1 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

THE NEW ZEALAND VEHICLE DEALER’S NEWS SOURCE

OCTOBER 2021 .CO.NZ

Page 03CLEAN CAR PLAN DISCUSSED

Page 06TRADE ME DEFENDS PRICE RISES

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.

BRENDAN FOOT – 50-YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONGP.08

Mechanical Breakdown InsurancePayment Protection Insurance

Loan Equity InsuranceMotor Vehicle Insurance

www.autosure.co.nz | 0800 267 873

Mechanical Breakdown InsuranceGuaranteed Asset Protection Insurance

Payment Protection InsuranceCar Insurance

www.autosure.co.nz

2 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

EDITORIALTALK

RICHARD EDWARDSMANAGING EDITOR

N ormally in this column I rant on about some industry going on, usually related to the

Government, likely emissions, or finance rules, or maybe naughty traders.

Not this time. This time I want to be positive and direct you to something very cool that we’ve been working on – and have told you about before – but that ties in well to our intent with AutoTalk of telling the stories of the trade.

Covering the people and discussion behind things – not just the beltway politics of a small number of talking heads.

We do that too. But it can’t be everything.

I’m talking about our content outside of straight stories on our website and in the magazine, the podcasts and video material that you’ve been seeing popping up here and there over the last year. We’ve produced quite a lot of it.

There are now 29 podcasts available to download and listen to free on your favourite podcast app, and several videos on the AutoTalk Youtube channel.

The videos include industry panels on topics like the Clean Car plans and COVID, trading guides for restriction levels, discussions on business assistance and even mental health.In the past two weeks, topics have included transport minister Michael Wood put to the test on the Clean Car plans, the Foot family discussing the 50-year legacy of their well-known dealership, Bruce Fowler on Polestar’s launch plans and tech-

upstart Dealer Hub on their online auction system.

I’m particularly proud of our COVID broadcasts, recorded very rough and on the fly as conditions changed. At a time when you can’t talk business face-to-face it’s nice to see a face, talking business.

We got great feedback on the sessions, including this one: “Your COVID podcasts were incredibly helpful – short, concise, on point, no hyperbole or entreating. Saved a lot of time and concern.:

That’s heartening to hear. Not everyone wants to consume everything in a written form; not that the written word is going away, everything we record gets a written version, but for some a discussion is a better format.

And sometimes these discussions have more heart, and more credibility when you can see or hear them for yourself.

We’ll continue to develop our video and podcast offerings and hopefully take them into a live arena when the world allows, as we have long intended.

A little thanks to a few companies who have helped us on the way, with RVE, Autosure, ChargeNet and PowerTrip who have backed this content. They, alongside our valued Foundation Sponsors, help keep this content free.

Please subscribe to the Youtube Channel, our Podcast or Facebook page to keep up to date.

See you online!

INDUSTRY-TARGETED PODCASTS

Richard EdwardsMANAGING EDITOR

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR OFFICIAL PODCAST CHANNELS AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO CATCH UP WITH OUR LATEST UPLOADS.

Autotalk NZ

3OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

NEWSTALK

Submissions are now being called for on the controversial Land Transport (Clean Car) Amendment

Bill, as it begins its extended trip through Parliament.

Originally due to be implemented on January 1, 2022, transport Michael Wood pushed back the goal line during September because of COVID-19 delays.

Industry groups will be keen to have their say. All have raised questions over changes to the legislation between initial Ministry of Transport and ministerial discussions and the Bill as tabled.

The concerns include the targets, which fall to as low as 63.3 grams and 87.2 grams weighted average carbon dioxide emissions averages by 2027.

Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford pulled the organisation’s support for the Standard component of the plan mid-month.

“An initial view of the Bill reveals some disappointing surprises, particularly CO2 targets under the Standard for the years 2026 and 2027.

“We expect the Bill will go straight to select committee without a formal first reading.

“In the order paper dated September 9, the Bill is down for its first reading without debate. This means (that) by simple majority of the House, which Labour has, the Bill will go straight to select committee.” A major concern highlighted to AutoTalk by both the MIA and Motor Trade Association is that under the Clean Car Standard of the changes, regulators may set a minimum proportion of an importer’s vehicles that must have zero carbon emissions.

Both groups note this requirement has not been consulted on previously.

“The ability to set, by regulation, a minimum level of BEVs is an ICE ban by stealth,” Crawford says. “This is a new requirement not previously consulted on and is something the MIA totally opposes at this point in time.

“In our view the Government should not make this decision until the discount and standard have been in place for at least seven to 10 years so they can properly assess whether the reduction on CO2 emissions is tracking as desired and also that there are viable low-emissions vehicles available en masse.” MTA advocacy and strategy manager Greig Epps calls this his group’s “stand-out concern”.

“The proposed regulations would impose a further penalty or fine on an importer who couldn’t meet this target,” Epps explains.

“This sort of mechanism was never discussed in any of the consultation papers, and it’s a double blow to those importers who deal primarily in ICE vehicles.

“This mechanism could be used to introduce an ICE ban without any further consultation with the industry or the public.

“If the proportion was set high enough, it would make it impossible for an importer to bring in a mix of vehicles.

“As well, if this minimum requirement is introduced too soon, the competition for a limited supply of zero-emission vehicles could be damaging,” Epps says. “We would want to see this feature removed or, at the very least, a

SUBMISSIONS OPEN FOR CLEAN CAR LAW

MICHAEL WOOD

GREIG EPPS

DAVID CRAWFORD

DAVID VINSENto page 4..

4 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

NEWSTALK

clearer need for consultation prior to exercising the power.”

TARGETS QUESTIONEDCrawford says when considering the intent of the Bill – to reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles entering the fleet – the Bill is “poorly designed”, in part due to what he suggests are unachievable targets.

The Bill requires new passenger cars imported from 2023 onwards must have a rating of 145g/km or better, sliding downwards to 105g/km by 2025, and 63g/km by 2027.

Ute and van targets run to 132g/km by 2025. He also notes off-road vehicles have been left out of the grouping. “The rate of reduction (emission targets) are so steep that no current distributors apart from those solely supplying battery electric vehicles, can reach them in the timespan required under the Bill,” Crawford explains.

“Of the new vehicle importers operating in New Zealand, it seems only Tesla will not be penalised.”

Crawford says officials have made a fundamental mistake with the targets, by assuming the fleet mix changes every year. European targets are set for three to four years before changing to allow for model cycles.

“There’s no obvious rationale and it seems it’s a revenue gathering exercise for NZ to have targets that are tougher than other jurisdictions like Europe.

Carmakers are making production plans out to 2030 now “and unfortunately it will be based on what Europe/Asia need not what our Government wants. “Europe also has the off-cycle credits, super credits and derogation for low volume manufacturers which aren’t part of the NZ regs and that makes it even tougher for NZ importers because Euro models are built to take account of those things.”

Transport minister Wood has defended the legislation, saying he was surprised at the withdrawal of industry support. “The New Zealand 2025 target has already been met in some other jurisdictions like Japan and the EU, so we know it’s achievable,” Wood says.

“The Clean Car Import Standard applies to the fleet importers bring in annually and it’s the average emissions of that fleet that’s measured.

“We have made adjustments to the Clean Car Import Standard to help the industry shift gears, and they’ll be given flexibility by allowing them to bank, borrow and transfer

achievement of the annual targets.

“In terms of the longer-term targets (2026/27), we’ve provided them to give the industry five to six years so they have more time to undertake the changes necessary to the fleet mix to decarbonise our economy and meet our climate obligations.“It’s not correct to say they can only be met by suppliers that exclusively sell EVs. It does, however, rely on suppliers having an increasing proportion of EVs, or, if they don’t, trading credits with those that do.”

BILL FACES POLITICAL OPPOSITIONNot only is the industry up in arms over the legislation, opposition political parties are too.

At its first reading, National’s transport spokesperson David Bennett slammed the Bill in the debating chamber.

“This Bill is a pipedream that has some illusion of how a market works and has some misunderstandings of how this Bill will actually work in practice,” Bennett said. He noted many costs and details for the industry are yet to be known as they are set in regulations which have not yet been set. He called for the regulation to be released now.

Labour MP Greg O’Connor, chair of the select committee that will consider the legislation, says members will look at if it will work, “rather than have the rhetoric that has been the mainstay of this debate so far”.

He noted importers will be administering much of the scheme, “that is a fairly smart piece of legislation, to make sure you do involve those who will be most impacted, because I have a lot of confidence in my fellow Kiwis, particularly the entrepreneurs because they will adapt”.

DELAY WELCOMED

What has been welcomed is the delay to the legislation.

Crawford calls the move helpful.

“From the Motor Industry Association’s perspective, it’s a helpful delay. It gives us more time to prepare and argue for change.

“Overall, we’re not surprised there was a delay. We’ve already seen a delay in the climate change work and considering the complexity of the Bill.”

He says the MIA team was feeling the pressure of the previous timeframe and was preparing to cancel planned leave. “This puts it much more on a measured pace.”

VIA chief executive David Vinsen also welcomed the move.

“It will be a decided advantage: more time to develop the system properly,

with proper consultation. More time to process all vehicles after Lockdown, before the second phase of the CCD scheme kicks in. More time to educate the industry, and the public.”

In spite of the move probably impacting subsidies for some deliveries, Toyota New Zealand was also positive.

“There’s a fine balance between encouraging low carbon-emitting vehicle purchases and accepting the realities of current global supply chain issues,” says Toyota NZ chief executive Neeraj Lala. “Allowing more time for a transition to rebalance our portfolios is critical and it creates a level playing field for all vehicle importers.”

Lala says the delay to the start date of the Clean Car legislation will provide more time to balance import schedules and meet the expected demand for hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

He says that though the announced delay to the rebate and fee scheme was disruptive to the business, it would mitigate some of the supply chain pressure caused by the impact of the COVID pandemic on Toyota’s automotive factories. “We’re experiencing significant delivery delays due to COVID’s impact on production, so this delay gives us a chance to catch up.

“We’ll be contacting customers who are waiting for a new vehicle and will work with them on the implications of the change to the rebate and fee start date.”

...from page 3

CATCH THE INDUSTRY PANEL

PODCAST ON THE CLEAN CAR STANDARD HERE

LISTEN TO TRANSPORT

MINISTER MICHAEL WOOD ON THE

CLEAN CAR STANDARD HERE

5OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

Importing cars. Made easy.

nichibojapan.com

Importing cars. Made easy.

nichibojapan.comwww.autosure.co.nz

ADTORQUEEDGE

DELIVERING YOUR MARKETING SOLUTIONS

6 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

AutoTalk Magazine and autotalk.co.nzare published by Auto Media Group Limited.

8/152 Quay Street, P.O. Box 10 50 10, Auckland City, NZ 1030.Ph. 09 309 2444

Auto Media Group Limited makes everyendeavour to ensure information containedin this publication is accurate, however we are not liable for any losses or issues resulting from its use.

Annual subscription (printed & digital): $114 + gst ($131.10)

Printed by: Alpine Printers.

autotalk.co.nz

autotalk.com.au

transporttalk.co.nz

futuretrucking.com.au

evs&beyond.co.nz

evtalk.com.au

MANAGING EDITOR

Richard Edwards 021 556 655 richard@automediagroup.co.nz

SENIOR JOURNALIST

Michael Stock 021 240 2402michael@automediagroup.co.nz

BUSINESS MANAGER

Dale Stevenson 021 446 214 dale@automediagroup.co.nz

GROUP GENERAL MANAGER

Deborah Baxter 027 530 5016 deborah@automediagroup.co.nz

PUBLISHER / CHAIR

Vern Whitehead021 831 153 vern@automediagroup.co.nz

EDITOR

Robert Barry+64 21 530 902robert@automediagroup.co.nz

Trade Me Motors (TMM) has begun informing dealer customers of a price hike, including those still

under level three restrictions in the Auckland region.

The move hasn’t gone down well with some dealers, with one telling AutoTalk that Trade Me was “kicking us while we are down".

One willing to speak on record to AutoTalk is Charlene Hall of Henderson, Auckland’s Croydon Wholesalers, who was informed of a $900 hike in her monthly bill from around $6200 to $7100.

She acknowledges the company was helpful with its discounts over the level four period but is angry about the hike.

