more vehicles
Claire Beyers Marketing Specialist - Trade Me Motors [email protected]
18 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
MARKETINGTALK
Despite reports of August 2018 being a strong month for sales nationally, for AutoPlay, August was a down month with only a slight increase in test drives (up
0.3% from July) and a decrease in leads (down 3.1%) and sales (down 1.4%).
Despite leads decreasing in August overall, leads attrib-uted to dealership websites increased by 1.2% (web – dealer increased by 1.2%). This was offset by leads from most other sources decreasing across the board, including web – classi-fied falling by 5.5% from July to August, and leads supplied by the dealers brand decreasing by 13.3% for the same period.
Test drives were stable – likely due to the high volume of leads from previous months. Test drives that originated from dealership website leads increased by 6.0%, and leads from the brand source increased by 5.1%. Conversely, test drives attributed to the direct lead source decreased by 11.8%.
After an extremely strong July where the top three sources of sales each increased by double digits, less sales were re-
corded in August than July 2018. Sales attributed to the web – dealer source decreased by 7.8%, repeat decreased 5.4% and web – classified decreased by 6.6%.
Make sure to check in next month to find out the top sources of leads, test drives and sales for dealerships in Sep-
tember 2018. Lead source reports are just one of the reports available to dealerships and OEM’s who use AutoPlay Sales Pipeline.
To find out more about the range of reports available via AutoPlay contact us on [email protected] or +64 9 361 1505.
Matt Darby works for AutoPlay which specialises in pre-sale lead management tools. To find out more about AutoPlay services email [email protected] or visit www.autoplay.co.nz
Top 3 sources of leads, test drives and sales July 2018 (vs June 2018)
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AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 19
1Top 3 Sources for Leads, Test Drives and Sales - New Zealand Dealerships July 2018 ( vs June 2018)
Web - Classified 12.7%
Repeat 26.5%Web - Dealer 12.2%
SALE
S
Brand 7.9%
Direct 7.7%Web - Dealer 3.2%
TEST
DRIV
ES
Brand 25.8%
Web - Classified 14.2%Web - Dealer 1.0%
LEA
DSMARKETINGTALK
How many of you spend time wish-ing you were retail-
ing vehicles in the former days when you only had to contend with print, radio or occasional TV advertising?
Advertising in today’s automotive retail world has become far more complex due to two main factors:
(1) The internet is now the number one communication medium.
(2) The customer is now in control of the customer to dealer communication internet channel.
Digital marketing in its entirety is a complex myr-iad of interlocking parts. Even in basic 101 form it can be a daunting task to gain an understanding of what works best and what components do I need for my dealership operation?
Simply put, digital marketing is a term for all marketing and engage-ment activities completed through online media channels. Digital marketing helps customers find you, promotes your online pres-ence and introduces leads which potentially can then be converted into buyers.
Please treat the content in the article more as an aid memoire rather than a must have digital marketing shop-ping list. Blue Corona based in Maryland and North Carolina, US, set out some valuable starter information in their February 2018 article entitled
“Digital marketing 101: Core components every business owner should know”.
Who in the dealership is responsible for digital marketing?
This will depend on the size of the dealer operation. In today’s rapidly evolv-ing digital world the larger the operation the more it is preferable to source digital marketing requirements in house as FTE’s. For lower volume operations these skills may come in the form of a cost-effective digital marketing consultant(s).
WebsiteBlue Corona regard your
website as the engine room of your online presence and is akin to your shopfront in the digital shopping centre. Driving leads through your dealer website is a far more cost-effective process than reliance on third party lead providers.
Your website needs to be fast. It also needs to be secure and in HTTPS not HTTP form. It needs to be mobile friendly as smartphone and tablet traffic now outpaces desktop web traffic. Website design requires a clean, easy-to-use design with clarity of naviga-tion with full contact informa-tion clearly set out.
Search engine marketing (SEM)
SEM is a combination of techniques and marketing methods that aim to make your dealer site dominate the search engine results page for a particular set of phrases, questions and keywords. This is done in two ways, search engine optimisation (SEO) or with paid search ads (PPC).
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO is one branch of SEM and is the process of tweak-ing and updating your web-
site code and content to achieve a higher ranking of your website pages in any organic search (naturally occurring and not paid per click as is the case with SEM).
Pay per click advertising (PPC)
PPC’s are directed through a search engine Advertising Auction which in Google’s case is an automat-ed process to determine the quality and relevance of your ad to the searcher’s query. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
RemarketingWhen someone visits your
website from any device, a few lines of code from your remarketing partner (such as Google AdWords) drops an anonymous cookie in the user’s browser. The cookie stores various bits of infor-
mation and tracks the site visit without storing any per-sonal information. When the user leaves your website, the cookie tells your ad platform when they land on another one, then surprise, surprise, your ad appears.
Email marketing and marketing automation
Email marketing is simply marketing sent through by email, it has a high ROI. Marketing automation can include any form of mes-saging that is triggered automatically such as email marketing, automated texts and messanger marketing on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Social mediaFacebook and Twit-
ter have the highest user numbers. It is now important to supplement dealer social media organic posts with paid ads as a result of the rise of social media platforms that have seen the introduc-tion of SM algorithms.
Video MarketingA medium often over-
looked by dealers but incred-ibly effective, recommended dealers find just how best they capitalise on its cut through power to engage online customers.
Peter [email protected] or 021-940 318
Digital marketing 101 for automotive retail
Vinsen’s ViewThe monthly update from VIA chief executive David Vinsen
OCTOBER 2018
ADVANTAGE
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Advice and advocacy for the used vehicle industryIf you have technical questions, compliance problems, consumer complaints, staff issues — we can help.
For more information: www.via.org.nz | Free phone: 0800 842 842 | Phone 09 573 3058
Over the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about biosecurity and protecting our
borders.The stink bug crisis in February this
year demonstrated clearly how vul-nerable our industry is to the risk of complete stoppages as the result of a biosecurity issue; in fact, the Govern-ment has identified biosecurity and earthquakes as the two most serious risks to our economy and way of life.
Despite the fact that the stink bug crisis had huge financial costs, both at the time and ongoing, there were some positives that could be taken from the way the matter was dealt with:
• We were successful in prevent-ing brown marmorated and yellow spotted stinkbugs from becoming established in New Zealand.
• Industry and Government co-op-erated and collaborated to achieve this successful outcome.
• We started preparing to ensure that we would never have such an event disrupt our businesses again.
We learned from our experience, and the border inspection organisations (BIOs) have invested millions of dollars in designing, developing and imple-menting heat treatment facilities to enable every used vehicle to be treated before being shipped.
These facilities were required to comply with the new Import Health Standard issued by the Ministry of
Primary Industries (MPI), before the start of the current stink bug season on September 1.
This issue was particularly about stink bugs, but it could equally have applied to a variety of other pests.
It’s a challenge that has brought us into an unprecedented relationship and alignment with New Zealand’s primary industries – in particular the horticul-ture and farming sectors, which rely so heavily on maintaining New Zealand’s rigorous biosecurity standards. These are businesses that we might seldom think about day-to-day, but in fact have a crucial interdependence with our import and biosecurity processes.
During the initial crisis in February, we engaged with the Kiwifruit Vine Health organisation to reassure growers that we were taking the threat seriously and acting accordingly.
Following this early outreach, after the season had finished, our com-munications manager Claire Hamil-ton was invited by Horticulture New Zealand to speak to a group of primary industry representatives (mainly also in communications) about how a non-primary industry responds to a biosecurity crisis.
This relationship has continued to develop, and recently I had the privilege of attending the official launch of MPI’s new biosecurity campaign, Ko Tātou This is Us. This is a major initiative that aims to connect all of us with the many ways we can help protect Aotearoa/
New Zealand from pests and diseases. The launch, hosted by minister for
biosecurity Damien O’Connor and MPI director-general Martyn Dunne, illustrated the magnitude of the task and the investment involved in recruit-ing the whole country as a “biosecurity team of 4.7 million New Zealanders”.
In launching the campaign, min-ister O’Connor made mention of our industry’s response to BMSB among other threats.
“With biosecurity in the spotlight as we attempt to eradicate mycoplasma bovis, turn away ships to keep the brown marmorated stink bug out of New Zealand, and deal with the emer-gence and spread of myrtle rust and kauri dieback, now is the time for every New Zealander to stand up and take action on biosecurity,” he said.
“Biosecurity keeps safe everything that shapes our unique way of life, from the great outdoors we farm, fish, hunt and play in to the biodiversity of our unique ecosystems.
“The campaign includes a beautiful and thought-provoking video, featuring a kuia looking back on her life and urg-ing New Zealanders to understand that everything that shapes our way of life is finite and fragile and that we must all play our part in protecting it from pests and diseases.
“It also focuses on appropriate bios-ecurity behaviours and actions in three core areas: Moving people and goods,
Protecting our borders
Continued on page 21
Advice and advocacy for the used vehicle industry
CORPORATE PARTNERS
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vigilance and readiness, and pest and disease control.”
I was very impressed with the presentation, and the thrust of the campaign: The emotions of authentic personal experience and testimony that can speak to hearts and minds, far more powerful than any amount of facts and figures.
It’s these factors that really drive home what’s at stake when we undertake the significant and neces-sary measures that we have in the last six months. Much as our own line of work and livelihood is important to us (and we make no secret of it!), it is still part of a much larger picture again, encompassing the way of life of 4.7 million people.
At our vehicle industry dinner back in July, it was transport minister Phil Twyford who made the point that according to Government research, the two greatest threats facing the country as a whole are earthquakes and biosecurity breaches.
While we can’t control the seismic activities underneath our feet, we can all be involved in securing our borders against invasive pest species.
The Ko Tātou This is Us initia-tive speaks to the unity not just of Kiwis individually, but also our busi-ness community, and gives the ideal platform to further our collaborative reach among other star sectors of the New Zealand economy.
The Ministry for Business, Innova-tion and Employment (MBIE) and the Commerce Commission have
signalled their increasing scrutiny of vehicle advertising.
VIA is now reiterating to all its all mem-bers the importance of following best practice, by displaying full and accurate details for all vehicles offered for sale. This includes the requirement to display both a valid CIN card and Vehicle Fuel Economy Label (VFEL) wherever a vehicle is available to buy (including online).
As the first level of responsibility, a valid CIN card must be displayed clearly in each vehicle, ensuring all fields are completed accurately.
To ensure there is no risk of misrep-
resentation, VIA further advises dealers to state clearly – in a separate notice – any damage, known repair flags, auction grade and subsequent repairs to the vehicle. This applies whether the vehicle is imported or NZ new.
This advice is applicable across all promotional material, from pre-sale consumer advertising to on-site display at point of purchase.
VIA is also reminding dealers that all vehicles must have a VFEL dis-played when offered for sale. “These are available using EECA’s online VFEL generator,” says VIA technical manager Malcolm Yorston. “When displayed, the VFEL needs to be readily visible from the outside of the vehicle – so lying on
the seat is not acceptable.” “If unavailable, a notice must be dis-
played to say ‘Fuel Label unavailable’,” says Yorston. “However, you must have made the enquiry to establish this, us-ing the online VFEL generator.”
EECA’s compliance surveys are very much ongoing around the country, and non-compliance will leave dealers open to prosecution.
In addition to these existing rules, VIA expects to see further tightening up on the transparency of vehicle advertising and representation, as indicated by the minister of consumer affairs.
Advertising rules: More scrutiny on dealers
Continued from page 20
Protecting our borders
JAPANESE MARKET REPORT
22 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
Volatility is a term most present-day Japanese import buyers (and
Kiwi dealers) have long since forgotten about with refer-ence to the clockwork-like reliability of the Japanese domestic market for sourc-ing vehicles to sell to New Zealand end consumers.
September, however (and the preceding month), has taught the industry a sharp and cruel lesson - with reli-ability comes complacency, and with complacency, harsh consequences when the unforeseen and unpre-dictable hits with force upon the very system Kiwis have come to regard as a simple pathway.
Typhoon Jebi, cutting a swath across the Kansai region of Japan in the open-ing days of September, has caused significant disruption across the supply channels that both source and facili-tate the logistics of export for vehicles to New Zealand.
The damage to port-based infrastructure, especially in the Kobe region that took the brunt of incoming storm surges, was significant, with thousands of vehicles across the port facilities suffering damage whether by wind-borne debris or swamped by incoming waves.
Thankfully for our indus-try and with some degree of irony, the race to export stock out of Japan before the
September 1 heat treatment BMSB regime commenced, had seen numbers on the ports awaiting shipping well down on normal monthly volumes.
An immense effort by the ports, logistics, biosecu-rity, inspection and export facilitation companies in the following weeks has seen – remarkably - the industry get back on its feet within a commendably short timeframe, even if behind the scenes there has been a great deal of co-operation and facility shuffling to de-liver the outcomes required to put cars on boats with security.
However, this re-build effort has only countered the issues of processing purchased stock.
Although a Kansai region-only event, Jebi has sent ripples throughout the Japa-nese domestic market with the sheer volume of domes-tic vehicles (still owned and operated by Japanese con-sumers) damaged or written off as a consequence of the typhoon.
With auction numbers already down on seasonal averages for exhibited (en-tered) volumes, Japanese dealers have been extremely active and pushing prices up on desirable stock in their quest to find replacement vehicles for their clients. With many insurance claims still to settle, this domes-tic “surge” in pricing looks set to continue for some months yet.
Several auction and tender houses that nor-mally service the Kansai market are still inoperable, or at best, operating under severely restricted volumes. LAA in particular has yet to show any indication of a
return to operation, while IAA is still struggling to return to market strength.
