Wide-reaching
plans to implement new frontal crash standards on all cars imported into New Zealand
are likely to savage the large trade in used imported vehicles, writes Donn Anderson.
Under new government safety rules, which will effectively ban the importation
of Japanese cars built before 1994, annual volumes of used import cars could
halve.
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Eleven law changes to improve vehicle safety are due to become effective from
April next year. They include compulsory replacement of used airbags, tougher
border controls, better seatbelts and a ban on flood-damaged vehicles.
Currently, for every new car sold in New Zealand, two used import cars are
newly registered from abroad.
But the decision to ban pre-1994 model imports is likely to slash the volume
of imported used cars to the same level as the new car trade. Had the new law
been in force last year, 50,000 of the 120,000 used import vehicles would have
been barred from entry.
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By GlobalDataThe law change comes at a time of increasing numbers of cheap, elderly imports
due mainly to the sagging value of the New Zealand dollar.
Dealers have been finding that they cannot bring in newer, more expensive used
imports without the landed costs being prohibitive.
While the used import trade in New Zealand has been phenomenally successful
for more than a decade, it has forced down the volume of new car sales and is
now making the national fleet older.
“Currently, for every new car sold in New Zealand, two used import cars are newly registered from abroad“ |
The government’s original intention, in the 1980s, of opening the floodgates
to used imports was to make cars more affordable and lower the age of the typical
New Zealand vehicle. Yet in recent years the reverse has been happening.
The new car industry had been pressing for a seven year maximum age for used
imports but the Government has settled on 1994, the year in which Japan’s latest
frontal impact standards came into force.
Provision will be made to allow the importation of classic cars which are more
than 20 years old, while four-wheel-drives (SUVs) and certain commercial vehicles
like utilities (pickup trucks) are not required to comply with the regulations.
Some used import distributors and dealers are unhappy about the rule change,
claiming that the new law will push up used car prices by about NZ$1,000 (about
$US400).
But the Motor Industry Association, which represents new vehicle franchises,
is pleased even though it fails to satisfy their ‘rolling’ seven year-plus
age ban.
The association’s chief executive officer Perry Kerr said the recent trend
towards older used imports had had a negative effect on the average safety level
of the New Zealand vehicle parc.
In 1997 the mean age of used cars arriving in New Zealand was under six years.
So far this year, that figure is almost eight years, and one-fifth of the used
imports landing here are 10 to 12 years old. Three years ago only 3% of used
imports arriving were that old.
Kerr says, “For far too long we have had the ridiculous situation where
the huge advance in the safety of new cars has been more than counterbalanced
by the rapidly growing number of older-technology used cars flooding into the
country.
“At least now there is some responsibility on the used importers to meet
a certain standard.”
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