“They were very good over COVID giving a subsidy, but they did the same last year – you get back to work, watching your pennies, and they put a price hike in for the first of November.”

Hall acknowledges the price of cars has gone up – something TMM highlighted to media in a release recently – but so have the costs.

“You look at the cost of even importing a car now. It’s gone up $400, and cars are more expensive in Japan.”

Trade Me Motors sales manager Jayme Fuller has defended the price rises, and believes the company is offering dealers more for their money.

“We’re reviewing pricing like every company from time to time.

“I do think that is justifiable - in the last two years the number of vehicles viewed each week on Trade Me has grown 67%. And we have also significantly added to our account management team,” she explains. “We have 12 account managers, they are out there in the field helping dealers write better listings, improve their images, and take advantage of tools that help dealers build their brand and trust with buyers...”

Fuller says dealers have more access to data and TMM is helping give them the insights to make the most of it. They have also improved their dealer microsites and partnered with My Auto Shop.

She believes her discussions in the industry show dealers are selling vehicles at a higher margin than previously.

"Dealers have reported to Trade Me higher margins in some segments,” Fuller says.

Fuller explains the decision on pricing was made well before the latest lockdown began.

“We made a decision in early August as to what our November 1 price increase would be.

“And we planned to start having discussions with dealers in early September, on an individual basis.

“We then made the decision not to have any of those discussions in level four, so across the country as dealers went into level three, we started to have phone conversations with them about what their November 1 price changes would be.”

Fuller says the expectation was Auckland would follow the rest of the country into level two – which it hasn’t.

“I was hoping as much as anyone we would go back to level two, and of course we didn’t.

Accordingly, the company is rebating any price rises for level three areas until November 30, regardless of the level.

TRADE ME MOTORS STANDS BY PRICE RISE

CHARLENE HALL

JAYME FULLER

7OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

NEWSTALK

Liquidators of used vehicle importer AutoTerminal NZ have yet to confirm whether a planned

appeal of a multi-million dollar High Court decision against the company will proceed.

The liquidation is part of a long-running saga between former partners IBC Japan and AutoTerminal NZ. In the latest round, a $38 million judgement against AutoTerminal NZ was made in the High Court at Hamilton.

AutoTerminal NZ director Mike Tyler put the company into liquidation following the judgement, though at that point its lawyers had indicated they would appeal. Security required against costs had been made.

The liquidators, Tom Rodewald, Steven Khov and Kieran Jones, say in a report that COVID-19 level four restrictions had delayed access to some records.

Their report says they are yet to confirm the appeal.

“The proceeding is subject to an appeal by the company,” the report says. “However. the liquidators have not yet assessed the merits of the appeal. We understand that the

company has paid security for costs to the Court of Appeal.”

The report, issued to creditors, notes the decision to wind up the company, outside of a liquidation process, had already been made before a statutory demand for the IBC NZ payment changed the situation to a liquidation.

It also notes separate liquidation proceedings by IBC Japan were underway but had yet to be served.

At the time the decision was made, the company had 21 staff and had between 150 and 200 vehicles either provisionally sold or to be sold at its Manukau base.

Separate to the IBC proceedings, the liquidators understand that the company is subject to legal proceedings by the liquidators of 3224647 Limited (In liquidation), known previously as Nigel Thompson Motor Company Limited (NTMC), for a voidable transaction.

The amount the liquidators of NTMC seek to recover from the company is $2,903,045.36. In 2017 AutoTerminal alleged Thompson had altered documents to defer payment to it for vehicles. They settled and cleared arrears, but further issues developed.

Liquidators’ accounts to date indicate AutoTerminal has more than $40 million in cash and money due to it, including $31 million in invoices likely to be owed by dealers. The vehicles on hand and other plant and equipment don’t yet have a stated value. It has $533,235 in secured debt, mostly to staff and the Customs Department, with more secured items yet to be confirmed.

A further $118,374 in unsecured notice period costs are owed to staff, along with the unsecured judgement payable to IBC Japan.

Industry names on the creditors’ list other than IBC Japan include VIA, Jacanna, The Car Distribution Group and VTNZ.

The deal between Turners Automotive Group and interests related to the Orlandini family

appears to have been tense even before an agreement was struck for the sale of Buy Right Cars.

The two groups have been in court for nearly two years, under the names Buy Right Cars 2016 Limited for the Turners side of the legal proceedings, and Turnover Limited representing Buy Right founder Brandon Orlandini and his family’s interests.

The court case related to Orlandini’s early exit from the business, alleged poor performance in the latter part of a buy-out period and a resulting reduction in payments to Turnover.

A decision was made late August, but released by courts in September.

Orlandini sold the eight-yard business to Turners in 2016, part of Turners’ expansion into a more retail focused business. Last year, Turners dropped

the Buy Right Cars brand and replaced it with its own.

It has since also shuttered Buy Right’s former used import compliance operation.

The deal was for a notional sum of $15.3 million plus inventory, which included $22m in vehicles. Orlandini, through his company Turnover Limited, received $7.5m in cash and $2m in stock, with the rest to be paid out under the earn-out deal.

Turners had paid the first earn-out payment of just over $3 million, and had agreed to pay out the further $3 million in $1 million lots.

The judgement by Justice J Walker dismisses Orlandini’s claims, while also dismissing a counterclaim by Buy Right Cars 2016 over a Dodge Hellcat that can’t be complied.

“In the end, Turnover was understandably disappointed by the bottom line performance of the Buy

Right Cars business in Earn Out 2.

“The explanations for that performance are many and varied. The financial performance may or may not have been the same had the Orlandini interests been responsible for the business.

“But, as Buy Right Cars 2016 argued, this is not a breach of duty case or a negligence case and Turnover’s grievances do not translate into breaches of a fundamental with covenant,” the judgement says.

AutoTalk has asked Turners and Orlandini for comment.

"At the time of press AutoTalk was informed Orlandini is appealing the decision."

APPEAL PENDING ON AUTOTERMINAL LIQUIDATION

TURNERS WIN LONG-RUNNING BUY RIGHT CASE

8 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Well-known Wellington dealer Brendan Foot is still working away at his eponymous

business in the Hutt Valley after a massive 50 years.

But times are changing, with the family continuing a long-running shift to the next generation of leadership. His sons Matthew and Dave Foot are joint dealer principals now for the dealer group.

”We work together pretty well,” says younger brother Dave.

“Brendan started the business, but Matthew's 15 years older than me (and) he's been involved quite a lot longer than I have.

“Brendan's working his way out. He still likes to come in every day, and I think that's one of the great things about a family business.

“He comes in four to five days a week and he enjoys the business still.”

The Foot group is multi-franchise, and that dictates how the dealer principal roles function to some extent. Franchises include Kia, Suzuki, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, GWM, Isuzu and formerly Holden.“We look after different franchises (and) I've had a long running association with Hyundai and more recently Mitsubishi and Haval GWM,

and also Isuzu,” says Dave. “But the running of the business really is done in concert with each other and a leadership team.

“Because a lot of the processes procedures and resources across the business are shared, we do a lot of stuff in concert.

“But the dealer principal roles do dictate a little bit how we deal with some of the day to day running of the business with the franchises.”

Matthew says next year will be the company’s 50th anniversary.“We've moved from being a small dealership into a large multi franchise business with over 140 employees.

“Brendan takes several roles. He walks through the business every day and it shows people within our business that we have great succession.”

When Matthew joined the business there was a type of “changing of the guard”. He assumed the leadership as Brendan took on a “statesman's role”.

“It has actually worked quite well because I think we've all brought new ideas…and been able to retain the experience that Brendan and now Matthew have,” says Dave.

“There's not too many things that have happened, COVID excepted, that Brendan hasn't seen in terms of

business cycles.”

Matthew: “We style our business as a destination, mainly for car sales in the Hutt Valley, and we've grown from there.

“We have a hub-and-spoke type of arrangement where we have a central selling platform in Lower Hutt and satellite service centres…”

“Lower Hutt's become a real shopping destination for Wellingtonians, particularly for cars and weekend shopping,” says Dave. “It's enabled us to branch out and put some roots down here.”

DEALERTALK

FOOT FAMILY HOLDING ON TO 50-YEAR LEGACY

to page 10..

SUBSCRIBE TOTHE AUTOTALKNZ PODCAST TO HEAR THE FULL

INTERVIEW

SUBSCRIBE TOAUTOMEDIA GROUP YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO CHECK THE VIDEO

MATHEW AND DAVE FOOT SAT DOWN WITH AUTOTALK'S RICHARD EDWARDS FOR A RECORDED VIDEO PODCAST

9OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

What’s the safety rating of that car?

21-3

21

Three out of four consumers are looking for vehicles with high safety ratings when they purchase their next car.

You can now print a vehicle safety rating label to display on cars for sale, providing consumers with simple information about a vehicle’s safety performance to help keep people safe on our roads.

How do I generate a safety rating label?The safety rating label sits below the Vehicle Fuel Economy Label (VFEL), which is administered by EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority). The VFEL must be displayed on all cars for sale by motor vehicle traders and informs customers of the fuel efficiency and estimated yearly running costs of the vehicle.

visit dealer.rightcar.govt.nz

Now, when traders generate labels for their vehicles, they can automatically generate a safety label to display alongside the VFEL, which makes displaying a safety label, and providing the current safety rating information, as easy as possible for traders.

To print safety rating information for the vehicle you are selling, just go to the label generator on EECA’s website resources.fuelsaver.govt.nz/label-generator and follow the instructions.

How can I find out more information?Visit dealer.rightcar.govt.nz to find out more information about how safety ratings work in New Zealand, and for links to useful resources for motor vehicle dealers.

What’s the safety rating of that car?

21-321

Three out of four consumers are looking for vehicles with high safety ratings when they purchase their next car.

You can now print a vehicle safety rating label to display on cars for sale, providing consumers with simple information about a vehicle’s safety performance to help keep people safe on our roads.

How do I generate a safety rating label?The safety rating label sits below the Vehicle Fuel Economy Label (VFEL), which is administered by EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority). The VFEL must be displayed on all cars for sale by motor vehicle traders and informs customers of the fuel efficiency and estimated yearly running costs of the vehicle.

visit dealer.rightcar.govt.nz

Now, when traders generate labels for their vehicles, they can automatically generate a safety label to display alongside the VFEL, which makes displaying a safety label, and providing the current safety rating information, as easy as possible for traders.

To print safety rating information for the vehicle you are selling, just go to the label generator on EECA’s website resources.fuelsaver.govt.nz/label-generator and follow the instructions.

How can I find out more information?Visit dealer.rightcar.govt.nz to find out more information about how safety ratings work in New Zealand, and for links to useful resources for motor vehicle dealers.

10 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Matthew says metropolitan Wellington is the business district, and in the weekend it's not occupied.

Dave says it makes more sense being out of the central city.

“We need a lot of room for car dealerships, and the central city is very restricted, particularly Wellington.“

Many businesses and business owners are moving out of the central city. “A lot are selling land to developers who are building high rises on it. So, being in Lower Hutt, I think is a bit of a competitive advantage for us.”For Matthew, a hub-and-spoke model creates a centre where people can “go to see all the wares that you've got for sale”.

He says that historically the Brendan Foot name was connected to the now departed Holden.

Even before Holden left the market it had taken “several years to style our brand so that people realised that we weren't just Holden, we actually sold many things and offered many different services”.

“The transition started well in advance of Holden disappearing from our market. So we now style ourselves as Brendan Foot Supersite. It’s a large destination of many brands and many things.”

A connection with Holden remains “around parts and service and back end and obviously (GM’s) continued support for owners and cars”.Dave says the transition has been surprisingly easy. But he adds: “I'd be lying if I said we weren't concerned when we found out Holden was leaving the market.

“We certainly had our concerns, but it's such a fast moving industry.

“A couple of the brands that we had as ‘fledgling’ brands have come to prominence. For example, Haval-GWM.

“Already, we're selling as many or more of those cars than we were selling Holdens prior to its departure.

“New Zealanders have really embraced these other brands and Mitsubishi's been real fine for us.

“Mitsubishi has come on in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years.

“Both Mitsubishi and have GWM have done very, very well since the demise of Holden.”

Dave says the company is very excited by the Chinese brands.

“I think the public's perception is that the cars offer great value. They're well built, they've got great support, they're mechanically great now.”He adds it wasn’t always that way.