And it’s not just a Kansai region problem - concerns over stock quality from Osaka-Kobe auctions (and the reduction in volumes) has seen prices and demand in the Tokyo area rise accord-ingly.
Kiwis hoping to shift buying from Osaka to - for example - USS Tokyo, have been disappointed to find prices rising in tandem with Kansai, and a steady stream of transporters moving purchased stock back in to the Osaka area to fill the gaps created by so many insurance claims writing off domestic vehicles.
Thus, two Japan-based issues are currently fore-front for Kiwis.
Pricing. With the normal winter decline in values yet to materialise, as high demand by domestic requirements for replacement units coupled with lower availability drive prices through to levels that strain the wallets of the har-diest of Kiwi buyers.
Stock integrity. With so many vehicles suffering damage ranging from minor (in most cases) to significant across the Kansai region resulting from Typhoon Jebi’s path, Kiwi buyers must exercise extra caution when assessing the condition of stock offered for sale. One difficulty is determining if evi-dence of replaced glass (with broken windows from flying debris the most common is-sue suffered) is an indication of a simple cosmetic re-placement, or storm damage involving water ingress from either rain deluge or worse, sea surge. Without doubt, the job of buyers to physically
BY GRAEME MACDONALD
an independent choice
If you are a forward thinking motor vehicle trader, or financier, looking for a trusted vehicle insurance partner, call Quest.
Contact: Simon Mooreph. 021 149 2266e: [email protected]
Quest Insurance offers:
Mechanical Breakdown Insurance – backed by AA Roadside Assist
Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance – including learner and restricted license cover.
Weekly, fortnightly & monthly instalment options now available to match your customers pay cycle
Guaranteed Asset Protection
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Typhoon hits NZ’s import supply
Continued on page 32
JAPANESE MARKET REPORT
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 23
Toyota Motor Japan is taking its reduction of the number of dealer channels further as it prepares for
a future where car sharing could trump car ownership.
For decades Toyota maintained separate dealer channels focused on specific customer types and product lines - seen here by the stickers and at times badges for dealer groups like Netz, Toyopet and Corolla on used import vehicles.
Toyota has around 5000 dealers and four sales channels. From the early
2020s, all dealers will be able to sell all the vehicle lines the brand holds. It will also halve its domestic line-up to about 30 of its most popular cars around 2025.
Lexus is excluded from the change.Furthermore, dealers will become
vehicle sharing hubs. Preparations are underway to use some of the 40,000 demonstrator vehicles the network holds at any one time for car shar-ing. Customers will be able to reserve, pay and unlock vehicles all with their smartphones.
The service will begin in Tokyo before expanding to the rest of the country.
Car sharing is growing massively worldwide, while in the last 18 years Japanese car sales have dropped by
30%. Sales are expected to fall even further next year when a new national consumption tax hits.
“We cannot survive as it is,” a Toyota executive told the Nikkei Asian review. “Toyota must innovate or fail.”
Toyota says dealers in the same areas will now need to compete to survive, differentiating themselves with new roadside services, car sharing. Conveni-ence stores, home delivery businesses and cram schools are also being floated as becoming part of dealer business.
Nikkei Asian Review notes a Nagoya Toyopet dealer now features a cafe and sweet store, while a Corolla dealer in Osaka sells camping equipment.
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US president Donald Trump is set for trade talks with Japanese
prime minister Shinzo Abe - and wants more American cars in Japan as part of the deal.
Japanese brands have a 40% market share in the
United States, while Ameri-can vehicles make up only 0.3% of the Japanese market.
Trump has previously threatened a 25% tariff on imported vehicles to en-courage more production at home - although it has been noted Japanese .
Trump wants more cars in Japan
While vehicle auctions and imports awaiting ships were damaged and lost when Typhoon Jebi hit Japan last month, damage at one dealership has
proved particularly expensive.Kobe’s Ferrari dealership, on Rokko Island, experienced
around a metre of storm surge - destroying 51 of the 53 cars in the showroom.
The cars lost included both new and used units - including some already sold and awaiting delivery. The damage bill is predicted to be $13.5 million.
Yahoo Japan reports staff tried to cover the entrance with tarps and sand-bags, but the surge was too strong.
As reported in Auto-Talk, the Typhoon left 11 dead and hundreds injured. Numerous cars were damaged at both ports and auction facilities.
Around 100 cars at a Nishinomiya were burned by a fire caused by a shorted-out electrical system.
Ferraris lost in typhoon flood
24 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
F&ITALK
Autosure has led the market in automo-tive-related insur-
ance products for 32 years and continues to go from strength to strength.
Our size and strength gives us the ability to effec-tively and securely support you and your customers. Last year we handled over 28,000 claims and paid out more than $22 million in mechanical break-down insurance repairs alone.
We continue to grow and are recognised as the best in the industry, because we are more than just a whole-sale insurance provider. We create and nurture genuine long-term partnerships with our agents and add signifi-cant value through innova-tion, hard work and truly understanding their business and the industry. We consist-ently deliver added value to our agents and the following is a summary of just some of the unique benefits we offer our partners:
Claims
We have over 20 dedi-cated claims staff totalling over 400 years of industry experience.
Sales supportWe have 15 sales staff
throughout New Zealand providing support to our partners.
Menu option selling
Menu Option Selling was launched by us in March 2017 and has provided sub-
stantial increases in revenue for our partners that have embraced this sales meth-odology.
F&I trainingWe have trained signifi-
cant numbers of dealership F&I personnel with material that is new, relevant and constantly being refreshed.
Vehicle sales trainingFormal vehicle sales
training programmes are run regularly for our part-ners. These programmes are fresh and relevant to today’s buyer.
Nationwide trainingAll of our training pro-
grammes are run regionally throughout New Zealand, not just in the main cities.
Dealer development programmes
We provide comprehen-sive development pro-grammes to ensure every sales opportunity is maxim-ised within dealerships. One we are particularly proud of is our diagnostic review programme.
DIAGNOSTIC REVIEWWe work with dealerships
to understand the key dif-ferences between those that consistently achieve strong finance penetration and ve-hicle sales closing ratios, and those that don’t. We have
been invited to complete these in a number of dealer-ships and they have been compared to a mentoring programme. The outcome of each review is a comprehen-sive report for the stakehold-ers which includes:• A summary of key learn-
ings from the interviews• Key focus points for
improvement• A detailed action plan• An analysis of the
financial impact on the business
The process of review involves interviewing key employees within the deal-ership, including the new vehicle managers and staff, used vehicle managers and staff, the business manag-ers and dealer principal. The staff interviews take around 60 minutes per discussion as they include around 60 questions. A typical review raises a number of pertinent questions:• Are the targets realistic?• Is the F&I sales process
aligned to the vehicle
sales process?• Are the correct processes
being followed by the vehicle sales staff with re-gards to the engagement of the F&I function within the sales process?
• Is the overall sales process aligned to the customer’s buying process?
• Are the competency and skill levels of personnel sufficient to achieve the desired targets?The answer is often strik-
ingly simple: People, focus, remuneration, process and culture. The strong dealer-ships - those with a high performance sales culture - do not accept mediocrity. They do not accept devia-tions from the process and nothing stands in the way of an ethical, profitable sale.
If you’d like to partner with a market leader that truly adds value to your busi-ness over the long term, talk to Autosure today.
Much more than you would expect
ClaimsStaff
Training
F&I training
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StrengthSales
SellingNationwide
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Experience
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is general manager of
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INSURANCE
• Mechanical Breakdown
• Payment Protection
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If you’d like to become an Autosure Approved Dealer, contact us to find out more.
We’ve got New Zealand covered!And we’re here to help you provide the best insuranceprotection for your customers.
26 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
F&ITALK
Jaques Gray, Provident Insurance national sales manager
To do the job right, you need the right tools
It’s time to get smart and make sure your dealership is at the cutting edge when
it comes to offering finance and insurance.
Just as your service depart-ment or your local mechanic wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, try to diagnose a repair without the right diagnostic tool, you can’t start to educate and inform buyers about finance and the protection offered by insurance products with any confidence unless you’re using the right tools for the job.
The three tools that Provi-dent recommends you use, in order of importance are:
i) An efficient finance & insurance quoting tool. Provident dealers use our quoting tool called PICAL. PICAL is an excel-lent quick-quote finance calculator, which is de-signed to create a quote, ensuring maximum pro-tection is offered to your customer while retaining a reasonable profit to your dealership.
ii) The use of insurance disclosure forms. Gone are the days of using waiver forms. In order to ensure compliance with disclosure regulations and obligations under the Responsible Lending Code, we provide Provi-dent dealers with specifi-cally designed Insurance disclosure forms.
iii) An effective finance & insurance log. How do you know if you’re winning or losing if you don’t know the score? The monitoring and
reporting of F&I perfor-mance, and the setting of objectives to bench-mark your performance, is critical to any im-provement.
So, let’s just remind our-selves why we use these three import tools of the trade.
Firstly, the ability to confi-
dently provide an F&I quote, in a matter of seconds, is imperative to gaining a buyer’s confidence. This will also allow you to act responsibly under the CCCFA, and look to match the buyer to a suitable pay-ment structure that meets their financial needs, without them suffering financial hardship.
Always offer payment options, which include a full protection package. If you don’t use an efficient quot-ing tool, ask to have a look at Provident’s “PICAL”.
This system will allow you to tailor and manage an F&I package in seconds. Each quote also has a dealer office tool to monitor F&I income, showing any lost opportunity, using all your dealerships per-sonalised pre-programmed margins.
Furthermore, PICAL will also allow you to calculate the balance owing at any point during the finance term. This in turn will let you plan and discuss with your customer their future need to replace this purchase.
Don’t just be an average Continued on page 43
SHOWROOMNEW VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT NEWS
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 27
Hyundai aims for family bliss
Hyundai is continuing its strong pitch for the family SUV buyer with its new generation Santa
Fe, claiming in marketing to have solved back seat battles. It is bigger, with more interior features and technology.
Moreover, it remains one of the more expensive op-tions in its segment, though in fairness to Hyundai they have managed to avoid a price rise for this generation of the car - at least for the top Limited specification.
The range includes an entry, Elite and Limited speci-fication, all three with the choice of 2.4-litre four-cyl-inder petrol and 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel engines. Both are carryo-ver’s from the old range - the 3.3-litre six-cylinder model and with it front-wheel drive is gone. The 2.4-litre gets a six-speed auto-matic, while the 2.2-litre receives a slick new eight-speed automatic.
The all-wheel drive system is a new “HTRAC” system that splits torque between the front and rear axles as required or based on the three available drive modes - Eco, Comfort and Sport. A “Smart” setting can also select the most appropriate mode based on driver input.
The 2.4-litre produces 138kW and 141Nm and uses 9.3-litres per 100km on a combined cycle. The diesel pro-duces 147kW and 440Nm and uses 7.5-litres. The tow rating is a mid-pack
2000kg braked, and 750kg unbraked.Prices start at $59,990 and top out at
$82,990.Also gone with the front-wheel
drive model - 88% of buyers wanted all-wheel drive anyway - is the five-seat models. The third row was being
ordered in 80% of sales, according to general manager Andy Sinclair.
“I think that corresponds with the private buyer, for us anyway, wanting a family wagon,” Sinclair says.
“The Santa Fe is immensely popular
because it suits our kiwi lifestyles – with over 20,000 already on our roads being testimony to that.
“We have worked hard to equip the vehicle, paying close atten-tion to what our New Zealand drivers expect and what fits our active lifestyles, with safety being at the forefront.”
This generation Santa Fe has seen a significant redesign, and aside from some vague similarity to the old model at the rear, it takes more from the small Kona model. This includes the split, multi-layer headlight treatment at the front and more aggressive-appearing
lower body trims around the car. The front grille is enormous and striking,
Inside, quality feels like it has made a significant step up. Most interior finishes are soft-touch - save for the lower sections of the dash and doors which use a durable hard plastic. The dash itself has a two-tier design and is more wrap around.
Seats in the entry model are fabric, while the Elite and Lim-ited get a synthetic leather fin-ish. The Elite’s seats are heated, while the Limited gets seat cool-ing and a heated steering wheel.
The family-friendly features begin in the second row. There are USB charg-ing points here, and in the Elite and Limited, the passenger side of the seat folds and slides forward at the push of a
Continued on page 28
SHOWROOMNEW VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT NEWS
28 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
button for third-row access. Handles re-cessed into the side panelling also help passengers get in and out of this row.
As part of the safety package on the Limited model, Safety Exit Assist means the roadside door cannot be opened if a car or cyclist is sensed to be approach-ing - great for stopping kids stepping out into traffic. A warning system also prevents you forgetting children and animals in the rear.
A standard touchscreen system fea-tures Apple Carplay and Android Auto, with Navigation and live traffic on the Elite and Limited.
An extra 70mm of length means rear passengers also get more space, and there is 41% more rear glass for extra light and visibility - even more on offer if you get the Limited with its panoramic sunroof.
Every Santa Fe gets six airbags, then builds with adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, a lane-keeping system and blind spot monitoring. Step up to the higher mod-els and add rear cross traffic collision avoidance, blind spot avoidance and the aforementioned safe exit system and rear occupant alert.
Great engine, good handlingWe drove the Santa Fe on an exten-
sive Northland drive route and came away impressed - particularly with the carryover diesel engine and smooth new transmission. The 2.2-diesel, the only review car on offer, feels very punchy yet quiet and refined.
We have found this engine in the
past to not necessarily live up to fuel economy expectations in the real world, but on the test, it stuck firmly to the mid-7-litres per 100km range - as promised by Hyundai.
The ride is excellent, with the help of Australian tuning, and road noise
low. This is now arguably the most refined family SUV on the market.
There is plenty of grip and excel-lent stability through corners, though the steering lacks much feel and feels a little artificially heavy - made worse by the slightly too aggressive lane keeping intervention.
Still, it is an impressive cruiser - this is a car perfect for hauling the family to the beach house. As long as it is on the tarmac, we tried the Santa Fe on
a beach and access track, and while it handled it ok, the lack of ground clear-ance and long front overhang made it clear this car is more people mover than off-roader.
More connectedThe Santa Fe is the first Hyundai with
the new “AutoLink” system, an OBD port-connected device which facilitates communication between the car, the user’s mobile phone and in some cases Hyundai New Zealand.
The system provides vehicle data, including real-time diagnostics, tyre pressure monitoring, driving history statistics, parking management, easy service booking and automatic access to roadside assistance.
The Premium version of the service, which is standard on the Limited and a $299 option on the other models, adds a Spark sim card allowing for remote services when away from the vehicle - such as unlocking and start. The carcan also be “geofenced” for security or
when in a valet mode.Sinclair told AutoTalk dealers will not
have access to the system to communi-cate with customers; however, specials campaigns and new and used vehicle sales information are included in the app. When offering service options the closest dealer, rather than the dealer that sold the vehicle, will be presented to the user.
Continued from page 27
SHOWROOMNEW VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT NEWS
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 29
For years the ute has been the tool of the worker. Rugged, func-
tional - built to work. How-ever, over the last decade we have seen the market transi-tions to many being plusher, more lifestyle focused.
A more recent trend has been the shift to the “pre-mium” ute. Ford was argu-ably the first with the Wildtrak model, which set a new price high in the ute market. Then the Europeans arrived with the Volkswagen Amarok, and now the Mercedes-Benz X-Class.
While some seemed surprised at the arrival of the Germans to the market, they shouldn’t be. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, the brand has been selling vans and trucks to happy businesses
for decades. An additional model in their sales mix makes sense, particularly one that could be seen as a gate-way to their other products.
Let's get the obvious point out of the way early, the X-Class is developed from the Nissan Navara, but then almost every ute in the market is a co-development of something else.
They share a platform, though with a range of changes to the suspension, a basic cabin shape, some switchgear, and of course the Renault-sourced 2.3-litre turbocharged diesel engine. Later this year we get the six-cylinder version of the X-Class which by all accounts is even further removed from its cousin.
The body itself is very
different, and the X-Class looks far more premium and substantial on the road. It’s I 70mmm wider than the Nis-san, with 50mm wider tracks. The tray is also larger, being able to take a full-size pallet between the arches, and on 4x4-models the payload sits at just over a tonne - both feats not all the options in the ute market can achieve. Tow capacity is the market-standard 3500kg.
I think the X-Class is a looker. On our X250d Power model, a huge Mercedes emblem sits within a satin-silver grille. There is a large lower trim plate flanked by driving lights, with the main lights being aggressive-look-ing LED units. The vehicle photographed carries an optional Style package with running boards, roof rails, privacy glass and an elec-tric rear window - 18-inch wheels are standard.
While we've found the interiors of all grades of X-Class to be very pleasantand solidly built, the Powertakes it up a notch.
The dash and door trims are covered in a stitched, human-made leather look, and while there are some
hard plastics lower down in the cabin, they are not in common touch points. The air-vents look great and are functional for turning on and off airflow with a twist. The steering wheel is reach-adjustable only, though the driving position works pretty well. The power gets dual-zone climate control.
The seats are the best in the ute market. The Power model pews are covered in a mix of synthetic leather and microfibre, appear a little slimline but are soft yet supportive - even for larger people. They are also electrically adjustable, and you don’t feel like you are sitting too high as you can in some commercials. The rear seat is similarly well shaped, and wide, though head and legroom are a little tight.
The X-Class gets the brand’s Command infor-mation screens, one in the centre of the dash and one for the driver. The centre screen is controlled by a dial interface between the seats, and it all works well - particularly the navigationsystem. It does, however,takeup much space down there,creating a lack of storage.
X-Class hits the spot? BY RICHARD EDWARDS
Continued on page 30
SHOWROOMNEW VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT NEWS
30 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
The two cupholders are tiny, the centre cubby small and there is nowhere to put a mobile phone except in the door pockets. It may force staff to put their phones out of reach, but in day-to-day usage I see it becoming an annoyance.
The screen also hosts the 360-degree parking camera system, a handy device for squeezing such a large vehi-cle into city spots.
What about the tray? The Power has a tough tray liner and a handy adjustable tie-down system, although we would prefer more tie-down points at floor level. As men-tioned earlier, it is one of the largest in the class.
I think the X-Class is one of the nicest utes in the market to travel in, and that is almost entirely down to the refinement work Mercedes-Benz have done. The rear spring tuning means the ride is relatively jiggle-free. Noise levels are some of the lowest in the class; the diesel has to be working hard to be particularly intrusive. It is near passenger-car hushed in hear thanks to a huge amount of sound deadening material.
That work has a counter in that the ute is well over 200kg heavier than the do-nor model.
While the X-Class feels brisk around town thanks to the low down power deliv-ery of the 2.3-litre engine, which produces 140kW and 450Nm, on the open road it appears to run a little short of puff in the mid-to-high range. Overtaking needs a little more planning for the run-up required. The chassis, however, feels good, with light and relatively respon-sive steering and competent brakes. The seven-speed automatic is slick and does a solid job.
We didn’t get a chance to try the X-Class offroad, although the numbers stack up to indicate it will be good when the going gets tough - a wading depth of 600mm and a ground clearance of 222mm. The four-wheel drive is switchable through a dial between two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive and a locked four-wheel drive, while the rear differential is lockable at the touch of a button.
If safety is one of your buying factors - and it should be - the X-Class offers a full five-star ANCAP rating. Seven
airbags are standard, as is autonomous emergency braking and a lane keeping assist system.
Further consideration will be running costs. The Power model with the au-tomatic transmission retails at $69,000 including GST before running costs. This is a little on the high side for the segment, but the X counters with fuel economy of 7.9 litres per 100km, and the addition of three years free servicing to keep the ac-
countant happy.We are hugely impressed
with the X-Class. It brings a new level of refinement to the ute market, and those front seats are worth the price of admission alone. Yes, it could use a little more performance, but the an-swer to that arrives shortly with the six-cylinder models - which will no doubt sell like German hotcakes.
X-Class hits the spot?Continued from page 29
SHOWROOMNEW VEHICLE INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT NEWS
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 31
New Zealand has prior-ity status for the first model from Mercedes’
full-electric family.Specific local introduc-
tion for detail of the EQC, a crossover whose 80kWh dual motor powertrain promises 300kW/765Nm and 450km-plus range, hasn’t been given.
Officially, a product pricing between $110,000 and no more than $160,000, will come in the second half of 2019.
At the September 4 unveil (with no driving) in Sweden, however, the brand indi-cated production in Bremen, Germany begins around June, and NZ will take cars ahead of many other locations.
“Timing for both Australia and New Zealand will be the same,” spokesman Jerry Sta-moulis says.
“We’re sure EQC will be pop-ular in NZ. Regardless of popula-tion size, we know EV interest is high there … at this point, higher than even Australia.
“From what we’ve already learned in NZ over past years, and considering demand from both Government and private customers, it’s clear the uptake of EVs in NZ is of priority.”
Stylistically related to the GLC crossover but 105mm longer and 315mm lower, and also underpinned by Daimler’s new Electric Vehicle Architec-ture platform, the EQC is the first of 10 Benz full-electrics arriving by 2022.
A 2425kg kerb weight is almost identical to the GLC’s and while overall top speed is more modest – 180kmh to avoid stressing the battery – a claimed 0-100kmh sprint time of 5.1 seconds makes it almost GLC63 AMG quick. It also
has towing capability, with a 1800kg rating.
Comprising 384 cells over six modules, the mid-mount-ed lithium ion battery feeds two asynchronous electric motors, each driving an axle, ancillary electronics locating under the bonnet. The front motor optimises for maxi-mum slower driving efficien-cy. The rear is for dynamism. Range was achieved using the now defunct NEDC formula, but Benz vows a WLTP figure is coming.
The battery recharges to 80% in 40 minutes when hooked to a charging station with an output of 110kW or 10-11 hours with a 240-volt home recharger likely to be included into buy-in here. It takes a Type 2 CCS plug (importers note it’s Chademo in Japan) and the battery warranty is for eight years or 160,000km use.
Deformation elements absorb energy in the event of an accident. The high-voltage system also automatically shuts down to prevent critical build-up.
Looking like a regular Benz is important. The black-panel frontage encompassing the headlights keeps a grille, even though it’s not needed, because “a car needs a face”, explains designer Robert Lesnik. One that it will share with all EQs.
The five-chair cabin has the latest MBUX infotainment system and design ele-ments intended to enforce an electro-cool and premium.
Benz expects its custom-ers will easily accept EQC but also believes more than half of buyers will come from other brands.
Kiwis among first for electric Mercedes-Benz
Daimler chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche with the Mercedes EQC.
BY RICHARD BOSSELMAN
Coming this month
We check out the new ‘Ford Store’ by North Harbour FordWe drive the new Hyundai Santa Fe
Contact Dale Stevenson to find out about sponsoring our AutoTalk YouTube Channel – [email protected] or 021 446 214
autotalk YouTube channel
RAM 1500 We head to Australia to check out the new Ram 1500 - remanufactured to right-hand drive by American Special Vehicles in Melbourne, and now available for sale at Ram dealers throughout New Zealand.
Mercedes-Benz X-Class NZ review We get behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz X-Class 250d Power. Is the brand’s first effort at a ute competitive? Test drive the X-Class yourself at Trucks and Trailers Limited
Hyundai Kona EV review We get behind the wheel of the Hyundai Kona EV. Does it live up to its 400km+ range claim, and its high price? Read more at www.evtalk.co.nz
Autoplay’s Craig Brown running NYC Marathon for mental health Autoplay found Craig Brown has set out to run the New York City Marathon to raise money for the family of a friend lost to mental heath issues and raise awareness. He chats about the venture with AutoTalk
DealerTalks: We chat to Southland’s Robbie Baxter In the second of our DealerTalks videos, we catch up with Robbie Baxter at his Invercargill dealership Robbie Baxter Autos. We discuss his trips to Japan, the difference between new and used vehicle sales and the future.
32 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
NEWSTALK
32 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
NEWSTALK
city, domestic demand - in my view - will continue to ac-celerate.
“Global demand is driving manufacturers to speed things up, but there will be a lag period during which we may see stocks of second-hand product dry up.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motors New Zealand doesn’t expect it will be too long before new EV stock arrives.
The company says it’s had an “overwhelming response and level of interest in the Kona Electric since we launched it in August”.
Its Ioniq is still the top selling new EV in the market, “which reflects EVs’ increased popularity”.
Full border inspections
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Specialists in pre‑shipment inspections
in Japan & UK
inspect with due care any unit considered for purchase, has become extremely im-portant.
Back in New Zealand, there are still many stories circulating of ill-health across a number of retail outlets, and cashflow issues bedevilling the financial sys-tem that expedites vehicles from Japan to New Zea-land - wherever that money originates.
The flow-on effect has created headaches for Japanese exporters who are forced to weigh up the requirements to keep bal-ance sheets in check, against starving off a fair propor-tion of their client base with the inevitable result being a further drop in volumes and a
likelihood of the client exiting the marketplace.
The month cannot pass without mention of the Sep-tember 1 commencement of the BMSB stink-bug season and the mandatory treatment regimes.
All three current MPI-accredited suppliers of biosecurity inspections and treatment in Japan must be congratulated for the relatively seamless transition to the new seasonal system, even if behind the scenes it created upheaval and enor-mous costs upfront to enable the industry to continue “above the waterline”.
Fears last month that the providers would be unable to cope with volumes proved unfounded, helped, it must be said, by the downturn in
Japan-based buying, which gave service providers a little extra breathing space at a critical time.
Even the disastrous ef-fects of Typhoon Jebi in Kansai have been muted as the month wore on, with providers working quickly to re-establish equipment and facilities damaged by storm surges or high winds, or in the worst cases, make arrangements to shuttle ve-hicles to other ports around Japan - especially Yokohama and Tokyo - for a continu-ous treatment and clearance process to occur.
Predictions are that Octo-ber will see a similar pattern of pricing and availability in Japan, resulting in lower than normal volumes destined for New Zealand in time for the
Christmas trading season. It is also inevitable that
the prices on later-model and lower-mileage desirable stock may need to rise in New Zealand to compensate for the continued market shifts across the supply chain.
The industry - as a whole - can continue for only so long absorbing hard cost increases against the re-tail pricing points of today, before something has to give. The job the industry faces is ensuring the retail buying public are assured of the continued access to quality stock, while accepting pricing shifts upwards over the New Zealand summer months.
EV delivery delays predicted
Continued from page 3
Typhoon hits NZ’s import supplyContinued from page 22
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USED IMPORTSBROUGHT TO
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Used import registrations have suffered a second poor month, with the
market unable to keep up with the highs of 2017.
Passenger vehicle reg-istrations dropped 15% to
11,533 units, from 13,645 a year ago.
Year-to-date registrations remain up 5% on 113,320.
In passenger cars, Toyota was the top brand on 2423, down a quarter on last year
for a 21% market share.That creates the rare situ-
ation where Nissan has the potential to top the import market. It was just over 100 units, or 0.9% market share from the top on 2318 cars,
down 8.7% for a 20.1% share.Mazda took third on 1990,
down 10.4% for a 17.3% share of registrations.