“We had Great Wall in the past and we found that (public resistance to the

brand) was quite hard,” Dave says. “We had Great Wall the first time around, I think back in 2010 or 2011, and we believed there was an opportunity for it. It's just that back then the product wasn't quite up to scratch.

“We've got our scars from the first time around. It wasn't all that we thought it might be. But now they’re seen as a quality product; they're accepted and it's not a hard sell.”They visited China to see the coming offerings first hand.

“This time, we went up to China and had a look at the product and we're very confident with the product and where it’s heading.

“That gave us the confidence to take the plunge and try it again, and it's been very successful for us. As a result, we're certainly converted.”

Brendan Foot has a strong core of loyal employees. “We’ve got people that have been with us for 20 years and longer,” Dave says.

“Recently, we've developed a

leadership team that oversees the business. They advise us and help us run the business day-to-day.

“We’ve transitioned away from being a small business with the owners hands-on over absolutely everything, to giving our people more responsibility and more ownership and more accountability. “

He’s amazed, joining the business from a corporate background, with the lengths staff go to for the business and their belief in it and desire to belong.

Diversity is a key factor too.“We've got a big population of visa holders, migrant workers, people that have come to New Zealand from other parts of the world,” he explains. “That’s become a really important part of our workforce, and it's certainly added a whole lot of diversity that we never would've had 10 or 15 years ago, and I think that's added a whole lot of different skills and viewpoints.”

Matthew calls those staff members pioneers.

NEWSTALK

...from page 08

to page 11..

11OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

NEWSTALK

CONTACT MARK SCOTT ON 022 567 7956 | PENTANASOLUTIONS.COM

LEARN MORE >

New Zealand’s Fastest Growing DMSTransforming your business through advanced digital cloud solutions

Secure. Flexible. Reliable.

“They've come out from places which are fraught with crime or whatever, and they've come to this.

“The immersion here sometimes takes one year to 18 months, so it’s nice to have a family environment rather than a corporate environment.”The business is heavily involved with sporting and other sponsorships.

“We’ve just completed a 13-year term with the Pulse netball team,” says Matthew.

“We went in there with a commercial application, and then found that we're more involved with building a community of netball people.”

That involvement has been “a really strong branding thing for us but the wellbeing of the community was more important.

“Wellington’s Round The Bays fun run's been another one. We're the principal sponsor for that, and we do arts and culture around the New Zealand art show, which David's heavily involved in.”Dave: “I think the important thing about those relationships is they're long term because we're involved with people that we get on with, that we like. For example, Sport Wellington. We've had a long running relationship, and there’s a lot of trust in that

relationship.”

“It’s quite a big commitment, but it’s a great opportunity for branding, and it's a good thing to have our brand tied to it; it's a win-win thing.”

Dave says this year’s COVID-19 lockdown was “quite a different lockdown than last time. I think pretty much businesses throughout New Zealand were a little bit better prepared this time.”

During the 2020 national lockdown, the feeling had been that the car market was going to be “significantly smaller than it had been”.“And there was a lot of conjecture that it wasn't going to be a great place to be, but that didn't eventuate.

“So I think this time around people were a lot more confident.

“Lockdowns are hard, there's no doubt about it. (This time) for us it was two weeks. It wasn't as severe as perhaps it was last time, because we had confidence and we knew what was going to be on the other side.

“We were a little bit more certain about…what we were dealing with.”

Lockdowns are difficult for car businesses, he says. “A lot of

our people can't work in a lockdown, the sales people and the technicians.

“It's very difficult for them to stay

engaged in the business, but we supported them as best we could.”

Business has been buoyant. “There's a bit of pent-up demand and people are getting stuck back in, but people are very enthusiastic to get back to work after a couple of weeks in lockdown.“The two weeks we lost in lockdown, we had over 2500 hours to rebook through our workshops. So you can imagine that puts a lot of pressure on the after-sales people. It was certainly a challenge.”

Matthew says the company had to change the style of selling, taking orders in advance and making sure that it could physically get the cars.

“You get a lockdown and you'll get a bunch of cars sitting outside the door when you open up.”

Customers know cars are available and they want them.

“They've made the choice and they've been sitting in front of their screen at home for some period of time looking at the pretty pictures and obviously wanting.

”It's a massive amount of pressure (and) we've got to deliver. At any one point we may have up to 400 orders in advance. So, it's tricky.”

...from page 10

12 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

BRINGING DEALER TO DEALER TRADING ONLINE

Dealer Hub co-founder Mike Harvey says the online national dealer- to-dealer-only trading

platform brings together in a digital space buyers and sellers who might not have had the opportunity before.

Harvey has considerable motor trade experience, having served a sales apprenticeship with a Nissan dealer, becoming a Japanese used car dealer in his own right, and then recently leaving his position as general manager at Pearce Brothers, where he reckons he bought more than 10,000 cars for the business in more than 13 years.He says Dealer Hub isn’t just the local sandpit that dealers might usually play in.

“That's the crux of the relationship part of it, but we're doing it in a savvy digital way that is pretty streamlined and provides a simple user experience for both the buyer and the seller.”

Harvey says the listing and bidding process on a Dealer Hub vehicle auction works in a very similar way to Trade Me, but it’s restricted to the 300 car dealers currently registered with the online platform.

“A vendor can list a car and then if bidders want to buy it they've each got a unique identifier and we have the auctions running every day. “We can have it finishing the next day or the following week. It depends on how long the vendor wants it to run.

“But if a dealer wants to run a closed loop tender within a large group, we can do that; or within their own local network, we can offer that service as well.”

Harvey says so far the vehicles sold by Dealer Hub have been priced by realistic vendors, offering the car at a wholesale level so it leaves some space for the buying dealer to make a margin.

He says a mixture of motor vehicle traders use the site, from large importers clearing trades, new vehicle franchises, and small independent yards which may not have a large network of potential wholesale buyers.

“We've had dealers in smaller regional areas list cars and they've sold them

to other parts of the North Island, and those who would have never ever even known each other existed without our site.

“And it's gained the vendor a greater net result than if they'd probably picked up the phone and sold it to their local wholesaler who they normally deal with.”

Fellow Dealer Hub co-founder and e-commerce expert James McComb says though there have been earlier attempts to deliver a digital solution to the dealer side of trading vehicles, he says the solution has been created from

scratch for the New Zealand market. He says the model has proven successful overseas.

McComb says rather than wasting time driving from yard to yard, particularly in Auckland, to look at potential stock, using an online portal like Dealer Hub is a hugely efficient time saver for wholesale buyers.“The amount of efficiency we could deliver to wholesalers in the market is significant. It just seems like a no-brainer to leverage technology and deliver a better experience and a more efficient work environment.”

DEALERTALK

Autotalk managing editor Richard Edwards spoke to Dealer Hub founders James McComb and Mike Harvey about how their new national dealer-to-dealer-only online trading platform will create better efficiency and more profit for the used car trade.

to page 13..

JAMES MCCOMB MIKE HARVEY

DON'T MISS OUT ON OUR CHAT

WITH THE TEAM AT DEALERHUB.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

13OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

DEALERTALK

McComb also points out that there’s a thorough five-point vetting process for every trader who registers with Dealer Hub.

The rigorous process ensures that only genuine registered motor vehicle traders can deal with others on the platform in a qualified and professional environment.

“Security is a massive aspect of the platform’s development and operation and it has been from day one,” McComb says.

Harvey says Dealer Hub has been developed to reflect quality information and produce a 100% transparent result for vendors and buyers in a competitive environment. Once the vendor sells the vehicle, Dealer Hub will charge a fee on completion of the deal.

McComb says at the moment Dealer Hub is a portal for only registered motor vehicle traders to see what stock is available. It introduces the two parties and leaves the actual transaction to them.

But he says like every good technology start-up, Dealer Hub has a future roadmap.

“Within that roadmap we've actually theorised the idea of being involved in every moment of the transaction – everything from transporting the vehicle to providing secure payment. Maybe even stepping down the road of being able to provide finance if that's required.”

Harvey says current stock levels mean some dealers are keeping trades that they wouldn’t normally rather than selling them through the wholesale process.But there’s still opportunity where the trade doesn’t fit the dealership’s requirements or is deemed not be of a high enough quality.

“Many cars have been trading wholesale. It's just that pool is not as large as what it was two years ago. What we're trying to do is get them a better net result.

“So, if dealers want it, a platform like ours will offer them that opportunity to get a better net result for their trade,” he says.

Harvey says there may be scope in the future to help finance and leasing and rental companies to wholesale vehicles which become surplus to their requirements, but for now Dealer Hub is focused entirely on new and used registered motor vehicles traders.The platform allows large national dealer groups to have a closed-loop portal within Dealer Hub allowing them to wholesale trades internally, he says.

“Everybody within the dealer group

would get the opportunity to see it and decide whether they want to keep it instead of the car being wholesaled.

“Effectively, if they don't want to keep the car, then it would flip on to our Dealer Hub auction site and then let everybody have a go at it.

“We've got the ability that people can see on their phone or their laptop that somebody's traded a car within their group and they might want to grab it for stock rather than see it wholesaled to another buyer,” Harvey says.McComb says Dealer Hub has a database of more than 1200 people with 300 people signed up to access the system, so that presents a competitive environment.

“We've seen really successful transactions happen within the site. And up to very recently, we had a 100% track record where every auction we held, we sold vehicles.

“So, it's only unfortunately restrictions outside of our control which have prevented our growth,” he says.

The market withdrawal of two major players which facilitated public and dealer to dealer auctions provided an opportunity for Dealer Hub to fill the gap.“There isn't a reliable place that a dealer could go and buy stock on a regular basis at the moment,” Harvey says.

“That's what we're trying to provide, a tool that a dealer knows that they could go on and regularly buy some stock in a transparent manner.

“They know it's only dealer only. They're not competing with the public on Dealer Hub.

“The vendor has got the power to adjust the reserve if they like, or put it up or down.

“We've got the ability to send out a fixed price offer if the car doesn't sell. It's very flexible so the power's with the vendor.“If someone wants to list the car tomorrow morning, it could potentially sell by the end of the day if they choose to have the auction to terminate at that time.

“Also, we're very mindful of the speed of the transaction potentially. So instead of the car going somewhere and sitting somewhere, waiting for the auction to start, it can all happen within 24 hours.”

McComb says some dealers are struggling to find enough space for vehicle trades in their yards which is why Dealer Hub auctions finish at 4pm each day.

“When we first launched we were

having one auction a week. But we listened to the market and we've taken on the struggles that the market was suffering with, such as the space issue, and we've changed the site so now auctions finish daily at 4pm,” he says.

Harvey concedes that he and his business partners have fairly large ambitions for Dealer Hub, and volume will be needed, preferably from a large national dealer group or several.

“We're going to need the support from a large entity that realises that this is the way of getting a reliable, transparent, competitive way to dispose of their trades.

“If they made it a mandatory policy within the group, that this is the system that they're going to use, and it just becomes the new normal. But that's what we need, ideally.”

Harvey says they’ve considered the possibility of offering a portal to wholesale vehicles in Japan to New Zealand dealers.“It's fairly complex but it's something we've considered (but) we haven't discussed it a great deal.

“There are a number of speed bumps and complications that make that not so simple to make happen overnight,” he adds.

...from page 12

14 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Ineos Automotive has appointed Armstrong’s as its Grenadier 4x4 retail partner in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

The British manufacturer is using the agency sales model where it retains ownership of stock and demonstrator vehicles, and retailers receive a set fee per vehicle sold.Ineos Automotive Asia Pacific head of sales and marketing Justin Hocevar says the brand is selecting retail partners who share its service-first attitude and commitment to customer needs and preferences.

Hocevar says the physical retail presence will be matched by digital services to give Grenadier customers the buying experience they want and the aftersales support they need.

“We’re looking for the right location, the right facility and the right staff in an agent,” he says. “We’re not looking for a gin palace, we just want a comfortable facility to welcome our customers, preferably with a simple polished concrete floor.

“Customers will be able to move from the digital space to bricks and mortar and back again as they choose.”Ineos has removed negotiation from the buying process with transparent pricing and there will be simplified trade-in and financing arrangements.

Hocevar, says customers won’t just get a drive around the block in a Grenadier demonstrator, they’ll be able to take it away for a proper test drive and get it dirty.