In fourth was Honda, down 9% to 1215 units and 10.5% of the market, fol-lowed in fifth by Subaru, down 19% to 636 cars and a 5.5% share.
The Mazda Axela was the top model on 628, while the Nissan Tiida slipped back a little to 584 units.
The Suzuki Swift took third on 540, the Mazda Demio fourth on 500 and the Honda Fit fifth on 468.
Commercials had a simi-larly slow month, down 7.6% to 1011 vehicles. For the year they are now down 5% to
TOP 10 USED IMPORT COMMERCIAL MODELS
MAKE MODELSEP '18
MAKE MODELSEP '17
TOYOTA HIACE 366 TOYOTA HIACE 374NISSAN CARAVAN 56 NISSAN CARAVAN 76MAZDA BONGO 52 TOYOTA REGIUS 67TOYOTA REGIUS 51 MAZDA BONGO 56NISSAN NV350 37 NISSAN NV200 47ISUZU ELF 36 ISUZU ELF 35NISSAN VANETTE 35 TOYOTA DYNA 31TOYOTA DYNA 32 NISSAN VANETTE 29NISSAN NV200 25 NISSAN NV350 24HINO DUTRO 22 ISUZU FORWARD 21
USED IMPORT COMMERCIAL MAKES
MAKESEP '18
SEP '17
Movement% Change
Market Share
TOYOTA 489 526 -7.0 48.4NISSAN 187 217 -13.8 18.5MAZDA 62 67 Up 1 -7.5 6.1ISUZU 61 67 Down 1 -9.0 6.0HINO 37 20 Up 3 85.0 3.7MITSUBISHI 36 39 -7.7 3.6FORD 31 47 Down 2 -34.0 3.1CHEVROLET 17 18 Up 1 -5.6 1.7HOLDEN 16 23 Down 2 -30.4 1.6SUZUKI 14 4 Up 6 250.0 1.4OTHER 61 66 -7.6 6.0TOTAL 1011 1094 -7.6 100.0
15% dive for imports
Continued on page 34
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USED IMPORT COMMERCIAL MAKES – YEAR-TO-DATE 2018
CH
EV
RO
LET
DO
DG
E
FIA
T
FOR
D
HIN
O
HO
LDE
N
ISU
ZU
MA
ZD
A
MIT
SUB
ISH
I
NIS
SAN
TO
YO
TA
VO
LKSW
A-
GE
N
OT
HE
R
TO
TAL
18-Jan 13 8 35 45 26 22 57 78 36 210 441 3 50 102417-Jan 19 4 23 30 19 13 41 83 33 197 404 10 52 928
% diff -32 100 52 50 37 69 39 -6 9 7 9 -70 -4 1018-Feb 19 3 15 48 49 16 47 41 41 203 407 8 51 94817-Feb 15 2 9 35 31 19 45 94 40 191 466 10 41 998
% diff 27 50 67 37 58 -16 4 -56 3 6 -13 -20 24 -518-Mar 21 6 7 39 30 20 48 75 39 229 399 3 59 97517-Mar 19 7 9 30 41 23 64 90 45 263 602 8 48 1249
% diff 11 -14 -22 30 -27 -13 -25 -17 -13 -13 -34 -63 23 -2218-Apr 13 3 4 38 30 11 54 35 22 174 389 5 50 82817-Apr 21 4 4 33 20 22 45 54 27 187 27 187 277 908
% diff -38 -25 0 15 50 -50 20 -35 -19 -7 1341 -97 -82 -918-May 24 11 5 41 46 29 79 65 41 223 494 7 41 110617-May 26 5 9 39 39 23 58 70 37 269 515 9 51 1150
% diff -8 120 -44 5 18 26 36 -7 11 -17 -4 -22 -20 -418-Jun 20 4 20 39 33 13 53 65 33 201 453 6 59 99917-Jun 20 5 8 52 20 25 67 70 40 236 536 6 44 1129
% diff 0 -20 150 -25 65 -48 -21 -7 -18 -15 -15 0 34 -1218-Jul 15 7 47 39 24 19 58 65 34 240 477 0 57 108217-Jul 24 1 3 49 41 21 41 68 41 233 530 3 34 1089% diff -38 600 1467 -20 -41 -10 41 -4 -17 3 -10 -100 68 -1
18-Aug 21 5 7 37 38 29 64 56 36 252 603 6 70 122417-Aug 21 6 5 52 33 17 74 60 45 269 520 8 38 1148
% diff 0 -17 40 -29 15 71 -14 -7 -20 -6 16 -25 84 718-Sep 17 7 9 31 37 16 61 62 36 187 489 6 53 101117-Sep 18 9 4 47 20 23 67 67 39 217 526 9 48 1094% diff -6 -22 125 -34 85 -30 -9 -7 -8 -14 -7 -33 10 -8
YTD 18 163 54 149 357 313 175 521 542 318 1919 4152 44 490 9197YTD 17 183 43 74 367 264 186 502 656 347 2062 4126 250 633 9693
%diff -11 26 101 -3 19 -6 4 -17 -8 -7 1 -82 -23 -5
AROUND THE COUNTRY PASSENGER
REGISTRATIONS
DISTSEP '18
SEP '17% CHANGE
WHA 224 287 -21.95AUC 5373 6510 -17.47HAM 770 895 -13.97THA 123 99 24.24TAU 449 613 -26.75ROT 184 198 -7.07GIS 78 74 5.41NAP 237 263 -9.89NEW 167 272 -38.60WAN 100 72 38.89PAL 353 383 -7.83MAS 60 82 -26.83WEL 836 1050 -20.38NEL 244 253 -3.56BLE 55 62 -11.29GRE 33 57 -42.11WES 6 10 -40.00CHR 1583 1691 -6.39TIM 97 131 -25.95OAM 19 33 -42.42DUN 347 413 -15.98INV 195 197 -1.02TOTAL 11533 13645 -15.48
20 TOP USED IMPORT PASSENGER MAKES
MAKESEPT '18
SEPT '17
Movement% Change
Market Share
TOYOTA 2423 3234 -25.1 21.0NISSAN 2318 2538 -8.7 20.1MAZDA 1990 2220 -10.4 17.3HONDA 1215 1335 -9.0 10.5SUBARU 636 785 -19.0 5.5SUZUKI 613 688 -10.9 5.3MITSUBISHI 478 438 Up 1 9.1 4.1BMW 456 616 Down 1 -26.0 4.0VOLKSWAGEN 382 427 -10.5 3.3AUDI 220 302 -27.2 1.9MERCEDES-BENZ 179 264 -32.2 1.6FORD 87 101 -13.9 0.8LEXUS 87 87 0.0 0.8VOLVO 65 66 -1.5 0.6CHEVROLET 50 55 Up 2 -9.1 0.4JAGUAR 42 63 Down 1 -33.3 0.4HOLDEN 34 59 Down 1 -42.4 0.3LAND ROVER 33 40 -17.5 0.3MINI 30 39 -23.1 0.3JEEP 24 30 Up 3 -20.0 0.2OTHER 171 258 -33.7 1.5TOTAL 11533 13645 -15.5 100.0
9197.Toyota was at no risk of
losing the lead, however, well clear on 489 vehicles, though down 7% for a 48% market share.
Nissan took second on 187 vehicles, down 13.8% for an 18.5% stake, followed but Mazda on 62, down 7.5% for a 6.1% share.
In fourth, Isuzu was the first heavy-only brand on 61 vehicles, down 9% for a 6% share, followed by Hino on 37, up 85%.
As usual, the Toyota Hiace topped the model charts on 366 vehicles, down 12 units on a year ago.
The Nissan Caravan was second on 56 vehicles, fol-lowed by the Mazda Bongo on 52.
Close behind was the Toyota Regius on 51, before the Nissan NV350 on 37.
Fuel price boosts alternatives.
The fuel price and tax rises
Continued from page 33
Continued on page 35
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 35
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hitting motorists are having a real impact on the import model mix.
The Toyota Prius rose to sixth most popular vehicle in the market on 354 units – while the Nissan Leaf had a
great month with 299 units. This put the model in seventh spot, its highest ranking ever.
Recent months difficult
Metro Christchurch owner Chris Nichols says the last few months have been difficult.
“September was much better than the winter months,” Nich-ols says.
“We had a pretty quiet winter, with the stink bug issue and a grey Christchurch winter which was not so great for sales. We’ve also been de-layed a bit by Typhoon Jebi.”
“The fine weather
brings the people out and we’re definitely getting more enquiries.”
The rise in fuel prices is triggering mixed responses from buyers.
“Some people are not mentioning petrol price rises at all, but others are looking at EVs purely for that reason,” he explains.
“We’re getting a lot of en-quiries on electric cars. Nissan Leafs are proving popular.”
THE 17 LEADING USED IMPORT PASSENGER MAKES – YEAR-TO-DATE 2018
AU
DI
BM
W
CH
EV
RO
LET
DA
IHA
TSU
FOR
D
HO
LDE
N
HO
ND
A
HY
UN
DA
I
MA
ZD
A
ME
RC
ED
ES
MIT
SUB
ISH
I
NIS
SAN
PE
UG
EO
T
SUB
AR
U
SUZ
UK
I
TO
YO
TA
VW
OT
HE
R
TO
TAL
18-Jan 250 523 65 8 115 46 1356 27 2310 210 440 2629 26 809 722 3232 445 506 1371917-Jan 264 568 56 14 102 43 1308 25 1979 275 469 2268 12 543 622 3396 467 522 12933
% diff -5 -8 16 -43 13 7 4 8 17 -24 -6 16 117 49 16 -5 -5 -3 618-Feb 192 467 63 8 122 39 1232 2 1996 250 325 2220 16 696 682 2872 366 500 1204817-Feb 227 528 53 19 109 61 1308 30 1871 267 413 2200 19 546 643 3038 439 489 12260
% diff -15 -12 19 -58 12 -36 -6 -93 7 -6 -21 1 -16 27 6 -5 -17 2 -218-Mar 235 514 48 8 104 40 1188 35 1978 227 307 2132 22 704 606 2878 357 458 1184117-Mar 297 713 80 13 130 61 1449 39 2058 356 548 2543 17 605 711 3722 548 584 14474
% diff -21 -28 -40 -38 -20 -34 -18 -10 -4 -36 -44 -16 29 16 -15 -23 -35 -22 -1818-Apr 228 471 39 9 0 25 1053 23 1760 222 379 1970 14 623 604 2644 371 458 1089317-Apr 252 553 47 9 90 67 1233 33 1823 287 464 2292 15 573 626 3209 465 469 12507
% diff -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -10018-May 276 621 41 12 102 44 1374 30 2063 257 463 2630 17 770 682 3102 402 534 1342017-May 287 660 58 11 98 60 1409 36 2153 368 559 2750 14 669 692 3604 446 565 14439
% diff -4 -6 -29 9 4 -27 -2 -17 -4 -30 -17 -4 21 15 -1 -14 -10 -5 -718-Jun 267 590 34 11 81 34 1322 25 2018 216 421 2486 15 685 714 2881 363 488 1265117-Jun 252 537 46 11 120 68 1304 28 1983 290 507 2590 14 669 653 3304 437 526 13339
% diff 6 10 -26 0 -33 -50 1 -11 2 -26 -17 -4 7 2 9 -13 -17 -7 -518-Jul 301 534 51 13 81 31 1517 15 2275 229 532 2685 5 718 745 3135 404 576 1384717-Jul 271 632 53 2 113 59 1447 35 2146 295 515 2732 13 687 746 3705 449 530 14430% diff 11 -16 -4 550 -28 -47 5 -57 6 -22 3 -2 -62 5 0 -15 -10 9 -4
18-Aug 277 506 58 7 90 51 1379 20 2205 221 517 2668 13 725 755 2909 436 531 1336817-Aug 311 626 51 12 126 59 1409 38 2374 255 506 2712 15 705 719 3569 466 530 14483
% diff -11 -19 14 -42 -29 -14 -2 -47 -7 -13 2 -2 -13 3 5 -18 -6 0 -818-Sep 220 456 50 4 87 34 1215 18 1990 179 478 2318 9 636 613 2423 382 421 1153317-Sep 302 616 55 11 101 59 1335 30 2220 264 438 2538 14 785 688 3234 427 528 13645
% diff -27 -26 -9 -64 -14 -42 -9 -40 -10 -32 9 -9 -36 -19 -11 -25 -11 -20 -15YTD 18 2246 4682 449 80 782 344 11636 195 18595 2011 3862 21738 137 6366 6123 26076 3526 4472 113320YTD 17 2221 4830 475 129 905 507 10784 288 16490 2391 3933 19922 149 5124 5383 27105 3724 4242 108109
%diff 1 -3 -5 -38 -14 -32 8 -32 13 -16 -2 9 -8 24 14 -4 -5 5 5
20 TOP USED IMPORT PASSENGER MODELS
MAKE MODELSEP '18
MAKE MODELSEP '17
MAZDA AXELA 628 MAZDA AXELA 626NISSAN TIIDA 584 SUZUKI SWIFT 600SUZUKI SWIFT 540 NISSAN TIIDA 543MAZDA DEMIO 500 TOYOTA COROLLA 542HONDA FIT 468 MAZDA DEMIO 485TOYOTA PRIUS 354 HONDA FIT 470NISSAN LEAF 299 SUBARU LEGACY 397SUBARU LEGACY 284 TOYOTA WISH 325TOYOTA COROLLA 282 MAZDA ATENZA 291TOYOTA WISH 271 TOYOTA PRIUS 263MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 268 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 255MAZDA PREMACY 255 TOYOTA MARKX 254VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 253 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 254MAZDA ATENZA 238 MAZDA MPV 236TOYOTA VITZ 225 TOYOTA ESTIMA 232SUBARU IMPREZA 206 MAZDA PREMACY 221NISSAN NOTE 189 TOYOTA VITZ 213NISSAN DUALIS 186 NISSAN NOTE 194BMW 3 SERIES 161 NISSAN DUALIS 193HONDA STREAM 156 NISSAN LEAF 182
Continued from page 34
36 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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There was a 4% dip in new vehicle sales for Sep-tember, but the market
remains steady year-to-date.New vehicle registrations
finished at 13,910 vehicles in September 2018, down
597 units compared with the same time last year.
Year-to-date, the mar-ket is up by 1% (1161 units) compared to the first nine months of 2017.
Registrations of 9432 pas-
senger and SUV vehicles for the month of Septem-ber were down 423 units on September 2017, a decrease of 4.3% and regis-trations of 4478 commercial vehicles were down by 174
(3.7%) on September 2017.
Toyota remains the overall market leader with 21% market share (2944 units), fol-lowed by Ford at 10% (1369) and Mitsubishi with 9% market share (1219).
Toyota kept the top spot for passenger and SUV registra-
tions with 21% market share (1955 units) on the back of strong rentals for the month, followed by Mazda with 9% (812) and Mitsubishi with 8% market share (766).
And making it three-from-three, Toyota is also tops in the commercial market with a 22% market share (989 units) followed by Ford with 20% (901) and Mitsubishi third with 10% market share (453).
The top-selling model
NEW PASSENGER MAKES
MAKE SEP '18SEP '17
Movement% Change
Market Share
TOYOTA 1955 2320 -15.7 20.7MAZDA 812 875 Up 1 -7.2 8.6MITSUBISHI 766 647 Up 2 18.4 8.1HOLDEN 626 1006 Down 2 -37.8 6.6KIA 592 556 Up 1 6.5 6.3HYUNDAI 566 531 Up 2 6.6 6.0SUZUKI 562 552 1.8 6.0HONDA 489 295 Up 3 65.8 5.2FORD 468 673 Down 5 -30.5 5.0NISSAN 456 390 Down 1 16.9 4.8VOLKSWAGEN 366 297 Down 1 23.2 3.9SUBARU 325 292 11.3 3.4MERCEDES-BENZ 191 163 Up 2 17.2 2.0AUDI 175 205 Down 1 -14.6 1.9JEEP 143 89 Up 4 60.7 1.5SKODA 133 111 19.8 1.4BMW 129 196 Down 3 -34.2 1.4LEXUS 81 66 Up 2 22.7 0.9VOLVO 72 35 Up 5 105.7 0.8LAND ROVER 69 106 Down 3 -34.9 0.7OTHER 455 450 1.1 4.8TOTAL 9431 9855 -4.3 100.0
NEW PASSENGER MODELS
MAKE MODELSEP '18
MAKE MODELSEP '17
TOYOTA COROLLA 872 TOYOTA COROLLA 957
TOYOTA RAV4 366 TOYOTA RAV4 516
KIA SPORTAGE 323 KIA SPORTAGE 314
MITSUBISHI ASX 317 TOYOTA YARIS 305
MAZDA CX-5 288 TOYOTA HIGHLANDER 262
SUZUKI SWIFT 275 MAZDA CX-5 253
MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 254 MITSUBISHI ASX 236
TOYOTA YARIS 219 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 235
NISSAN X-TRAIL 212 HOLDEN COMMODORE 231
NISSAN QASHQAI 193 FORD ESCAPE 219
HONDA HR-V 189 SUZUKI SWIFT 205
HOLDEN COMMODORE 161 HOLDEN TRAX 203
MAZDA MAZDA3 153 NISSAN QASHQAI 198
MAZDA CX-3 146 HYUNDAI TUCSON 180
HYUNDAI SANTA FE 143 HOLDEN CAPTIVA 165
HYUNDAI TUCSON 142 MAZDA MAZDA6 160
HONDA CRV 138 NISSAN X-TRAIL 157
TOYOTA HIGHLANDER 135 HOLDEN SPARK 154
FORD ESCAPE 128 MAZDA MAZDA3 147
MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE CROSS 125 SUBARU OUTBACK 136
NEW COMMERCIAL MODELS (UNDER 3500KG)
MAKE MODEL SEP '18
MAKE MODEL SEP'17
FORD RANGER 802 TOYOTA HILUX 791TOYOTA HILUX 667 FORD RANGER 781MITSUBISHI TRITON 451 MITSUBISHI TRITON 373TOYOTA HIACE 290 HOLDEN COLORADO 353HOLDEN COLORADO 279 TOYOTA HIACE 337NISSAN NAVARA 254 NISSAN NAVARA 267MAZDA BT-50 201 MAZDA BT-50 205ISUZU D-MAX 197 ISUZU D-MAX 195FIAT DUCATO 111 FIAT DUCATO 154HYUNDAI ILOAD 78 MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER 110
New vehicle sales soften in September
Continued on page 37
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 37
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for the month of September was the Toyota Corolla with 872 units of which 643 were rentals, followed by the Ford Ranger with 802 and then the Toyota Hilux with 667.
“With the continued high price of petrol and recent new fuel taxes, the trend to-wards downsizing is becom-ing more apparent. The SUV medium segment remains the top segment for the month
of September with 18% market share,” MIA chief executive David Crawford says.
“This was followed SUV compact seg-ment with 14%, the pick up/chas-sis cab 4×4 also
with 14% of the market, and then small vehicle segment with 11%.”
Margins thinnerOne prominent new car
dealer told AutoTalk while units are still moving, mar-gins are under pressure.
“We’re still selling cars, but margins are a bit thin-ner,” says Armstrong Motor Group managing director Rick Armstrong. “There’s plenty of competition when everybody is overstocked.”
“It’s about trying to keep some quality around the business.”
Mitsubishi records highest month ever for plug-in
A month after the release of the new 2019 Outlander PHEV, Mitsubishi Motors NZ’s market-leading plug-in hybrid SUV has recorded its highest-ever monthly sales figure.
September sales at 54 units were the best-ever for the PHEV, alongside 450 Tri-ton, 315 ASX, 200 Outlander and 124 Eclipse Cross.
The result has helped propel the brand to third spot in the market and its most successful
NEW COMMERCIAL MAKES (UNDER 3500KG) – YEAR-TO-DATE
FIA
T
FOR
D
FOT
ON
GR
EA
T W
ALL
HIN
O
HO
LDE
N
HY
UN
DA
I
ISU
ZU
LDV
MA
ZD
A
MER
CED
ES-B
ENZ
MIT
SUB
ISH
I
MIT
SUBI
SHI
FUSO
NIS
SAN
SSA
NG
YO
NG
TO
YO
TA
VOLK
SWAG
EN
OT
HE
R
TO
TAL
18-Jan 101 808 66 66 16 46 385 64 258 153 172 57 318 284 94 780 165 204 4037
17-Jan 63 788 67 45 0 42 383 68 271 87 154 40 219 276 83 698 123 266 3673
% diff 60 3 -1 47 10 1 -6 -5 76 12 43 45 3 13 12 34 -23 10
18-Feb 59 788 47 50 8 68 366 64 304 102 169 48 368 384 63 946 110 172 4116
17-Feb 64 713 66 35 8 45 364 97 255 101 186 51 282 346 52 747 76 246 3734
% diff -8 11 -29 43 0 51 1 -34 19 1 -9 -6 30 11 21 27 45 -30 10
18-Mar 69 1047 49 99 17 55 427 80 322 191 159 73 382 315 64 1225 160 244 4978
17-Mar 92 897 47 102 0 53 393 122 350 114 190 83 365 290 68 1103 115 255 4639
% diff -25 17 4 -3 4 9 -34 -8 68 -16 -12 5 9 -6 11 39 -4 7
18-May 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
17-May 75 971 72 95 0 61 348 96 351 76 186 62 501 244 44 1125 118 320 4745
% diff -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100 -100
18-May 80 1132 64 67 18 55 412 80 319 159 197 94 437 466 21 789 205 297 4892
17-May 75 971 72 95 0 61 348 96 351 76 186 62 501 244 44 1125 118 320 4745
% diff 7 17 -11 -29 -10 18 -17 -9 109 6 52 -13 91 -52 -30 74 -7 3
18-Jun 61 1186 57 122 16 70 581 56 415 255 202 97 507 365 23 900 244 290 5447
17-Jun 63 1230 119 86 26 65 666 84 460 126 202 85 466 291 45 1299 232 259 5804
% diff -3 -4 -52 42 -38 8 -13 -33 -10 102 0 14 9 25 -49 -31 5 12 -6
18-Jul 71 799 23 59 20 60 418 55 294 162 186 135 363 239 13 868 161 357 4283
17-Jul 72 40 3 66 15 56 350 71 339 76 206 148 342 228 54 845 143 972 4026
% diff -1 1898 667 -11 33 7 19 -23 -13 113 -10 -9 6 5 -76 3 13 -63 6
18-Aug 102 908 22 74 19 72 407 58 268 155 212 166 346 283 21 958 157 333 4561
17-Aug 104 833 38 95 14 65 384 63 332 115 241 100 278 256 35 1114 147 242 4456
% diff -2 9 -42 -22 36 11 6 -8 -19 35 -12 66 24 11 -40 -14 7 38 2
18-Sep 111 901 18 133 20 60 287 80 299 126 201 113 0 452 32 989 132 523 4477
17-Sep 157 875 51 85 8 63 380 75 321 110 205 125 373 267 38 1153 133 233 4652
% diff -29 3 -65 56 150 -5 -24 7 -7 15 -2 -10 -100 69 -16 -14 -1 124 -4
YTD 18 714 8372 387 717 148 540 3595 581 2760 1447 1631 884 2979 3056 359 8053 1456 2687 40366
YTD 17 755 7115 501 674 71 498 3590 766 2962 891 1698 744 3124 2461 459 8894 1177 2987 39367
%diff -5 18 -23 6 108 8 0 -24 -7 62 -4 19 -5 24 -22 -9 24 -10 3
Continued from page 36
Continued on page 38
NEW AROUND THE COUNTRY PASSENGER
REGISTRATIONSDIS
SEP '18
SEP '17
% CHANGE
WHA 183 205 -10.73AUC 4450 4396 1.23HAM 543 560 -3.04THA 92 62 48.39TAU 382 394 -3.05ROT 134 68 97.06GIS 39 40 -2.50NAP 229 244 -6.15NEW 140 155 -9.68WAN 81 50 62.00PAL 243 246 -1.22MAS 94 58 62.07WEL 841 708 18.79NEL 105 105 0.00BLE 54 58 -6.90GRE 15 16 -6.25WES 1 8 -87.50CHR 1349 2030 -33.55TIM 69 66 4.55OAM 6 16 -62.50DUN 243 258 -5.81INV 138 112 23.21TOTAL 9431 9855 -4.30
38 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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September for 24 years.Mitsubishi recorded 1213
registrations in September – a 19% year-on-year increase.
At $55,990, the new Outlander PHEV VRX was launched at a price point $8000 below the previous top-of-the-range model.
MMNZ chief operating officer Daniel Cook attrib-utes the new model’s lower price point as a key factor for increased customer uptake,
alongside rising fuel costs and an expanding national network of charging stations.
“Outlander PHEV has led its class since its release in 2014,” he says. “In our lat-est edition, we wanted to make the PHEV even more accessible to Kiwis looking to embrace this alternative technology.”
Triton 2WD and 4WD models shared near 50:50 of the spoils in September, with 230 and 220 registrations re-
spectively. MMNZ’s highest-selling vehicle has enjoyed a strong run since Fieldays, with the popular 4WD GLS Black Edition swiftly followed by a run-out deal on the 2WD GLX-R double cab.