Online reservations for the Grenadier opened on September 30 for early prospective customers who expressed a strong

interest in being among the first to buy a Grenadier – and from October 14 for all other interested buyers. Global sales begin in July 2022.Hocevar says the company will then seek to convert those reservations into confirmed orders, with deliveries starting in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Ineos says it has worked with Bosch over the last three years to develop a global aftersales blueprint.

Grenadier servicing will be provided by retail partners and by hand-picked Bosch Car Service sites.

Enthusiasts, modifiers, and people who wish to work on their own vehicles will get specialist technical support from Ineos headquarters and will have access to online interactive 3D workshop manuals and parts catalogues.Where parts are not available immediately, Ineos is targeting 24-hour delivery into major markets.

A prototype right-hand drive Grenadier 4x4 wagon has been sent to Australia for local testing ahead of series production which will begin in Hambach, France next year.

Both left- and right-hand drive production will begin at the same time, says Hocevar.

The Grenadier will be offered with both petrol and diesel engines at price parity, with no premium for the diesel.

Prices are expected to start $93,500 for the two-seat Grenadier wagon.

ARMSTRONG’S WINS NEW ZEALAND GRENADIER AGENCY

DEALERTALK

Full border inspections

Authorised MPI inspections

Authorised NZTA inspections

Odometer verification

Pre-export appraisal

Vehicle history reports

JEVIC NZ09 966 1779 www.jevic.co.nz

Specialists in pre‑shipment inspections

in Japan & UK

15OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

Online or on the lot: fuel economy labels

With more sellers using a growing number of car sales platforms, it’s a good time to check in and make sure you know your legal obligations, and that you’re giving your customers the best information they need to make their buying decision.

By law, vehicle fuel economy labels must be displayed on the car for sale, and alongside online listings. They allow buyers to compare the fuel economy of different vehicles to factor in running costs.

Find out who needs to display the label, and how, below.

Who needs to display the fuel economy label?Motor vehicle traders are required by law to display the fuel economy label on vehicles for sale, provided the information is available. Traders also must provide fuel economy information for online listings offering vehicles for sale (that includes your own website, or online sales sites like Trade Me and Facebook).

Which vehicles do the regulations apply to?The Vehicle Fuel Economy Labelling Regulations apply to all light vehicles under 3.5 tonnes offered for sale, including camper vans, motor homes and trades vehicles such as vans and utes. Labelling does not apply to motorbikes and is optional for plug-in electric vehicles.

How do you display fuel economy labels?It’s really easy. To get fuel economy information for the vehicle you are selling, just go to the label generator on EECA’s website (https://resources.fuelsaver.govt.nz/label-generator/), and follow the instructions.

You must display the fuel economy information as written text alongside the vehicle listing if the information is available at the time of listing.The information must include: • vehicle make and model• fuel economy (litres per 100km)• running cost per year• star rating

On some online sales websites the fuel economy information is automatically generated, but you need to make sure you enter the correct details of the vehicle you are listing.

Who is checking?EECA runs the Vehicle Fuel Economy Labelling programme. Traders can expect a visit at any time from EECA to check the labels are displayed correctly for vehicles offered for sale on their premises. EECA has new tools to regularly survey vehicles advertised for sale on traders’ websites and online sales sites and check that traders are meeting their legal obligations in displaying online vehicle fuel economy information.

The EECA website has more detailed information about displaying fuel economy information and how to get in touch. Visit eeca.govt.nz/vfel

16 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

PEOPLETALK

You might be familiar with Parliament’s Question Time – one hour, three times a week, 12 oral

questions for ministers.

It can be great fun to watch when the leaders exchange barbed comments across the chamber, and both sides heckle each other like 15-year-olds at school. Ah, sweet democracy.

You’re probably less familiar with the written question process, which is a more formal way for Parliament to hold ministers to account.

Any MP may submit an unlimited number of written questions to a Government minister on a topic for which they have ministerial responsibility.

The minister then has six working days in which to answer the question. When you’re in Opposition, the written question process is a favoured mechanism for generating useless make-work for ministers (regardless of which party is in power).

Ministers must answer these questions, even if it’s just to point to another source for the information.

The Opposition submits thousands of these questions each year.

In November 2018, a news report noted that in the year since the 2017 election, the new Government had been asked

more than 42,000 questions – about 115 a day.

The questions pile up, usually because the same question is asked with a slight change (referring to a different region for example).

Finding anything interesting can be like searching for that proverbial needle in a large mess of dried grass.

I stumbled across one of these asked last month by David Bennett, a National list MP.

He asked the minister of transport: “By what year, if any, are electric cars expected to make up 20% of New Zealand’s car fleet?”

A good question. We’re all pretty interested in how quickly the Government thinks we can make the transition to zero emission vehicles.

Bennett then asked six more separate (but similar) questions – when will electric cars make up 30% of the fleet? And when we would have 50%. And 60, 70 and on up to 90%?

The minister replied, predicting 20% uptake by the late 2030s; 30% in early 2040s, 60% in the late 2040s.

For 70, 80 and 90%, the minister provided one answer, that the “… Ministry's modelling has a 30-year horizon and it’s projected that electric vehicles [BEVs only] could make

up between 55 and 65% of New Zealand's light fleet by 2050, with the Clean Car Discount and Standard but no further interventions”.

Now, maybe this is the point in the column where I go on about how pie-in-the-sky these projections are.

And how the focus on getting EVs has obscured the fact we will still be living with (and needing to sell, fix, and fuel) ICE vehicles 15 years from now because they’ll make up 80% of the fleet.

No, instead I noticed this comment from the minister: “… more interventions will be required, and these are currently being worked through in the Emissions Reduction Plan”. And these interventions will be what, exactly?

The industry should take a keen interest in the emissions reduction plans being released for comment in October. When looking in a haystack, beware the sharp needle point, it might draw blood.

BEWARE THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK

GREIG EPPSADVOCACY & STRATEGY

MANAGER AT MTA

17OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

BY DAVID CRAWFORD | CEO MOTOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

CRAWFORD’S CASE

It will come to no surprise to you that the clean car bill and COVID-19 dominate my time.

The Land Transport (Clean Vehicle) Amendment Bill finally landed in Parliament in September. I wish I could throw my usual criticisms of government policy at it, which is to say it is underwhelming, but I can’t.

The Bill is not underwhelming. As it’s currently drafted, it’s disastrous. Hence the MIA pulling its support for the Bill “as drafted”. We support the feebate, but not the standard as written.

We didn’t pull our support lightly.

It was a considered response, one which MIA members debated robustly before I announced our revised position on the Bill.

Contrary to what some are saying, the MIA’s policy position is clear. Climate change is a serious issue that hasn’t been addressed properly with necessary policy responses by any single government the world over, ours included. We simply must and can do more; business as usual is not enough.

Moreover, no matter the sector, business as usual is getting further and further behind what’s needed to make positive changes to address climate change.

Which is why I have some sympathy with those who say business as usual is a woeful approach to addressing climate change. Transport doesn’t escape this criticism.

Transport must play its part and we in the new vehicle sector want to do that. This has always been the MIA’s policy position.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again and again. There’s nothing we like to do more than to sell low emissions vehicles. We want to sell as many as we can get our hands on and therein lies the rub.

The MIA has told the minister and his officials that we need government to help us to help them achieve their goals.

If the new vehicle sector is going to perform better than business as usual then we need carefully thought out and well-designed policies to facilitate faster change.

That brings me back to (as I refer to it) the clean car bill. The feebate part of the Bill is mostly OK in our view.

We do believe the $80k limit should be increased to $100k, but other than that it’s now down to ironing out the sales process for when a fee needs to be paid by a new owner to take possession of their vehicle.

The clean car standard part of the Bill is altogether a different matter.

The one standout issue is the targets, and the Bill contained a nasty surprise with the targets for 2026 and 2027 which are new.

These targets haven’t been consulted on before and the point the Government wants to reach by 2027 is more stringent than any other current enacted fuel economy standard anywhere in the world.

WLTP testing requirements for new vehicles from January 2022 is a major stumbling block, but we believe the minister has received new advice from officials and that he is prepared to permit a graduated change.

So that leaves targets as the standout

issue. We are currently analysing what we believe the targets should be that are achievable, realistic and won’t impose undue and avoidable costs on importers and consumers.

Along with this Bill, COVID-19 continues to be disruptive. We believe the Government needs to change its narrative around how it’s managing the response.

As our vaccination rates get above 80% and heading towards 90%, we need the word pandemic to drop from our vocabulary.

It’s time that we manage this endemically, with businesses able to also provide MIQ accommodation and our borders opened to vaccinated travellers.

However, there remains a vexed question on what employees can and can’t insist regarding vaccinations for their staff.

We’re currently seeking what considerations employers must consider when reviewing roles that they believe require vaccination.

And having done that, what communications/consultation do they need with their employees before confirming those roles that require vaccination.

And finally, if an employee in one of the roles that require vaccinations still refuses to get vaccinated what are the employer’s obligations to that person?

There is emerging case law on these questions and now is the time for employers and employees to examine what constitutes good work practices.

CLEAN VEHICLE BILL DISASTROUS

Your dealership. At a glance.The AutoPlay Sales Pipeline features a comprehensive reporting tool including reports on performance vs targets, test drive & sales activity, marketing ROI and salesperson performance.

Call (09) 361 1505 - Email sales@autoplay.co.nz - Visit www.autoplay.co.nz

18 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

LEAD, TEST DRIVE AND SALES BY SOURCE SEPTEMBER 2021 (VS AUGUST 2021)BY MATT DARBY

On August 17, 2021 NZ went back into COVID level four lockdowns and as with the first time around to say it had a massive impact on the automotive industry is an

understatement.

In August, although the country was only in level four for two weeks, we saw Lead volume drop about 25% and Test Drive and Sales volume drop about 30% to 50%.

It would have been more if the first half of August hadn’t been strong at level one.

At the start of September, most of the nation excluding Auckland went down to level three, and a week later reached level two where it becomes more worthwhile for dealers to operate.

During this time, Auckland has still been at level four for most of September, and level three for the rest, and this has had an impact on the September figures which are clearly some way from bouncing back to pre-COVID 2021 levels.

Overall Lead volume is down a further 2-3% from August to September – again August was buoyed with two full weeks of “normal” activity.

Test Drives are down slightly (<1%) reflecting the difficulties of conducting Test Drives at level three as well as the impact of Auckland’s continued L4 status.

Somewhat surprisingly, Sales increased from August to September by almost 10% across AutoPlay customers – perhaps reflective of leads generated during the lockdown outside of Auckland, that were converted upon returning to level three and two.

In spite of this somewhat positive result, with Auckland all but out of the action, all KPIs we measure are still considerably below pre lockdown levels.

In September, we saw Lead volume increase oh so slightly in August for digital channels Web – Classified (up 2.0% month-to-month) and Web – Dealer (up 2.3% month-to-month).

Leads from electronic sources were affected least by the lockdown and probably will bounce back quickest as customers become more and more accustomed to getting on with what they can.

As with August, Leads from Brand sources were the third most popular in September, but dropped a further 9.8% from August volumes.

SOURCE LEADSWeb - Classified 2.0% (vs 23.0% decrease in Aug)Web - Dealer 2.3% (vs 18.1% decrease in Aug)Brand 9.8% (vs 29.7% decrease in Aug)September 2021 vs August 2021

Of all the KPIs AutoPlay measures Test Drives are the most affected by level three and four lockdowns.

Test Drives attributed to Dealership Visits decreased by 26.7% from August to September.

Web Classified Test Drives decreased by 8.0% and bizarrely Test Drives attributed to Web – Dealer sources increased by 18.5% to vault into the second most common origin of Test Drives in September.

This metric bears watching in case it’s an ongoing trend, but most likely it highlights the impact that several active dealers can have, when overall Test Drive volume is so low.

SOURCE TEST DRIVESDealership Visit 26.7% (vs 45.3% decrease in Aug)Web - Dealer 18.5% (vs 47.6% decrease in Aug)Web - Classified 8.0% (vs 47.0% decrease in Aug)September 2021 vs August 2021

Sales were the least affected of the three tracked KPIs, largely because of an increase of 29.5% in Sales attributed to Repeat sources in September compared to August.