NEW PASSENGER MAKES
ALF
A R
OM
EO
AU
DI
BM
W
CH
ER
Y
CH
RY
SLE
R
DO
DG
E
FOR
D
GR
EA
T W
ALL
HO
LDE
N
HO
ND
A
HY
UN
DA
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JEE
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KIA
LAN
D R
OV
ER
LEX
US
MA
ZD
A
MER
CED
ES-B
ENZ
MIN
I
MIT
SUB
ISH
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NIS
SAN
PE
UG
EO
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HE
SKO
DA
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NG
YO
NG
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UK
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LKSW
AG
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TAL
18-Jan 12 178 187 0 1 7 846 0 777 524 553 82 762 73 62 1025 188 77 626 423 89 54 140 82 342 591 2490 300 57 250 10798
17-Jan 7 154 198 2 1 15 778 0 1381 405 540 71 603 111 55 779 222 73 647 478 73 58 106 60 236 728 1644 474 44 207 10150
% diff 71 16 -6 -100 0 -53 9 -44 29 2 15 26 -34 13 32 -15 5 -3 -12 22 -7 32 37 45 -19 51 -37 30 21 6
18-Feb 5 169 144 0 1 4 395 0 602 412 489 142 512 76 69 773 166 70 489 269 86 35 104 64 157 577 1013 342 47 203 7415
17-Feb 3 176 160 0 4 23 611 0 654 373 606 56 513 93 62 755 245 45 547 346 48 22 104 93 305 624 990 355 48 189 8050
% diff 67 -4 -10 -75 -83 -35 -8 10 -19 154 0 -18 11 2 -32 56 -11 -22 79 59 0 -31 -49 -8 2 -4 -2 7 -8
18-Mar 6 193 232 0 1 4 504 0 673 636 551 143 617 83 71 858 200 66 722 371 99 37 164 59 291 605 1196 341 53 274 9050
17-Mar 11 203 196 0 2 55 625 0 711 519 686 94 626 107 66 905 253 59 691 341 56 34 72 81 242 734 1213 386 63 199 9230
% diff -45 -5 18 -50 -93 -19 -5 23 -20 52 -1 -22 8 -5 -21 12 4 9 77 9 128 -27 20 -18 -1 -12 -16 38 -2
18-Apr 8 140 126 0 0 8 312 0 540 317 398 88 511 60 61 760 183 46 486 354 84 20 116 42 373 539 712 258 51 255 6848
17-Apr 3 134 147 0 1 13 499 0 543 148 562 129 497 87 38 10 710 46 423 487 30 29 86 65 189 512 961 325 44 278 6996
% diff 167 4 -14 -100 -38 -37 -1 114 -29 -32 3 -31 61 7500 -74 0 15 -27 180 -31 35 -35 97 5 -26 -21 16 -8 -2
18-May 6 176 161 0 0 5 487 0 660 399 831 153 618 135 66 879 187 65 600 268 84 30 130 52 342 543 1779 336 50 233 9275
17-May 20 231 144 0 2 26 524 0 681 318 561 120 549 105 58 886 202 52 527 382 32 36 118 73 304 544 1245 423 45 178 8386
% diff -70 -24 12 -100 -81 -7 -3 25 48 28 13 29 14 -1 -7 25 14 -30 163 -17 10 -29 13 0 43 -21 11 31 11
18-Jun 22 213 170 0 0 5 443 0 695 521 823 169 639 124 66 862 207 56 727 394 71 33 170 69 323 563 1558 413 53 336 9725
17-Jun 21 190 2 0 2 31 459 0 686 440 829 127 626 123 0 940 280 73 667 361 60 29 154 83 387 677 2011 430 50 443 10181
% diff 5 12 8400 -100 -84 -3 1 18 -1 33 2 1 -8 -26 -23 9 9 18 14 10 -17 -17 -17 -23 -4 6 -24 -4
18-Jul 8 123 125 0 0 2 404 0 532 443 505 65 555 113 67 817 190 45 604 461 83 19 143 60 362 554 1202 278 6 274 8040
17-Jul 18 169 168 0 3 11 444 0 537 467 391 84 569 73 59 811 167 54 592 381 80 22 108 72 292 520 975 303 29 206 7605
% diff -56 -27 -26 -100 -82 -9 -1 -5 29 -23 -2 55 14 1 14 -17 2 21 4 -14 32 -17 24 7 23 -8 -79 33 6
18-Aug 16 141 122 0 0 0 520 0 529 425 609 109 562 118 67 841 199 53 702 434 88 27 144 48 321 596 1334 342 62 230 8639
17-Aug 8 164 143 0 0 16 472 0 686 496 407 104 631 107 47 814 218 77 638 447 104 41 161 61 306 513 1397 327 34 187 8606
% diff 100 -14 -15 -100 10 -23 -14 50 5 -11 10 43 3 -9 -31 10 -3 -15 -34 -11 -21 5 16 -5 5 82 23 0
18-Sep 15 175 129 0 0 4 468 0 626 489 566 143 592 69 81 812 191 35 766 456 57 34 133 68 325 562 1955 366 72 242 9431
17-Sep 11 205 196 0 1 22 673 0 1006 295 531 89 556 106 66 875 163 59 647 390 91 22 111 43 292 552 2320 297 35 201 9855
% diff 36 -15 -34 -100 -82 -30 -38 66 7 61 6 -35 23 -7 17 -41 18 17 -37 55 20 58 11 2 -16 23 106 20 -4
YTD 18 98 1508 1396 0 3 39 4379 0 5634 4166 5325 1094 5368 851 610 7627 1711 513 5722 3430 741 289 1244 544 2836 5130 13239 2976 451 2297 79221
YTD 17 102 1626 1354 2 16 212 5085 0 6885 3461 5113 874 5170 912 451 6775 2460 538 5379 3613 574 293 1020 631 2553 5404 12756 3320 392 2088 79059
%diff -4 -7 3 -100 -81 -82 -14 -18 20 4 25 4 -7 35 13 -30 -5 6 -5 29 -1 22 -14 11 -5 4 -10 15 10 0
NEW COMMERCIAL MAKES (UNDER 3500KG)
MAKESEP '18
SEP '17
Movement% Change
Mkt Share
TOYOTA 989 1153 -14.2 22.1FORD 901 875 3.0 20.1MITSUBISHI 452 373 Up 1 21.2 10.1
ISUZU 299 321 Up 1 -6.9 6.7
HOLDEN 287 380 Down 2 -24.5 6.4NISSAN 254 267 -4.9 5.7MAZDA 201 205 -2.0 4.5FUSO 133 83 Up 4 60.2 3.0VOLKSWAGEN 132 133 -0.8 2.9LDV 126 110 Up 1 14.5 2.8OTHER 703 752 -6.5 15.7TOTAL 4477 4652 -3.8 100.0
Continued from page 37
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STATSTALKSECONDHAND
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 39
SECONDHAND REGISTRATIONS − AUGUST 2018SALE TYPE WHA AUC HAM THA TAU ROT GIS NAP NEW WAN PAL MAS WEL NEL BLE GRE WES CHR TIM OAM DUN INV TOTAL
Cars 2018
Public to Trader 221 4875 1056 229 546 132 47 386 156 189 738 109 1084 171 90 37 1674 102 3 384 258 12487
Public to Public 1931 14016 3273 646 1922 999 377 1395 962 593 1610 444 3053 977 393 179 31 4836 519 112 1899 1144 41311
Trader to Public 572 6096 1461 302 864 401 145 687 367 298 788 222 1561 283 169 73 6 2129 211 37 730 424 17826
Cars 2017
Public to Trader 265 5177 1069 105 558 81 74 387 227 125 777 103 1108 225 93 35 1811 112 15 438 289 13074
Public to Public 1915 14783 3592 539 2224 837 395 1466 1014 478 1760 393 3144 991 385 223 94 5065 593 184 1889 1015 42979
Trader to Public 613 6391 1484 250 907 307 167 638 419 176 838 175 1585 310 173 81 23 2116 212 60 730 405 18060
Cars % Change
Public to Trader -16.6 -5.8 -1.2 118.1 -2.2 63.0 -36.5 -0.3 -31.3 51.2 -5.0 5.8 -2.2 -24.0 -3.2 5.7 -7.6 -8.9 -80.0 -12.3 -10.7 -4.5
Public to Public 0.8 -5.2 -8.9 19.9 -13.6 19.4 -4.6 -4.8 -5.1 24.1 -8.5 13.0 -2.9 -1.4 2.1 -19.7 -67.0 -4.5 -12.5 -39.1 0.5 12.7 -3.9
Trader to Public -6.7 -4.6 -1.5 20.8 -4.7 30.6 -13.2 7.7 -12.4 69.3 -6.0 26.9 -1.5 -8.7 -2.3 -9.9 -73.9 0.6 -0.5 -38.3 0.0 4.7 -1.3
Motorcycles 2018
Public to Trader 4 132 22 8 24 4 1 4 1 2 16 5 48 8 2 21 21 7 330
Public to Public 62 518 135 26 98 52 20 78 48 25 68 18 157 77 25 11 1 238 21 2 77 41 1798
Trader to Public 13 137 43 8 26 18 3 16 9 9 18 11 39 8 3 1 42 4 20 12 440
Motorcycles 2017
Public to Trader 3 124 42 24 4 10 3 4 23 6 45 13 2 38 3 18 2 364
Public to Public 57 452 154 27 115 29 14 54 55 24 65 14 154 35 21 5 4 217 17 9 65 49 1636
Trader to Public 13 144 54 10 37 11 3 20 16 8 22 10 47 14 4 1 1 48 6 1 24 21 515
Motorcycles % change
Public to Trader 33.3 6.5 -47.6 0.0 0.0 -60.0 -66.7 -50.0 -30.4 -16.7 6.7 -38.5 0.0 -44.7 -100.0 16.7 250.0 -9.3
Public to Public 8.8 14.6 -12.3 -3.7 -14.8 79.3 42.9 44.4 -12.7 4.2 4.6 28.6 1.9 120.0 19.0 120.0 -75.0 9.7 23.5 -77.8 18.5 -16.3 9.9
Trader to Public 0.0 -4.9 -20.4 -20.0 -29.7 63.6 0.0 -20.0 -43.8 12.5 -18.2 10.0 -17.0 -42.9 -25.0 0.0 -100.0 -12.5 -33.3 -100.0 -16.7 -42.9 -14.6
Trucks 2018
Public to Trader 68 880 239 58 110 45 28 128 28 44 135 37 121 66 49 8 282 34 69 77 2506
Public to Public 408 1872 537 143 390 203 101 251 204 113 255 92 441 220 113 35 7 785 80 34 389 213 6886
Trader to Public 148 915 308 91 192 121 56 157 79 58 182 73 206 76 52 27 2 324 64 12 143 138 3424
Trucks 2017
Public to Trader 57 748 238 11 97 29 32 91 37 22 133 33 118 61 38 8 282 22 1 83 66 2207
Public to Public 322 1903 609 144 429 155 89 269 169 101 279 83 401 187 102 45 24 751 85 34 300 223 6704
Trader to Public 142 777 292 55 162 67 59 110 76 35 148 41 174 58 53 20 2 324 47 13 113 75 2843
Trucks % change
Public to Trader 19.3 17.6 0.4 427.3 13.4 55.2 -12.5 40.7 -24.3 100.0 1.5 12.1 2.5 8.2 28.9 0.0 0.0 54.5 -100.0 -16.9 16.7 13.5
Public to Public 26.7 -1.6 -11.8 -0.7 -9.1 31.0 13.5 -6.7 20.7 11.9 -8.6 10.8 10.0 17.6 10.8 -22.2 -70.8 4.5 -5.9 0.0 29.7 -4.5 2.7
Trader to Public 4.2 17.8 5.5 65.5 18.5 80.6 -5.1 42.7 3.9 65.7 23.0 78.0 18.4 31.0 -1.9 35.0 0.0 0.0 36.2 -7.7 26.5 84.0 20.4
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Second-hand follows rest of market down
The second-hand vehicle market has followed the new and used
import segments down during September, compounding the downturn for dealers.
Dealer-to-public pas-senger car registration changes were down 1.3% for the month to 17,826, while
dealer purchases fell further - by 4.5% to 12,487.
Public-to-public transac-tions fell 3.9% to 41,311 units.
In bikes, dealer sales fell a dramatic 14.6% to 440 units, while dealer purchases were down 9.3% to 330. The pub-lic still had a busy month, up 9.9% to 1798 bikes.
Trucks went against the other segments with a significant gain. Dealer sales were up 20.4% to 3424 units, while dealer purchases were up 13.5% to 1206.
Public truck transactions were up 2.7% to 6886.
40 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
STATSTALKTRUCKS
STATSTALKBIKES
40 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
NEW BIKE MODELSMAKE MODEL SEP '18TNT MOTOR ROMA 2T 35SUZUKI UZ50 17KAWASAKI EX 400G L 15FACTORY BUILT ARIIC 13SUZUKI GSX150 FDZA GIXXER 13PIAGGIO ZIP 50 2T 11FORZA CAPRI LX 10FORZA CICLONE 10HARLEY DAVIDSON STREET 18 STREET 500 10HONDA GLC 150SH 10
USED BIKE MAKESMAKE SEP'18 SEP '17 % CHANGE MARKET
HARLEY DAVIDSON 60 76 -21.1 32.1DUCATI 21 23 -8.7 11.2TRIUMPH 18 16 12.5 9.6HONDA 14 19 -26.3 7.5BMW 13 14 -7.1 7.0HYOSUNG 12 3 300.0 6.4KAWASAKI 9 12 -25.0 4.8YAMAHA 9 12 -25.0 4.8KTM 5 2 150.0 2.7APRILIA 4 1 300.0 2.1OTHER 22 44 -50.0 11.8TOTAL 187 222 -15.8 100.0
NEW BIKE MAKES
MAKE SEP '18YTD '18
SEP '17
% Change
Market Share %
SUZUKI 91 986 132 -31.1 13.9YAMAHA 82 648 79 3.8 12.5HARLEY DAVIDSON 68 610 62 9.7 10.4KAWASAKI 52 397 44 18.2 7.9HONDA 46 487 45 2.2 7.0TNT MOTOR 40 285 22 81.8 6.1TRIUMPH 40 373 43 -7.0 6.1KTM 31 277 41 -24.4 4.7BMW 25 244 29 -13.8 3.8FACTORY BUILT 24 165 15 60.0 3.7FORZA 20 185 20 0.0 3.0PIAGGIO 18 159 18 0.0 2.7VESPA 17 139 27 -37.0 2.6DUCATI 15 111 17 -11.8 2.3MOPED 15 150 17 -11.8 2.3APRILIA 14 150 24 -41.7 2.1INDIAN 11 107 11 0.0 1.7ADLY 5 49 4 25.0 0.8KYMCO 5 42 2 150.0 0.8OTHER 38 547 69 -44.9 5.8TOTAL 657 6111 721 -8.9 100.0
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Do you sell or deal with Motorcycles? your
ad here
It was a slow month for bike sales in every sec-tor - new, used import
and second-hand - with a sizeable 9% fall in new registrations.
Registrations in Septem-ber fell from 721 this time last year to 657 units. For the year the tally has hit 6111 bikes.
Suzuki continues to lead the market - though has slipped slightly for market share. The brand saw 91 registrations for the month, down 31.1% for a 13.9% share.
In second place, Yamaha recorded an 82 unit haul, up 3.8% for a 12.5% share, followed in third by Harley Davidson with 68, up 9.7% for a 10.4% share.