It’s an encouraging figure that highlights that potential sales are there for dealers who know how to build loyalty and mine their previous customer base.

Sales attributed to Dealership Visits decreased a further 7.9% and Sales attributed to Web – Dealer sources dropped out of the top three altogether.

However, with the increase in Test Drives from this source one might expect this to be reflected in Sales in October.

SOURCE SALESWeb - Classified 3.8% (vs 24.9% decrease in Aug)Dealership Visit 7.9% (vs 31.8% decrease in Aug)Repeat 29.5% (vs new re-entry for Sept)September 2021 vs August 2021

Make sure to check out the next issue of AutoTalk in November 2021 to see how October Lead, Test Drive and Sales activity performed across AutoPlay’s customers.

Your dealership. At a glance.The AutoPlay Sales Pipeline features a comprehensive reporting tool including reports on performance vs targets, test drive & sales activity, marketing ROI and salesperson performance.

Call (09) 361 1505 - Email sales@autoplay.co.nz - Visit www.autoplay.co.nz

19OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

VINSEN'S VIEWBY DAVID VINSEN | CEO OF VIADISCLAIMER: THIS IS THE OPINION OF THE WRITER AND IS NOT NECESSARILY THE OFFICIAL VIEW OF VIA

Farmers and people living in rural New Zealand are upset about the proposed “ute tax” elements of

the Government’s proposed Clean Car Discount legislation that is currently being pushed through Parliament.

The agricultural sector has realised that the vehicles they need for their work and businesses have been deemed to be “less desirable” and are going to be taxed disproportionately under the scheme.

The revenue collected is intended to be used to pay incentives and rebates to people purchasing more desirable low emissions and electric vehicles.

It’s a classic case of a government using taxation for social engineering: rewarding people who follow the preferred direction, and penalising those who don’t.

It’s a small step along the way towards China’s “Social Credit” system, where every citizen’s behaviour is monitored, and then rewarded or penalised according to the Communist Party’s guidelines.

The rewards can mean access to better education, jobs, and housing; the penalties can include travel restrictions, and failure to be promoted.

I’m not suggesting that there’s some master plan underlying the New Zealand Government’s Low Emissions Vehicle Feebate scheme, the so-called “Clean Car Discount” proposal.

But once governments start using tools and levers such as taxation to re-engineer society, it’s a slippery slope downhill towards China’s Social Credit policies.

So, rural New Zealand has identified that it’s on the wrong side of this proposed legislation. Their work vehicles are going to be penalised

when there are no viable alternatives to choose from.

Farmers and tradies are upset, and rightly so. But they’ve only seen part of the first phase of the Government’s plan to reward and penalise.

There’s not just one layer of tax, not even just two. There are three separate taxes designed to influence vehicle choice.

The first is the Clean Car Discount scheme. It’s been partially implemented already, with discounts for people who have bought the right sort of vehicles: low emitters and electric vehicles.

The penalties that the farmers are getting upset about will come early next year, once the necessary legislation has been passed. The Clean Car Discount scheme will affect vehicle choices at the time of purchase.

But there’s a second step: the Clean Car Standard, set down to be implemented the following year.

This is a similar scheme, with penalties and incentives for “overs and unders”, to be calculated at the time of importation.

The importers and distributors of new and used vehicles will be subject to penalties for every vehicle they import which is over the desired fuel economy standard, and rewarded for every vehicle they import that is under the standard.

So, a double whammy of taxes and discounts: first, at the time of importation, to influence the range of vehicles imported and offered for sale, and then again at the time of sale, to influence consumer choice.

All the costs are going to flow through to the end user, the consumer or business who buys the vehicle. A double layer of taxation.

If farmers and tradies are annoyed about the first stage of the ute tax, wait until they understand what’s coming at them: this second layer of taxes.

The Groundswell protest movement will surge to include people from urban areas, as well as the movement’s rural base.

But wait, there’s more! The Government hasn’t finished with its efforts at social engineering through taxation.

The carbon tax on hydrocarbon fuels is set to increase, under the provisions of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

The cocky or tradie who buys a regular ute or van for everyday business use is going to get hit three times: a tax loaded on to the cost of the vehicle when it’s imported, an additional tax at the time of purchase and registration, and then a third time, every time the gas tank is filled, paying the increased carbon tax.

Not just an additional tax, not just a double whammy, but a triple whammy.

It was put to the minister responsible for implementing these schemes, the minister of transport, Michael Wood, that these additional costs are not “unfortunate by-products of the initiative”…they’re its purpose.

That it’s the Government’s deliberate intention to hurt people financially enough to force them to change their behaviour. He agreed with the proposition.

It’s social engineering by taxation.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE LAYERS OF TAX

20 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

At Autosure we know legislation like the CCCFA can be difficult to understand. So we asked our

legal partners Chapman Tripp to give us a simple explanation we can share with you, of what agents - car dealers and brokers need to know.

FINAL COUNTDOWN TO CONSUMER LENDING LAW CHANGESVehicle lenders and their agents breathed a sigh of relief when the start date for the consumer lending law overhaul was delayed from 1 October until 1 December this year.

Given the scope of the changes and short lead time, many had seen the 1 October deadline as falling somewhere between ambitious and impossible.

The recent weeks of Level 4 lockdown proved to be the final straw. In early September the Government announced a two month delay for lenders to finish their compliance updates.

Of course, implementing the biggest changes to consumer lending laws since 2015 (laws that still regularly trip up businesses six years later) has not been an easy task. Those providing or facilitating vehicle finance will appreciate all the time for testing and implementation they can get.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FINAL PUSH TO 1 DECEMBER ARE:

1.Training and compliance: A key aspect of the law changes is an increased focus on having appropriate policies and procedures to ensure compliance. Failing to implement these policies can leave directors and senior managers of the lender personally liable for breaches. Agents will need to be aware of their contractual responsibilities to the lender and can expect lenders to follow through on these obligations, as a way of ensuring lenders’ own compliance with the law. Lenders will need to implement a regular training programme for staff. Agents may be required to attend ongoing trainings organised by lenders or report on their own training programmes and follow directions from lenders for improvements.

2. Responsible lending inquiries: Requirements to make inquiries about affordability and suitability are being significantly strengthened, including income and expense

verification instead of relying on borrower-provided information. These requirements, including what information must be obtained, how it is to be analysed and when it can be relied upon, are detailed and must be followed closely when providing new lending. Getting this right will be key to a successful transition to the new rules, and businesses are encouraged to thoroughly test their solutions before 1 December. Amendments have been proposed to clarify that assessment decisions completed before 1 December (such as for pre-approval) can generally be under the existing rules even if the contract is entered into shortly after 1 December.

3. Reporting: Lenders must be able to provide records of their responsible lending inquiries to the Commerce Commission on request. As information may be collected through agents in the first instance, lenders may also need to work with those agents to collect responses and provide to the lender in a manner that can be passed on to the Commission (bearing in mind privacy considerations where relevant).

4. Disclosure: The consequences for failing to make proper disclosure remain extreme (particularly for initial disclosure). Lenders and agents should ensure they are using current versions of all loan and disclosure documents on 1 December. They should also keep clear records to show that all required disclosure was given when required. If a lender provides advertising in multiple languages then the lender and its agents must be prepared to provide information to new borrowers in each language. Following changes to financial adviser laws in March this year, lenders are also recommended to include disclaimer language for responsible lending activities if they are not licensed to provide financial advice.

5. COVID relief: During the 2020 lockdowns, a range of COVID-related relief was temporarily put in place to assist lenders and borrowers. This included changes to the Responsible Lending Code and allowed lenders to rely on electronic signatures for security documents containing powers of attorney. This relief lapsed earlier in 2021, but it is being slowly reinstated for the most recent COVID outbreak. While lenders and their agents have now managed through weeks of lockdown without such relief, its return is welcomed.

The changes outlined above will quickly give the Commerce Commission strengthened tools to find and address law breaches. All consumer lenders and agents are encouraged to use the additional time available to test and check their processes before 1 December.

With so much new regulation coming into force and multiple lockdowns across the country over 2021, many businesses will be keeping their fingers crossed for a summer holiday and a less eventful 2022.

Luke Ford is a finance partner at Chapman Tripp, specialising in financial markets and regulation

If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you keep up with the latest legislation, please talk with your local Autosure Account Manager today.

CCCFA – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY

PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY

GENERAL CONSUMER REGULATION TIMELINE:

MAY/JUNE 2020 HIGH COST LENDER AND MOBILE TRADER RESTRICTIONS

1 DECEMBER 2020 NEW PRIVACY ACT 2020 REQUIREMENTS

15 MARCH 2021 FINANCIAL ADVISER LAW CHANGES

OCTOBER 2021 FIRST ‘FIT AND PROPER’ CERTIFICATIONS

1 DECEMBER 2021 MOST KEY CONSUMER LENDING CHANGES

1 FEBRUARY 2022 CHANGES TO REPAYMENT DIFFICULTIES GUIDANCE

16 AUGUST 2022RESTRICTIONS ON UNCONSCIONABLE CONDUCT UNDER FAIR TRADING

LAWS

2024 FIRST CONSUMER LENDER ANNUAL RETURN EXPECTED

21OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

At the start of COVID last year we had four candidates with contracts signed, and a number

of others with offers on the table who were in the process of relocating here and the border closed on them,” says Musterrecruit managing director, Matt Twisleton.

“We haven’t seen any overseas technicians since.”

Technicians are hard to find in normal times. They’re becoming much harder to find right now.

Pay rates are reflecting their scarcity. There’s a price war going on, and there’s no end in sight.“Pay rates are going up so quickly, we’re updating our remuneration estimates page less frequently to avoid adding inflationary pressure”, says Automotive Employment founder and managing director, Russell Phillips.The last overseas technicians arrived in New Zealand in March 2020.

South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the Middle East and to a lesser extent Britain were sources of good quality motivated candidates who wanted to move to New Zealand for a safer, more prosperous life.

That tap has been turned off for a long time now, and it could well be six to 12 months before candidates from high risk COVID countries can travel to New Zealand.

Like many things COVID related, there are lessons to be learned. A well-run dealership should be looking to develop and nurture its own pool of techs, and many already do.

But soaring pay rates illustrate clearly that demand for technicians still outstrips supply – substantially.

This suggests it might be time for many businesses to re-examine their recruitment efforts.

Which brings us to the question: where do technicians come from? The only routes open to dealers are to poach them or coach them. Poaching is inevitable. It meets a short-term need, but it isn’t a plan. It drives up costs for the entire business.

Yet having a vacancy can be hugely expensive for a dealership. Just one tech is worth $20,000 in labour sales per month.

Clearly dealers need to meet the market. For those that do, there are plenty of good techs out there.Long-standing, well-regarded technicians aren’t going to sit by and watch the new recruits get paid the same rate.

So, all of your technicians need to be better paid, otherwise you’ll cause

unrest, and your best techs will leave.

Not everyone jumps ship for more money: it’s usually the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Developing good internal programmes to recognise and reward long service, continuous L&D, and a robust two-way performance review process are also key.

But if your senior technicians feel unfairly treated and then undervalued… Well, you can see the implications.

If you can’t grab a great technician from overseas, and the local “supply” is demanding high rates, the only option is to make them yourself.

Now is an amazing time to do some home growing of technician talent. MITO has apprenticeship programmes where there are no course fees. The Government will even pay you up to $1000 a month (plus GST) for certain technician courses, in a programme called Apprenticeship Boost (but hurry, it expires in August 2022).

This takes time to organise and time to get an apprentice up to speed.

The supply chain for technicians really has two components.

One is acquisition (let’s call that talent acquisition), the other is retention (let’s call that coaching, developing and rewarding).

You need both to work in harmony. In fact, you also need a Technician Plan. You need a substantive plan to manage staff retention, staff development, apprenticeships, recruitment and development (and costs).

How many apprentices should you have working for you? It’s not enough to have one apprentice in four or five staff. The goal should be twice that.To reach that higher ratio in an already tight market, dealers need to be determined, and set these clear goals as part of their plan.

Most of us have heard the phrase, “I tried apprentice techs, but they just leave for more money”.

At Boost Auto we don’t buy that. If your dealership keeps losing apprentices to competitors, then the money is only part of the issue. Do you value your trainees properly? If there’s a pattern, then there’s a reason.