In fourth, Kawasaki regis-
tered 52 units, up 18.2% for a 7.9% market share, followed in fifth by Honda on 46 - up 2.2% for a 7% share.
Scooters dominated - as usual - with the TNT Motor Roma 2T on 35 and Suzuki
UZ50 on 17 the top sellers.The Kawasaki EX400G L
was third on 15 bikes, while the Suzuki GSX150FDZA
Gixxer and ARIIC tied next on 13.
Import bike registrations were down further than new, by 15.8% to 187 units.
Harley Davidson was the top brand on 60 bikes, down 21.1% year-on-year for a 32.1% share.
Ducati took second on 21 bikes, down 8.7% for 11.2% of registrations, while Triumph in third was up 12.5% to 18 for a 9.6% share.
Honda claimed fourth on 14, while BMW was next on 13.
Bikes struggle across the board
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 41 AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 41
NEW TRUCK MAKES (OVER 3500KG)
MAKESEP '18
SEP '17
% Change
% of Market
YTD '18
YTD '17
FUSO 133 83 60.2 21.7 712 593ISUZU 102 126 -19.0 16.6 882 971HINO 60 63 -4.8 9.8 540 498MERCEDES-BENZ 44 58 -24.1 7.2 388 401FIAT 39 33 18.2 6.4 277 250IVECO 26 18 44.4 4.2 201 174VOLVO 25 23 8.7 4.1 236 292ALEXANDER DENNIS 24 0 #DIV/0! 3.9 113 24KENWORTH 23 20 15.0 3.8 244 170SCANIA 23 20 15.0 3.8 201 195OTHER 114 135 -15.6 18.6 1315 1155TOTAL 613 579 5.9 100.0 5109 4723
USED TRUCK MAKES
MAKESEP '18
SEP '17
% Change
% of Market
YTD '18
YTD '17
ISUZU 55 59 -6.8 28.2 448 437HINO 37 20 85.0 19.0 313 264TOYOTA 35 35 0.0 17.9 338 331MITSUBISHI 18 21 -14.3 9.2 170 208NISSAN 17 14 21.4 8.7 141 136MAZDA 5 1 400.0 2.6 41 28MITSUBISHI FUSO 4 2 100.0 2.1 35 25DAF 3 4 -25.0 1.5 23 13IVECO 3 2 50.0 1.5 22 13FIAT 2 0 1.0 27 18OTHER 16 22 -27.3 8.2 184 192TOTAL 195 180 8.3 100.0 1742 1665
STATSTALKTRUCKS
Truck and bus registrations up for September
New and used heavy and commercial vehicle registra-
tions remain steady with small growth reported in the month of September.
Total registrations of new trucks and buses over 3500kg GVM sits at 613 units for the month. This is up 6% com-pared to the 579 registered in the same period last year.
A total of 5109 new trucks and buses have hit the road in the year to date compared with 4723 in the same period last year.
Fuso are the market leader for the month with 133 units registered and a 22% market share. It saw the brand up 60% for the month compared
to the same period last year where it registered 83 units.
Isuzu is in second spot for the month, down 19% with 102 registered and a 17% market share.
Hino comes in third, down 5% with 60 registered and a 10% market share.
Mercedes-Benz follows, down 24% with 44 units registered, Fiat up 18% (39), Iveco up 4% (26), Volvo up 9% (25), Kenworth up 15% (23),and Scania up 15 % (23).
Isuzu NZ general manager Colin Muir says September has been another steady month.
“The most pleasing factor is the mix of units going out with really good levels of light duty as well as medium duty
and heavy duty units, which is the mix that really works for a sustainable and healthy dealer network,” he says.
Meanwhile, total used imported truck registrations were up by 8% with 195 units
compared to 180 in the same period last year.
This was led by Isuzu with 55 units and a 28% market share. This was down 7% compared with 59 in the
same period last year. Hino comes in second, up
85% with 37 units registered and a 19% market share.
Toyota is in third spot, unchanged year-on-year with 35 units.
This is followed by Mit-subishi with 18 units, Nissan (17), Mazda (five), Mitsubishi Fuso (four), DAF and Iveco (three) and Fiat (two).
TRIBUNALTALK
42 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
Simple solution for expensive problem
Brocklebank v Dunedin City Motors
In 2014, the pur-chaser acquired a new Ford Terri-
tory from the trader. In 2016, while the vehicle was still covered by its new car warranty, he noticed it was cutting out, idling rough, and would not start. At this stage, the vehicle had travelled 34,527km.
He took the vehicle to the trader, who carried out extensive investigations to find out what was wrong with it. They also observed the vehicle was cutting out and idling rough. It turned the engine off and went to restart it, but the engine would not start. The fault was eventually traced to an internal failure of the fuel pump - though the trader does not appear to have reached a definite conclusion as to the cause of the failure.
It took a fuel sample and checked for separation and contamination, but found no bubbles at the injector, no diesel in the oil, and no water in the diesel. It appears that, on this occasion, the fuel sample was not sent away for any further analysis.
The trader replaced the fuel pres-sure sensor, the fuel pump and fuel fil-ter, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve gaskets, injectors, fuel rail and supply lines. The total cost of these repairs was $10,749.28, which was covered under the new car warranty.
Further checks on the vehicle were carried out by the trader on December 9, 2016 for blowing excessive smoke on December 22, 2016, and January 17, 2017 for lights on the dashboard, and on June 28, 2017 because the vehicle was going into limp mode. On this last occasion, the trader did not find a fault, but it asked the purchaser to bring the vehicle back in if it went into limp mode again. After he received the vehicle back, the purchaser drove it from Dun-
edin to Wanaka.On July 14, 2017 the vehicle went
into limp mode again. The purchaser returned the vehicle to the trader where the vehicle remained until January 2018. During this period he was sup-plied with a loan vehicle.
Again, the trader undertook exten-sive investigations to find out what had caused the vehicle to go into limp mode. It was supported throughout this period by Ford Motor Company of Australia (Ford Australia) through its technical hotline service.
And again, the immediate cause of the problem was diagnosed as an in-ternal failure in the high pressure fuel pump. This time, however, the trader suspected that fuel contamination was the underlying cause of the pump’s failure. It obtained a fuel sample from the filter housing of the pump and found it was contaminated by wa-ter. A photograph of the fuel, clearly showing the presence of water, was produced to the Tribunal. The trader showed the purchaser the contami-nated fuel before it was sent away for laboratory testing - which concluded that it “failed”, with 1378 ppm of water in the sample, exceeding the industry standard specification of 200 ppm (maximum) for diesel fuel.
The purchaser is suspicious about the testing methodology employed by the trader. He questions why it took so long before the fuel sample was tested. He has doubts about how the vehicle
was stored, particu-larly whether there was some way of water getting into the vehicle while it was on their premises. The trader rejects these criticisms, giving evidence from its staff that the sample was correctly obtained and stored.
On the basis of its investigations and the analysis the trader concluded that the
vehicle’s problems were caused by fuel contamination. It prepared a service estimate, for replacing components that could be affected, in the sum of $22,972.63. This was prepared to sup-port the purchaser’s insurance claim or a claim against the fuel company from which he had purchased the diesel.
Subsequently, the purchaser uplifted his vehicle from and had it inspected by a diesel engine special-ist, who recovered codes P008800 “fuel rail pressure sensor too high” and P226968 which it described on its in-voice as “water in fuel sensor malfunc-tion”.
The purchaser submitted that “water in fuel sensor malfunction” indicates a fault with the fuel sensor rather than any indication of water in the fuel. On this basis, he asserted the diesel engine specialist had not found any evidence of fuel contamination. This assertion was rebutted by the trader. It confirmed that the fault code P226968 refers to “water in fuel condition”, for which the recommended repair is to drain the water from the fuel filter.
The specialist reported that it re-moved the fuel filter, drained fuel from it into a container, finding no signs of water. It refitted the fuel filter and started the engine. The engine started and ran normally but the codes re-turned after a short idling period. The filter was removed again and no water
Continued on page 43
TRIBUNALTALK
AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz | 43
was found to be present. A new filter was fitted and when it started and ran the engine again the common rail pres-sure stabilised, the vehicle performed satisfactorily on a test drive and there were no further codes.
On the basis of these investigations, the specialist concluded that the faults had been caused by a blocked fuel filter. It invoiced the purchaser for these investigations and repairs in the sum of $852.38.
The purchaser also criticised the trader for failing to implement the instructions given to it by Ford Aus-tralia over the technical hotline that it should check the fuel for contami-nation both before and after the fuel filter.
The trader defended its testing prac-tice on the basis that it is only the fuel after the fuel filter that is likely to cause problems in respect of the operation of the engine. The Tribunal’s Assessor agrees that after the filter is the correct location from which to sample fuel.
The trader says it is pleased that the
relatively simple repairs carried out by the specialist appear to have addressed the immediate problem. The pur-chaser has continued to use the vehicle and has now travelled approximately 50,000km in it since new. However, the trader’s recommendation is that the injectors, fuel rail and supply lines should be replaced again, in a repeat of the repairs carried out in 2016.
“This suggests that further expen-sive repairs are required, although not of the magnitude of the $23,000 estimate that [the trader] prepared for [the purchaser] possible claim against his insurer or the fuel company.
In its oral submissions, the trader said it now considers that the original fault back in 2016 may also have been the result of water contamination of the diesel as well, although its investigations at the time did not reveal that there was any water present in the diesel that was extracted from the vehicle. However, on that occasion, the fuel sample was not sent away for laboratory testing.
The trader pointed out that if fuel contamination had been established in
respect of the first failure, the purchaser would not have been covered under his new car warranty. It submitted that it was not aware of any other similar problems in relation to other Ford Ter-ritory vehicles it had sold or serviced. It maintains its conclusion that the prob-lems in the vehicle have been caused by diesel contamination, rather than by any fault with the vehicle.
The purchaser has attempted to recover his losses from the fuel com-pany from which he had purchased fuel immediately before the vehicle went into limp mode in July 2017. A letter from Allied Petroleum Limited, which supplied the fuel at the Wanaka petrol station from which the purchaser got the fuel on July 8, 2017, denied that there was any contamination issue at its site and denied any liability in respect of the claim.
There has been no breach of the guarantee of acceptable quality in re-spect of the vehicle and his application must therefore be dismissed.
Continued from page 42
business manager and deal with the sale in hand, diarise when to next contact your customer for their next re-placement vehicle.
Secondly, the use of insurance disclosure documents is imperative to improve the transparency in the F&I process. This ensures you meet your obligations under the Responsible Lending Code and enables your customer to make an informed decision, based on all associated risks. The customer can then accept or decline your offer, based on their full knowledge of all the features, benefits, terms and conditions of the products.
Let’s not forget the golden rule to offer 100% of your products to 100%
of your customers, 100% of the time. Do not pre-judge a customer’s requirements. Offer and discuss with them the suitability of each prod-uct to meet their individual needs.
Please also remember that a little profit gained for each product will help with affordability, and therefore help protect your customer to be covered by all associ-ated risks.
Lastly, the use of a good finance & insurance log.
Remember, “What you don’t record, you can’t measure”. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. “Proper planning prevents poor performance”. Yes, these are all old cliches, but they are all true. Make sure you are using an F&I log that will truly “Make Prof-
its Grow”. Make sure it will measure your performance, set and monitor KPI’s per sale, penetration levels and the income generated for each and every vehicle sold.
Remember, every vehicle sold represents a new F&I profit opportunity. Make sure you can also distin-guish between a captive or converted customer. But the most important measure of all is, of course, turnover. If you don’t get good turnover from every salesperson to your business manager (or a salesperson with F&I experi-ence) you are losing 100% of the opportunity to protect your customer, your dealer-ship, and make an F&I sale.
If the F&I log you use doesn’t do all you ask of it, (or God forbid you don’t use one at all) ask to see the
best, have a look at Provi-dent’s new MPG system.
Once you’re F&I perfor-mance is properly measured you can then identify all opportunities for improve-ment. Your needs in this re-gard can then be addressed by way of the training and support that Provident can offer, which will in turn in-crease your performance.
Get your dealership up to speed with the use of the right tools. Ask me to show you what’s in Provi-dent’s tool box …. You will be impressed on how we can help. Get the job done the most effective, efficient and compliant way the first time.
To do the job right, you need the right toolsContinued from page 26
44 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
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Twyford highlights multimodal transport at RTF
Developing multimodal transport and improving road safety are among the government’s top
priorities, transport minister Phil Twyford says.
Twyford made his second appear-ance at the Road Transport Forum’s annual conference recently held in Dunedin.
He first spoke at the forum’s 2017 event in Hamilton, having been trans-port minister for just two days.
It was there he first spoke of the gov-ernment’s commitment to invest more in multimodal forms of transport such as more spending on public rail and bus networks.
Now 11 months into the job, Twyford hammered home the same message.
“Rebalancing investment in a mod-ern, efficient, multimodal transport system is long overdue,” he says.
Twyford acknowledged the 3.5 cents per litre increase in fuel excise duty which kicks in on September 30, followed by a further seven cents over the next two years and an equivalent
amount for road user charges“No one enjoys paying more at the
pump. However, [the transport industry] knows better than most that the bil-lions that are needed for investment in a modern transport system have to be paid for,” Twyford says.
He praised the freight industry and the critical role it plays in the economy as both a source of employment and regional economic development.
“If we are to unlock this growth and prosperity we need a modern mul-timodal transport system across the entire country,” he says.
Improving safety and freight con-nections to ports, airports, and distri-bution centres are a priority.
Improving local and regional roads is another focus, he says.