It’s time to dig deep, think of the long-term consequences for your business, and to consider where you might be in five years’ time if you’re a growing business.

Here are the Boost Auto top 13 tips for developing your Technician Plan.

1. Develop a plan that covers tech

recruitment, development, and retention.

2. Better still, develop an aftersales (or back of house) staff development plan.

3. Have a clear goal of your fully qualified technicians to apprentice numbers (Phillips suggests that even at 1:3, supply would still be too tight). Better aim for 1:2.5 and work out how to achieve your ratio.

4. Work closely with local colleges and other educational institutions to encourage young people to enter the apprenticeship scheme.

5. Remember your groomers, parts advisors, and service reception staff; they’re a source of techs.

6. Consider the potential career path for techs and promote the opportunity. There are plenty of DPs in New Zealand who worked their way through the ranks from the tools.

7. Regularly review charge-out rates (and encourage distributors to do the same), as a result of cost pressures, to retain margin.

8. Manage staff satisfaction robustly.

9. Manage staff churn, and look for benchmark data.

10. Think about what kind of place you would like to work in. What else can you offer besides. What will enhance staff satisfaction.

11. Make sure your plan has a five-year view and an annual peer review date, because that’s the gestation period of a fully developed tech.

12. Extrapolate your R/O or job card numbers for the next two to five years, especially if you have been appointed for one of the emerging or growing brands.

13. Don’t be afraid of working actively with recruiters to fix short-term needs. It’s much more expensive to have a vacancy for frontline productive staff than to pay for fees.

WHERE DO TECHS COME FROM?

ANTHONY MACLEANFOUNDER OF BOOST AUTO

to page 22...

22 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Why do we continue to live with inefficiencies rather than finding solutions to fix them?

And when is the right time to act?

For years, I’ve worked in the automotive sector moving in and out of different roles and businesses. I’ve been at the forefront of operations handling customer enquiries and complaints, to being on the backend assisting dealerships at an OEM distributor level.

A mindset that stood out to me the most throughout the years is the reluctance within businesses to adapt, change, and introduce new ways of thinking.

Why is it that when offered a solution to a problem, we tend to find ourselves saying, “it isn’t the right time to implement”, or “Let’s add it to our spreadsheet for now”?

Ask yourself this. Before the global COVID-19 pandemic, how many times have you discussed implementing new business solutions with your team and thought perhaps it isn’t the right time? And out of all the new business solutions presented to you, how many do you think you could’ve put your business in a much better financial

position if implemented sooner?

My point is, no one can really identify the right time to act or implement new business strategies.

What we can do, however, is continue finding ways to reduce the possibility of our business being brought to a halt by factors that could’ve easily been prevented.

For example, if your business were to sustain significant damages from a flood, fire, or earthquake today, will your data be safe and available for you to continue operating?

If you answer “I’m not sure” or “no”, then you may need to start thinking now of new ways of doing things. With more pressure to operate in an environmentally conscious manner, businesses are forced to look at ways to digitise operations.

With digitisation comes higher levels of automation, secure cloud environments, remote access to files and systems, and reduced operational costs across the board.

With all those benefits, why are we still hesitant to act immediately?

No longer would you need to print out every VOSA, repair order, and supplier invoice.

No longer would you spend ludicrous amounts on paper and ink.

Just take a moment to consider how much you could save by reducing your printing while having a positive impact on the environment too. And it’s not just saving on printing. What if all these invoices could be emailed to a dedicated inbox which is sorted automatically, allocated, and processed. The potential for resource saving is undeniable.

So, when is the right time to make a change or implement a new business strategy?

If you ask me, there’s no better time to begin the process than right now.

We’ll never know what’s around the corner. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, so what’s the harm in speaking to someone today?

That conversation could generate your business thousands of extra dollars in revenue every month.

ACT NOW - ACCELERATE YOUR DEALERSHIP THROUGH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

BY MARK SCOTTPENTANA SOLUTIONS

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Let’s not forget that as new and used vehicle volumes grow to record levels, there are record levels of service work to be done.

On top of that, there’s a wave of new skills needed. Your team can’t start working on high voltage vehicles without additional training, tools and equipment. You knew that; but technicians with qualifications and experience on NEV (New Energy Vehicles) are going to be incredibly hard to find.

At least now you have a framework for your plan, and you know where technicians come from.

If you want help creating a development plan, please reach out to us. We have published a related blog on why we think sales staff should be renumerated differently.

...from page 21

Boost Auto is an automotive consultancy working in six main areas.

• Sales and Marketing effectiveness for brands and dealers

• Green fleet facilitation for large corporates

• Go To Market strategies for emerging brands

• Market Insights & Trends

• Business Planning and facilitation

• Operational Effectiveness

Boost Auto would like to acknowledge and thank

Russell Phillips from Automotive Employment and

Matt Twiselton of Musterrecruit for their input in this article.

You can contact us at

hello@boostauto.co.nz

www.boostauto.co.nz/read-blog

23OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

This report was finished off the same evening a clip on TV1’s Seven Sharp highlighted the issue most in the trade are well aware of, and which has been

discussed over several months in this column.

The Japanese used vehicle marketplace has been under intense pressure during much of 2021 with both COVID restrictions and the arguably – for the trade – more serious issue of the global shortage of semiconductor chips.

September auction prices and availability were a stark demonstration of just how reliant the New Zealand fleet is on a stable Japanese vehicle marketplace.

Difficulties arise when the stronger buying power of Japanese dealers and wholesalers overtakes the all-important equation of arbitrage, the delicate balance between auction pricing in Japan versus the retail value proposition in New Zealand.

Overall, the month seemed a low point for the industry.

I can’t recall a time over my 31 years in the car business when so many moving parts were seemingly at odds with each other.

On one hand, Auckland, the largest single market for vehicles in New Zealand, spent all September in lockdown.

The late move to level three provided a degree of relief for dealers but without the surge in pent-up demand enjoyed by the rest of the country.

Cashflow and lending facilities were stretched to breaking point as Ro-Ro after Ro-Ro discharged vehicles as if on an endless conveyor belt.

It was prime stock when sourced in the weeks leading up to August 17 but suddenly an enormous fiscal and logistical nightmare.

Unlike the 2020 lockdown, there was no finite timeline given for emergence, especially in the first week.

So importers continued to buy in Japan as the only thing worse coming into the Christmas season than too much stock, would be no stock at all.

In Japan, however, no leeway was granted for New Zealand, with auction prices continuing to soar to near record levels as the plight of the new car industry filtered down to used car values.

The Toyota manufacturing crisis has hit the Japanese new market hard, with September standard-sized car registrations (excluding Kei-class) down to just 108,787 units, just ahead of August’s dismal 103,040 and 20,000 units down on the 123,616 recorded for July.

Toyota’s share of that market shrank from 60,196 during July, to 40,747 in September.

In August, individual model sales showed a decline in registrations for almost every popular Toyota model except for the new Aqua, up to 9442 units and third best-selling car for the month.

Auction numbers for exhibited cars were down during September as the reduction in trade-in stock hit dealers.

Though fleet sales continued through the month with relatively minor impact, signs in the last few days pointed towards a slowdown in the numbers of the ever-present white and silver fleet-spec cars to choose from.

Like a perfect storm, this reduction in trade-in stock was met by heightened Japanese domestic market dealer demand for good quality, lower mileage and later model stock.

Any Toyota hybrid has seen a real-time increase in bid price over the past month or two, with models favoured by Kiwis such as Toyota Corolla Fielder Hybrid and later-model Toyota Aquas jumping by several thousand dollars.

Even those models considered primarily New Zealand-market cars in the auctions and desired less by Japanese dealers, like the Subaru Legacy and Outback, Mazda Axela and Atenza, and Nissan Note, refused stubbornly to drop in value over the Kiwi lockdown.

CAN YOU SELL IT, AND IF YOU CAN, CAN YOU REPLACE IT?

BY GRAEME MACDONALD

to page 25...

JAPANTALK

0800 MOANA BLUE | www.moana-blue.com

Independent InspectionsShipping & Logistics What more would you need?

We pride ourselves on our independenceMoana Blue understand the importance of being independent. We are not in the business of buying or selling vehicles or any

other service that competes with our customers. Our aim is to simply provide a fast and efficient service of

independent shipping, inspections and advice.

24 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

www.providentinsurance.co.nz

“You want to stay with a place that works for youWhen we bought our 2016 Holden Commodore, the broker recommended a Provident policy. The premiums were reasonable, and we were all good with this contract. Last year while driving through a roundabout I was hit by another car, and my vehicle was a write off.

From the beginning your company has been amazing. The online forms were straight forward. We waited for 2 weeks for the Panel beater to declare it a write off. From there, within 24 hours there was a cheque in my bank account. Provident made sure I was well informed, making everything clear and concise and really easy for everyone involved.

When I attended court to help recover costs, the judge congratulated Provident on how thorough the paperwork was. Too often we hear when companies don’t do a great job.

It’s time to share the good news. You can just be a number on a piece of paper, with Provident you want to stay with a place that works for you.”– Sharelle Donaldson

Trust Provident Motor Vehicle Insurance. Proven protection to keep you on track.

There’s an old saying “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

It’s something to think about as we evolve into a new market with restrictions placed on how we can conduct business remotely, especially under a lockdown.

Over the past few years, the digital tools available to help with the process of remote offering of products have made it much easier to communicate with your customer. We now have many different digital platforms to call upon to help with the sales process.

I suggest that where you can, consider conducting a virtual meeting with your customer when offering Finance & Insurance (F&I) products remotely.

This will allow you to engage with them and hold their full attention, just as if you were conducting a face-to-face meeting in your dealership.

Remember the same rules of engagement apply. Portray a professional appearance, offer a clean desk policy, and arrange a convenient time that suits your customers so that they’re not likely to be challenged by distractions.

Prepare all the relevant information. It looks unprofessional to have to disengage and then re-approach your customer at another time.

If this is a referral from your sales team, obtain the sales write-up sheet with any personal information that may help you to bond with your customer.

Whether you’re offering F&I products in a virtual meeting or over the phone, make sure that you can provide your customer with a copy of all the relevant information by email immediately after your discussion.

You’ll need to follow the same rules regarding full product disclosure as they apply when your customer is in front of you at the dealership.

As responsible retailers of F&I products, I’m hoping you’ll all know your obligations under the CCCFA and the Responsible Lending Code, and that you will, as part of your process, conduct both “Initial Disclosure” and post-sale “Disclosure” of all products offered.

The disclosed information must be in a simple and easy to understand format.

You must hold a record of the detailed conversations you had with your customers, which confirms that you have provided the correct information to allow them to make an informed purchasing decision.

Furthermore, when it comes to insurance, you must only offer products which are fit for purpose.

You also need to ask your customers to consider if they may already hold existing Insurance that would cover this new risk and confirm with them that the products offered will most likely suit their requirements.

To undertake this process correctly, you have a duty to

“YOUR F&I DISCLOSURE OBLIGATIONS UNDER A REMOTE SALE”

JACQUES GRAY

to page 25...

25OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

explain how your products are designed to help and protect your customer.

The most compliant way to do this is to provide your customer with a “Summary Sheet” for each Insurance product you wish to offer, attached to every email quotation.

Each product “Summary Sheet” needs to confirm that the following information was supplied to your customer:

– The key benefits and features of each Insurance policy.

– The key exclusions and limitations of each policy.

– The amount of the premium, and if it is funded by a credit contract that your customer understands that interest is charged on the premium.

– Advise that the policy is optional.

– The duration of each policy.

– The cooling-off period for each policy.

– A reference to review the full terms and conditions of each policy.

Your customer can then make an informed decision about whether the following apply:

– The policy provides appropriate cover for their circumstances.

– They understand the basic terms and conditions of the policy.

– They have had enough time to consider the benefits of the policy and whether they have existing cover which may provide the same benefits.

It’s also important that when you offer your customer any product by written correspondence, you ask

that they return to you a customer acknowledgement of disclosure statement. At Provident we use an “Insurance Disclosure Form”.

An Insurance Disclosure Form is a record that you have followed a complaint process of disclosure.

The only way to confirm this is to hold an electronically or physically signed customer acknowledgement, confirming that the customer has read and understood the terms of your compliant disclosure process.

The acknowledgement must list all the insurance products offered, any applicable discussion note, and confirm your customer’s acceptance or declining of each product.

Keeping this record achieves two important processes:

1. It confirms that you have followed a complaint process when offering Insurance products which have been purchased.

2. It also confirms a record of the disclosure process for any products that your customer has made an informed decision not to purchase. This protects you as a responsible insurer or lender’s agent, should a customer portray later that they were not offered protection.

Upon completing the purchase of any Insurance product, you also need immediately to provide customers with a copy of their personalised policy schedule or certificate, together with the full terms and conditions, and the agreed payment terms of any premium due.

As professionals, we should all take disclosure seriously, whether it’s

offered face-to-face or via a remote process, like email.

We should also remember the golden rule: “offer 100% of fit for purpose products to 100% of people, 100% of the time”.

You should never preconceive your customer’s insurance requirements. If you offer your customer the full range of fit for purpose products, you’re providing them with all the available information to allow them to make an informed decision regarding their required protection.

If you disclose the correct product information, and you can answer confidently questions regarding any concern or misconceptions your customer may have, the benefits and features of any insurance offered usually will allow the product to sell itself.

The offering of insurance protection makes for a better customer experience.

Remind your customer: “insurance is the one thing that they can’t purchase when they’re in immediate need of its protection, i.e., if an insurable event has occurred and they don’t hold cover”.

If you or your staff need any further advice, training, or assistance to understand your responsibilities regarding insurance disclosure, or how to effectively offer insurance products, call me and I’ll be happy to help you put in place a compliant process to meet your disclosure obligations.

Jaques Gray

...from page 24

...from page 23That indicated that competition from New Zealand importers was such that nothing like a good buy or market shift was likely.

Predictably, in the face of the Government’s Clean Car Discount scheme rebate cheques now flowing into the hands of the public, popular EVs like the new generation Nissan Leaf saw a significant increase in lane prices.

The very occasional e-NV200 Nissan vans that appeared generated almost stratospheric prices.

There appears little prospect for easing of values over at least the next few months, with considerable

production delays and plant line stoppages continuing across the Japanese automotive manufacturing landscape in October.

Given the lag between new registrations and the volume of trade-ins cascading down to auction, there is the inevitable reality that buying for the rest of 2021 will be as difficult and expensive as it has been in the past few months.

Unlike 2020, this lockdown there has been no such thing as a bargain, and as we’ve observed in previous columns, dealers in New Zealand must now consider what their plans will

be to replace the stock that landed during August and September- assuming they have paid for it.

And whether the narrative of the Seven Sharp item will indeed become reality.

If so, be prepared to pay more – a lot more – for the quality stock you want on your dealership, and educate your customers to accept that just like housing, building products and groceries, car pricing is subject to the same pressures as any other in-demand goods. If they want it, they’ll need to pay more for it.

26 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

SHOWROOM

STRIKING SPANISH CROSSOVER

Volkswagen Group acquired Spanish carmaker SEAT in December 1990 and since then

the marque has developed a range of cars and SUVS which use the same modular platforms and powertrains as sibling brands Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi.

Then in 2018 Volkswagen Group decided to develop the SEAT high-performance luxury sub-brand Cupra into a carline of its own.

All new Cupras, excluding the new 100% electric Cupra Born, are built at the Martorelli factory near Barcelona, Spain.

The Cupra marque was launched by the Giltrap Group into New Zealand in 2019 with the high-performance Cupra Ateca SUV.

In mid 2020, other new Cupras arrived on the local market including the five-door Leon hatch, Leon Sportstourer and the Formentor crossover which will remain an exclusive design to Cupra says the manufacturer and won’t be shared with SEAT.

The Formentor VZ is a distinct and unique looking vehicle, and sits in a unique space somewhere between a hot hatchback and a family SUV.

It’s a sister model to the Cupra Ateca VZ SUV which uses the same powertrain and level of specification.

We’re going to see a lot more of these unique crossover vehicles from European brands as manufacturers blend the high-riding qualities of an SUV with the style and practicality of a hatchback.

The forthcoming Citroen C4 is another example of this new breed.

Two versions of the Formentor are currently available in New Zealand and both have a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and all-wheel drive.

The 140kW/190Nm Formentor V 4Drive is priced from $54,900 plus on road costs and the top-spec Formentor VZ (as pictured above) is priced from $68,900.

More versions of the Formentor are on the distributor’s wish list, including a 150kW plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) with 53 km of electric range, and a front-wheel drive 110kW/250Nm 1.4-litre Formentor V which if priced around $40k would give the marque a very attractive entry point.

Cupra prides itself on being the driver orientated challenger brand which offers high performance coupled with value for money, not unlike sister-brand Skoda.

The Formentor VZ is comprehensively equipped, it has all the active and passive safety equipment and driver assist features available on the market, as well as a 12-inch colour touchscreen with Android Auto and Wireless Apple CarPlay.

There’s a BeatsAudio sound system, sports suspension, and the Cupra drive profile that offers comfort, sport, VZ, individual and off-road options.

The VZ which arrived for appraisal was fitted with the $2500 panoramic glass sunroof, 19-inch machined cooper alloy rims for $600 and its Graphene Grey paint was an additional $700, bringing the retail price to $72,700 plus on road costs.

Further options (not fitted) include an electrically released towbar with 50mm ball (factory fitted) for $1300, Brembo brakes (removes space-saving tyre and

includes tyre repair kit) for $3600, and buyers can option Cup Bucket leather seats in black or blue leather for $4000.

But the seat option surprisingly removes the electric driver’s seat and central airbag.

FIRST IMPRESSIONSThe Formentor VZ’s unique design complemented by the Graphene Grey paint colour, and copper detailing caught the eye of many curious people during our review drive.

Many asked us what sort of car it was, as they’d never seen a Cupra before.

It’s one of the fastest and most comfortable cars in the mid-size SUV category which we’ve yet driven this year.

The VZ loves nothing more than a tight winding country road where you can enjoy the well tied down but supple suspension, responsive steering, and prodigious engine performance, while the climate air keeps you cool, and the heated seats keep your back warm.

In spite of the 19-inch wheels shod with 245/40 low profile tyres, noise, vibration and harshness is minimal, and more noise is created by the opened panoramic roof when pressing on.

Getting bums on seats won’t be difficult for Cupra as because of current supply chain issues all 2021 VZ production for New Zealand is spoken for, but there are still some Formentor V 4Drive models not yet allocated to customers.

However, if New Zealand new car buyers want to order a new Formentor VZ now and wait for delivery in 2022 their patience will be justly rewarded.

27OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

Ford New Zealand is still expecting to one day see the Mach E battery electric vehicle in New Zealand, in

spite of having no update on its arrival more than a year after its availability and an upgrade in the US and Europe.

Ford New Zealand managing director Simon Rutherford acknowledged its future presence at an online press conference, technically to announce electrification plans – read hybrids – for the NZ Ford passenger car range.

By the end of 2022, Ford will only offer electrified powertrains – PHEVs, MHEVs and Hybrids – across most of its passenger and SUV range.

Only Ford Performance vehicles, which means the Mustang, Focus ST and Fiesta, and the Ford Everest SUV will continue in 2022 with standard powertrains.

The Puma small SUV and Focus will be mild hybrids, and the Escape will cover hybrid and plug-in hybrid options.

Everest is unlikely to move to a new drivetrain until after the launch later next year of the new generation Ranger with which it shares a platform.

The move will no doubt help to reduce the impact of the Government’s clean car plans on the brand, which is likely to be hit hard because of its heavy commercial vehicle skew.

Rutherford says Ford is largely aligned with the Motor Industry Association’s position on the legislation.

“The challenge isn’t really the end state, it’s the path to getting there without collateral impact,” he says. “The targets for 2026/27 are a little too excessive, and we’d like to see them tempered.

“They’re very aggressive, when you look at the starting point for New Zealand.”

Ford won’t be without battery options. The new Ford E-Transit will accelerate the Blue Oval’s domestic EV charge

when it debuts in mid 2022.

“We’re really excited about the Transit as we believe the real-world benefits are very high,” Rutherford says.

The E-Transit will join the already-on-sale Transit Custom PHEV and Transit Tourneo PHEV.

The all-electric Mach E will make up part of the future range, but getting it here is a challenge Rutherford says.

“I keep asking the same question. The issue that we have is two-fold – it’s exceeding performance everywhere else. It’s a capacity issue. And we’re not yet a compliance market. If we brought it here it would be extremely successful.”

Darren Palmer, general manager of Ford Battery Electric Vehicles, noted the Mach E is part of a plan to electrify existing legendary nameplates. He says the car has been a massive success.

“People are taking home Mustang Mach Es and showing 10 friends, half of whom then go and order it online.”

Other than the Transit, the next nameplate to be electrified is the F-150 pick-up with the Lightning model.

Don’t expect to see it here anytime soon though.

“We’ve been inundated with requests, and we all understand why as half our staff are asking for it as well,” Rutherford says. “But first we have to get over the left-hand drive/right-hand drive and scale issues.

He says global demand for the Lightning is massive.

“And where you have a limited supply, you have to go with where there’s the opportunity,” he says, suggesting the company can sell all it needs to without the costly right-hand drive conversion.

There are no plans for that right now, but if it happens his hand will be up for the truck.

Ford New Zealand’s EV roadmap forms part of Ford’s global investment of US$30 billion (about NZD$43 billion) in electrification by 2025.

To ensure a smooth electrification roll-out, Ford NZ has partnered with Singer Electric New Zealand, a leading supplier of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for both homes and businesses.

With Singer Electric, Ford has installed charging stations at its main dealer sites and will continue the roll-out with charging facilities going into dealer branches beginning early next year.

Installations include customer forecourt charging stations and charging capabilities in service departments.

SHOWROOM

FORD NZ – ‘WHEN NOT IF’ FOR MACH E

28 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

SHOWROOM

MITSUBISHI NZ OPENS TWO NEW RETAIL OUTLETS

Mitsubishi New Zealand (MMNZ) has added two retail sites to its authorised national sales and

service dealer network.

From October 1, Delaney Mitsubishi in Kapiti extended its existing parts and service operation in Paraparaumu to include new vehicle sales.

And mid-October a new site in the Christchurch region, Morrison Mitsubishi Sockburn, will open.

“The sites we have identified are each located in areas of strong growth,” says MMNZ head of marketing and corporate affairs Reece Congdon.

“The population in Christchurch is projected to increase by 20% in the coming two decades, while the Kapiti region has grown significantly with an 18.7% bump in population since the Delaneys were appointed in the region 15 years ago.

“With the imminent opening of Transmission Gully, which will create a highway connection to Wellington, this growth is only set to continue.

“Both dealerships will be headed by experienced operators with many years’ association in the industry and with our brand – essential qualifications to ensure our customers receive the high level of service that we demand.”

MMNZ says that Mike Morrison has a proven track record through his existing Mitsubishi dealership in Ashburton and is looking forward to bringing his passion and know-how to new customers in the heart of Christchurch.

“Since joining the Mitsubishi family in 2020 with their Ashburton dealership, Mike and the team have been very strong performers,” says Congdon.

“We’ve been impressed with their connection to the local community and are very pleased with the positive feedback we’ve been receiving from their customers.”

“Since the business moved to the south side of Christchurch in 2015, it’s gone from strength to strength – due in large part to the growth of the Selwyn district following the earthquakes,” says Mike Morrison.

“Given the fantastic results and relationships we have enjoyed at our Mitsubishi site in Ashburton, we feel very privileged to have this opportunity to represent Mitsubishi in the south of the city.”

Brent and Rachel Delaney are five-time consecutive Diamond Dealer winners. To date a parts and service dealership, the Kapiti outfit has the backing of MMNZ to be able to transfer its skills to new vehicle sales.

“Our Diamond Dealer Awards programme recognises our highest achievers,” Congdon says.

“The Delaneys’ winning streak is testament to their unwavering focus on exceptional customer service and support.”

“We feel extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to represent Mitsubishi as a full sales dealer in our home district on the Kapiti Coast,” Brent Delaney says.

“Having been a Mitsubishi parts and service dealer for the past 15 years, and having witnessed the huge growth of the Mitsubishi brand in New Zealand and locally, we’re really excited to expand the scope of our operation,” he says.