Twyford also acknowledged cross-subsidisation criticism surrounding funding of rail through the National Land Transport Programme and says a study on the future of rail is due later this year.
However, coastal shipping and rail
“have a role to play”, Twyford says.“These modes have the potential
to lift some of the pressures off roads that makes economic sense and ben-efits the freight sector,” he says.
Twyford says the big changes now facing the transport industry are elec-trification of vehicles, GPS and satellite pricing systems and technological inno-vations in forms of mobility and urban intensification.
Twyford says a GPS pricing system is “only a matter of years away”.
He says the government does not in-tend to “surrender” itself to technology and a strong debate on how it’s applied is still necessary.
“It’s my view we shouldn’t think of technology as some kind of white knight that’s going to come along and solve all our problems … but instead decide what kind of economy and what kind of communities we want to live in and then do our best to harness those new technologies for the kind of future we want,” Twyford says.
NEWSTALK
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THE DIARY AutoTalk’s group editor Scott Morgan looks at the month gone by on AutoTalk.co.nz
September 3 Car dealers versus private sellers Private car sellers are parking vehicles outside dealerships in South Auckland’s Takanini in an effort to attract customers. This has frustrated local deal-ers located on Great South Rd.
“It’s affecting my business. It’s affecting everybody’s business,” dealer Jasmit Singh told Stuff.
Not only are the private sellers luring customers away, but they’re also taking potential customer’s carparks, Singh says.
September 4Car of the year new awards announced New awards for car of the year have been announced. The AA Driven Car of the Year Awards for 2018 will be re-vealed at a cocktail evening on December 12.
The awards include car of the year, best in class, and the people’s choice award.
Feedback on the new format has been overwhelmingly posi-tive, AA Motoring Services gener-al manager Stella Stocks says.
September 7 MIA encourages motorists to use ‘genuine’ parts Several problems arising from the use of third-party parts in vehicle repairs has prompted the Motor Industry Association to encourage the use of parts sourced from the distributor.
Brake failure, engine dam-age and misfiring airbags are just some of the serious issues that sometimes stem from the use of non-genuine parts in cars, motorcycles and trucks, MIA chief executive David
Crawford says.“New Zealand distributors
of new vehicles are urging vehicle owners that when you have your vehicle repaired or serviced, insist on genuine parts sourced from an author-ised dealer.
September 12 Road Commander fronts VTNZ’s new advertising campaign Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) has a new face leading its latest advertising campaign.
A series of TV and digital commercials feature anti-hero Road Commander who is on a quest to get his warrant of fitness.
Road Commander’s bat-tle wagon, the Fallen Angel take the shape of a classic ‘57 Chevrolet Bel Air, mixed with a four-wheel drive monster truck, inspired from the post-apocalyptic rat rod genre.
September 13Suzuki tops major reliability surveySuzuki has been voted overall top car make for reliability in a major independent British survey.
The award coincides with its best-ever August, record-ing 599 sales in the local market – a 15.9% increase on the same month last year.
The brand came up trumps in Britain’s annual “What Car?” reliability survey for cars up to four years of age.
Nottingham adjudged bankrupt Dermot Gregory Nottingham has been declared bankrupt following proceedings in the Auckland High Court.
The Auckland resident was adjudicated bankrupt
on creditor’s application on September 11.
Described by some media as a “justice campaigner”, Nottingham was known in the automotive industry for his investigations into allegations of odometer tampering.
September 14 Biosecurity gets tough for stink bug season Biosecurity officials are prom-ising to take “tough action” against cargo vessels believed to be infested with brown marmorated stink bug during the upcoming risk season.
The risk season runs from September to April when stink bugs from the northern hemisphere are most likely to crawl into cargo heading to New Zealand.
Biosecurity New Zealand border clearance services di-rector Steve Gilbert says each arriving vessel will be dealt with on a “case-by-case basis”.
September 18 Mitsubishi call centre wins top award Mitsubishi Motors New Zea-land’s Customer Care Centre has been named the best of the best for the seventh time.
At the 2018 CRM/CCiNZ Contact Centre Awards, the 14-member team won its seventh Supreme Award for contact centres under 50 seats.
“The continued high stand-ard maintained by our cus-tomer service representatives is one of the pillars supporting the year-on-year growth we have achieved and continue to strive for,” MMNZ customer advocacy manager Haig Da-vidson says.
World ridesharing platform Ola launching in New Zealand
Ola, one of the world’s largest rideshare services, plans to launch in New Zealand shortly.
It will rival Uber and Zoomy here, while a female-only rideshare DriveHer plans to begin in Auckland later this year.
Ola has already begun invit-ing private vehicle owners to learn more about driving and registering with it in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
Double check used BMW and Mercedes airbag recalls Used BMW and Mercedes Benz vehicles with outstanding non-alpha airbag recalls are still being imported, VIA has discovered.
Part of the problem is used BMWs are not listed with their recall status on the JASPA site.
VIA is advising traders to check a site provided by BMW Japan where recalls for indi-vidual vehicles can be looked up.
September 19 Motoring finance boosts Heartland profit Heartland Bank’s annual profit has been strengthened by im-pressive growth in its motoring finance division.
It offers vehicle finance through its subsidiary Marac, along with certain brands like Holden, Jaguar, Isuzu and Hino.
Overall profit was $67.5 mil-lion, up 11%, with revenue from its motoring book increasing by $131m.
Mitsubishi ute range marks 40 years Mitsubishi is celebrating 40 years of success with its one-tonne ute range.
The first generation, named Forte, saw its Japanese launch in 1978 and was soon exported around the world with names such as the Mitsubishi Truck and L200.
The Forte was engineered to provide tough, depend-
46 | AUTOTALK SEPTEMBER 2018 | www.autotalk.co.nz
DIARYTALK
September 3AADA backs ACCC’s unfair contract commentsThe Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) is welcoming calls for thresh-olds governing unfair contract terms to be revisited.
The Australian Competi-tion and Consumer Commis-sion (ACCC) is recommending that the thresholds for small businesses be revisited in the upcoming review of the business-to-business unfair contract term regime.
September 6
Dealers encouraged to distribute new information sheetA new car fact sheet outlining consumers’ legal rights has been produced by the Austral-ian Competition and Consum-er Commission (ACCC) so they are better informed during the purchasing process.
And the Australian Auto-motive Dealer Association (AADA) is encouraging its members to hand the sheet out to customers, after it was explained in more detail at the AADA convention this week.
September 11
South Australia won’t register Takata-affected vehiclesVehicles in South Australia which have not had their Takata airbags replaced will be refused registration.
The Department of Plan-ning, Transport and Infra-structure has announced that, as of November 1, vehicles which have not had their potentially lethal Takata air-bag inflators replaced will be barred from the state’s roads.
September 21Royal Commission hears of insurance misconduct at dealershipsThe banking, superannuation and financial services Royal Commission has heard evi-dence of misconduct around
dealer insurance incentives. Round six of the Royal
Commission has heard insur-ance giant IAG “incentivised” car and motorcycle dealers to sell add-on insurance prod-ucts in addition to the sale of vehicles and finance, in order to boost profits.
September 25Dealer association protests ‘unfair’ tariffsThe Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will not help a large portion of Australian car buy-ers, an industry body says.
Australian Automotive Dealer Association chief executive David Blackhall says the newly passed Compre-hensive and Progressive Agreement under the Trans-Pacific Partnership does little for consumers.
able transport for people and goods.
September 20 MBIE bans six vehicle traders The number of “cowboy” traders is increasing as the online motor vehicle market grows, according to the Minis-try of Business, Innovation and Employment.
It has banned six traders from motor vehicle trading over the past 12 months for several reasons, including failing to comply with orders from the Motor Vehicle Dis-putes Tribunal.
The banned persons are forbidden from participating in motor vehicle trading for a period of five years.
Dead stink bug found on ship One dead brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) has been found on a ship that travelled from Japan to New Zealand since the BMSB season started on September 1.
It was discovered once the
ship arrived in New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary In-dustries (MPI) has confirmed to AutoTalk.
MPI says it’s too early in the season to comment on whether there are more stink bugs in Japan now, compared with last year.
Traders pulling dodgy Trade Me deals ‘pretty stupid’Trade Me says it is continu-ously working to weed out unregistered vehicle traders from using the site.
The comments are in response to a Ministry of Business, Employment and Economic Development (MBIE) blitz against dodgy online deals, which has seen six traders banned from sell-ing vehicles for a five-year period.
Trade Me policy and com-pliance team leader James Ryan says it has a compliance programme in place where bi-monthly checks are performed to ensure that motor vehicle traders are registered and act-ing lawfully.
September 21Warning against importing typhoon-damaged vehicles The Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) is urging dealers to avoid import-ed stock damaged in Typhoon Jebi.
“VIA understands that sig-nificant numbers of damaged vehicles are now becoming available,” the organisation says in its latest alert.
There are many reasons to avoid importing these vehicles, VIA says.
September 25 Motoring media merger bites the dust A proposed merger that would have brought together two of New Zealand’s largest automotive media businesses has failed – again.
The Court of Appeal has declined Stuff and NZME’s request to overturn a Com-merce Commission decision
that denied them permission to merge.
NZME runs motoring content on its Driven.co.nz website and in its metropoli-tan and regional mastheads, while Stuff does the same on its website and print products.
September 26 Christchurch dealership caught up in crime spree A woman who test drove a car from a Christchurch dealership but never returned it is await-ing sentencing.
Stealing the $11,000 black and silver Ford from the un-named dealership was just one of 21 charges Antonia Deborah Ogilvie faced, Stuff reports.
She had previously admitted 14 charges, before pleading guilty to the final seven at the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday.
AussieTalk Diary AutoTalk Australia’s editor Scott Murray looks at the month gone by on autotalk.com.au
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September 03Z Energy fuels up FoodstuffsZ Energy has teamed up with Foodstuffs as an exclusive nationwide fuel partner.
The deal replaces the supermarket giant’s previous partnership with Mobil.
The deal will see Z Energy supplying fuel to 53 New World and Pak’nSave branded fuel sites around the country.
September 04Hino puts on trans-Tasman showstopperA trans-Tasman clash has ended in a draw as two diesel technicians battled at the 2018 Hino National Skills Contest.
Top New Zealand Hino technician Heidi Inkster from Truckstops Wellington went head-to-head with Hino Australia’s 2016 champion Asa Pearson at the group’s Sydney training centre on August 23.
September 06Scania New Zealand set for businessScania has announced it will create a wholly-owned subsidiary business in New Zealand.
Scania New Zealand will be responsible for the importa-tion, distribution and sales of new Scania heavy trucks and buses, as well as parts and business services from Janu-ary 1, 2019.
September 17Record crane numbers in NZA record 140 long-term cranes throughout New Zealand is a reflection of the country’s ongoing construc-tion boom, according to the Rider Levett Bicknall crane index.
The figures are up by 15 cranes (12%) compared to six months ago and is driven largely by Auckland, up 8.4% in six months, with 90 cranes.
Christchurch saw a 69% jump from 13 to 22 cranes
September 21Fuso Canter gets tipper upgradeFuso NZ is strengthening its market-leading light truck Canter range with key up-grades to its tipper model.
Looking to build on Canter Tipper’s growing reputa-
tion, Fuso NZ has given the 7.5-tonne model a larger 2.4 square metres of body as standard, providing nearly 15% greater capacity than previ-ously.
Sany reports record growthSany Heavy Industry is report-ing record growth for its half-year results.
The Chinese crane, exca-vation and earthmoving giant recorded net profit of 3.4 bil-lion yuan (US$494 million) for the first half year to June 30.
This is an increase of 192% over the same period last year.
September 5Electric Merc here next yearThe first fully electric SUV from Mercedes-Benz under its EQC brand is due to start production in 2019.
The Mercedes-Benz EQC is expected to arrive in New Zealand in the second half of 2019 and is priced below NZ$160,000, Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific public rela-tions manager Jerry Stamou-lis says.
September 17Drive Electric ups EV advocacyElectric vehicle advocacy group Drive Electric has been promot-ing EV uptake in New Zealand
on several fronts recently.It’s bringing Norwegian
EV Association secretary general Christina Bu to New Zealand in November for sev-eral engagements. She will highlight successful actions that promoted the uptake of EVs, especially fleet business, in her home country.
September 20Leaf owners wanted for further battery studyAuckland-based Blue Cars is embarking on a second stage of its Nissan Leaf battery pilot project and seeks expressions of interest from Leaf owners keen to participate.
Its first stage involved designing a new battery based
on 18650 lithium cells and, after testing in a Leaf for three months, Blue Cars found the new module had a 45% greater capacity compared with a new 24kWh Leaf.
September 21NZ’s 10,000th EV celebratedNew Zealand’s 10,000th elec-tric vehicle owner received a visit from associate transport minister and climate change minister James Shaw on Sep-tember 21.
Shaw dropped in on Lawrence Heath, manager of Claridges Organic, Christch-urch, during a flight across the country, to congratulate the Nissan Leaf owner.
September 24‘Decent’ EV incentives coming – minister
Incentives to buy electric vehicles will be coming from the Government shortly.
That’s according to cli-mate change minister James Shaw who says EV incentives are being worked on.
September 26Hydrogen association formedThe New Zealand Hydrogen Association has been estab-lished to help advance hydro-gen energy as a low emission fuel source.
The association has been formed with significant input and funding from a number of private sector companies, as well as seed funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), association chairman Michael Fulton says.
TransportTalk DiaryTransportTalk New Zealand editor Nigel Moffiet looks at the month gone by on www.transporttalk.co.nz
EVTalk Diary EVtalk New Zealand editor Geoff Dobson looks at the month gone by on www.evtalk.co.nz
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