MMNZ achieved record-breaking sales in the 2021 financial year, reaching 13.1% market share and cementing its position as the second most popular new vehicle brand in New Zealand – up from 8.1% in the same period the previous year.

In September, the company had its highest-yet sales month for the Outlander, with 851 sold across the range, and has enjoyed strong uptake on pre-orders for the new model.

29OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

We’re not going to argue that it didn’t hurt, but the used import market appears to

have beaten the worst of the lockdown by delivering more than 80% of the volume it did at the same time last year.

The Nissan X-Trail has risen to third in the import market.

Used import passenger registrations for the month were down 28% in September, even though the biggest market – Auckland – only allowed limited deliveries for fewer than half the time available.

A total of 7440 vehicles was registered, down from 10,339 a year ago.

At an average of $10,000 per retail unit, that’s just short of $30 million in turnover lost to the market in one month.

Used import commercials were down dramatically, by 49.8% to 470 vehicles, though that continues to be partly because of a lack of ESC-compliant stock.

The top passenger brand for the month was Toyota on 1880 units, down 24.7% for a 25.3% share.

Mazda has been overtaking Nissan for second of late, and continues to sit there this month, down 32.1% for 1112 units. Nissan itself was down 39.3% to 990.

Subaru took fourth on 693, followed by Honda on 548.

Toyota’s Aqua continues to be the top model on 482 units.

The Mazda Axela was next on 360, followed by the Nissan X-Trail, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander on 228.

In commercials, Toyota was top dog on

163 units, down 63.4% from this time last year, providing a 34.7% market share.

Nissan took second on 98, followed by Hino on 43.

The Toyota Hiace was the top model on 113, followed by the Nissan NV350 on 52 and Hino Duty on 31.

TRADER SAYS USED STOCK IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BUYThe proprietors of Millars Car Centre in Henderson, Auckland, Tony and Kylie Frost say the drop down to alert level three saw a flurry of used vehicle sales as “all the people needing to upgrade their car came out of the woodwork all at once”.

“Business is certainly going well since we came out of level four, and things have settled down since level three was enabled but transacting contactless test drives and sales has been challenging under the regulations,” say the Frosts.

“As we drop down the steps to level two it should get much easier to sell cars, but it’s been tricky to operate under the current level three trading restrictions.”

The other issue facing the Frosts and no doubt other used import dealers is that replacement used vehicle stock is almost impossible to buy locally and from Japan.

“Fortunately, we’ve had some quality trade-ins which we will be able to refurbish for the yard and we’ve got around 15 used vehicles on the water

STATSTALK

Importing Cars. Made Easy.

09 374 4436 | sales@nichibojapan.com | www.nichibojapan.com

Your trusted vehicle import agentFor more than 30 yearsContact us

today

Importing Cars. Made Easy.

Your trusted vehicle import

agentFor more than 30 years

IMPORT MARKET DEFIES LOCKDOWN WITH MODERATE RESULT

to page 30...

NEW PASSENGER SALES 2015 TO 2021

BY RICHARD EDWARDS

30 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Get in contact today0800 367 233

Fast Loan ApprovalsFlexible Repayments

Personal Service

Get in contact today Ph - 0800 367 233

Fast Loan Approvals, Personal Service& Flexible Repayments. Our personal service & flexibility sets us apart.

STATSTALK

USED IMPORT PASSENGER SALES BY MAKE SEPTEMBER 2021

Chev

role

t

Dod

ge

Fiat

Ford

Hin

o

Hol

den

Isuzu

Maz

da

Mit

subis

hi

Nis

san

Toyo

ta

Volk

swag

en

Oth

er

Tota

l

Ssan

gyon

g

Toyo

ta

Volk

swag

en

Oth

er

Tota

l

21-JAN 7 6 6 22 26 13 43 17 31 69 177 5 32 454 49 946 130 220 4180

20-JAN 11 5 66 40 26 14 26 41 25 200 345 8 40 847 46 683 119 241 3979

% diff -36 20 -91 -45 0 -7 65 -59 24 -66 -49 -38 -20 -46 7 39 9 -9 5

21-FEB 10 3 13 28 34 16 43 17 29 86 181 8 39 507 49 946 130 220 4180

20-FEB 13 4 12 21 22 12 41 26 18 211 430 9 48 864 46 683 119 241 3979

% diff -23 -25 8 33 55 33 5 -35 61 -59 -58 -11 -19 -41 7 39 9 -9 5

21-MAR 316 513 42 4 63 21 931 31 1469 189 463 1543 16 803 298 3166 560 572 11000

20-MAR 152 316 32 3 59 27 863 24 1276 100 335 1613 5 587 366 2165 269 373 8565

% diff 108 62 31 33 7 -22 8 29 15 89 38 -4 220 37 -19 46 108 53 28

21-APR 310 525 25 2 63 20 867 18 1370 192 428 1316 14 736 254 2926 514 554 10134

20-APR 17 32 3 1 2 1 56 4 78 13 24 119 1 46 25 145 18 37 622

% diff 1724 1541 733 100 3050 1900 1448 350 1656 1377 1683 1006 1300 1500 916 1918 2756 1397 1529

21-MAY 358 594 34 3 59 23 970 17 1552 211 507 1495 14 862 862 273 536 2885 11255

20-MAY 236 440 33 3 74 41 884 35 1564 124 387 1683 14 721 408 2128 343 447 9665

% diff 52 35 3 0 -20 -44 10 -51 -1 70 31 -11 0 20 111 -87 56 545 16

21-JUN 349 619 24 2 72 24 1051 19 1566 204 468 1385 15 889 278 3194 511 586 11256

20-JUN 295 537 35 5 86 40 1127 1 1922 184 486 2083 5 866 475 2786 433 587 11953

% diff 18 15 -31 -60 -16 -40 -7 1800 -19 11 -4 -34 200 3 -41 15 18 0 -6

21-JUL 371 660 34 6 55 28 1028 13 1759 244 654 1953 10 1051 319 3697 557 689 13128

20-JUL 280 526 41 4 88 37 1050 21 1936 184 585 2049 9 902 423 2881 439 520 11975

% diff 33 25 -17 50 -38 -24 -2 -38 -9 33 12 -5 11 17 -25 28 27 33 10

21-AUG 222 367 19 4 37 13 589 11 976 130 321 932 5 546 147 2053 323 0 7099

20-AUG 217 340 31 4 81 28 754 25 1458 155 431 1500 4 681 308 2262 343 432 9054

% diff 2 8 -39 0 -54 -54 -22 -56 -33 -16 -26 -38 25 -20 -52 -9 -6 -100 -22

21-SEP 262 367 25 0 50 7 548 14 1112 146 385 990 1 693 191 1880 320 449 7440

20-SEP 259 486 35 8 83 59 905 32 1638 173 470 1631 13 781 333 2497 386 550 10339

% diff 1 -24 -29 -100 -40 -88 -39 -56 -32 -16 -18 -39 -92 -11 -43 -25 -17 -18 -28

YTD 21 2671 4543 250 27 515 173 7664 167 12467 1640 4003 12195 101 6855 2821 22400 4219 6692 89807

YTD 20 1838 3394 283 32 646 288 7928 186 13512 1174 3646 14948 71 6039 3389 20468 2903 3768 84613

%diff 45 34 -12 -16 -20 -40 -3 -10 -8 40 10 -18 42 14 -17 9 45 78 6

from Japan which were ordered before the lockdown started,” they say.

Another issue they’re dealing with is what they believe is the misinformation driven by the general news media such as One News that older second-hand cars are now worth a lot more in the current supply-restricted market, when it’s not necessarily the case.

“People have been given an unrealistic expectation of what their car might be worth in the current market, and they’re wanting moonbeams, but it’s only worth what we can get for it,” they say.

...from page 29

31OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

Get in contact today0800 367 233

Fast Loan ApprovalsFlexible Repayments

Personal Service

Get in contact today Ph - 0800 367 233

Fast Loan Approvals, Personal Service& Flexible Repayments. Our personal service & flexibility sets us apart.

STATSTALK

USED PASSENGER MODELS SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE MODELSEP '21

MAKE/MODELSEP '20

TOYOTA AQUA 482 MAZDA AXELA 536

MAZDA AXELA 360 TOYOTA AQUA 512

NISSAN X-TRAIL 276 TOYOTA COROLLA 403

MAZDA CX-5 255 MAZDA DEMIO 353

MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 228 HONDA FIT 337

TOYOTA PRIUS 227 TOYOTA PRIUS 334

TOYOTA COROLLA 209 SUZUKI SWIFT 288

HONDA FIT 199 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 282

SUBARU LEGACY 196 SUBARU LEGACY 258

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 195 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 242

SUBARU IMPREZA 184 SUBARU IMPREZA 241

TOYOTA VANGUARD 159 NISSAN X-TRAIL 224

NISSAN LEAF 141 NISSAN LEAF 209

SUZUKI SWIFT 138 MAZDA ATENZA 209

MAZDA ATENZA 136 MAZDA CX-5 173

MAZDA DEMIO 126 TOYOTA VANGUARD 147

BMW 3 Series 112 NISSAN TIIDA 141

TOYOTA MARKX 102 NISSAN SKYLINE 137

HONDA CRV 98 TOYOTA WISH 137

USED PASSENGER MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKESEP '21

SEP '20

MOVEMENT % CHANGE MARKET SHARE

TOYOTA 1,880 2497 -24.7 25.3

MAZDA 1,112 1638 -32.1 14.9

NISSAN 990 1631 -39.3 13.3

SUBARU 693 781 Up 1 -11.3 9.3

HONDA 548 905 Down 1 -39.4 7.4

MITSUBISHI 385 470 Up 1 -18.1 5.2

BMW 367 486 Down 1 -24.5 4.9

VOLKSWAGEN 320 386 -17.1 4.3

AUDI 262 259 Up 1 1.2 3.5

SUZUKI 191 333 Down 1 -42.6 2.6

LEXUS 150 174 -13.8 2.0

MERCEDES-BENZ 146 173 -15.6 2.0

LAND ROVER 56 35 Up 5 60.0 0.8

FORD 50 83 Down 1 -39.8 0.7

VOLVO 49 76 Down 1 -35.5 0.7

DODGE 37 25 Up 6 48.0 0.5

JAGUAR 32 42 Down 1 -23.8 0.4

CHEVROLET 25 35 Down 1 -28.6 0.3

CHRYSLER 24 21 Up 4 14.3 0.3

JEEP 21 26 Up 1 -19.2 0.3

OTHER 102 263 -61.2 1.4

TOTAL 7,440 10339 -28.0 100.0

USED COMMERCIAL MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKESEP '21

SEP '20

MOVEMENT % CHANGE MARKET SHARE

TOYOTA 163 445 -63.4 34.7

NISSAN 98 205 -52.2 20.9

HINO 43 36 Up 1 19.4 9.1

ISUZU 39 67 Down 1 -41.8 8.3

FORD 26 34 -23.5 5.5

MITSUBISHI 26 31 -16.1 5.5

HOLDEN 13 20 Up 1 -35.0 2.8

CHEVROLET 7 11 Up 1 -36.4 1.5

MAZDA 7 28 Down 2 -75.0 1.5

DAIHATSU 5 7 Up 1 -28.6 1.1

OTHER 43 52 -17.3 9.1

TOTAL 470 936 -49.8 100.0

USED COMMERCIAL MODELS SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE MODELSEP '21

MAKE MODELSEP '20

TOYOTA HIACE 113 TOYOTA HIACE 301

NISSAN NV350 52 TOYOTA DYNA 59

HINO DUTRO 31 NISSAN NV200 56

NISSAN CARAVAN 27 NISSAN NV350 54

ISUZU ELF 21 NISSAN CARAVAN 52

TOYOTA DYNA 20 ISUZU ELF 36

MITSUBISHI CANTER 16 TOYOTA REGIUS 34

TOYOTA TOYOACE 16 HINO DUTRO 25

FORD RANGER 13 TOYOTA HILUX 21

ISUZU FORWARD 11 TOYOTA TOYOACE 20

HINO RANGER 10 FORD RANGER 19

HOLDEN COLORADO 8 ISUZU FORWARD 19

NISSAN ATLAS 8 MITSUBISHI CANTER 19

DAIHATSU HIJET 5 MAZDA BONGO 19

FORD F150 5 NISSAN VANETTE 17

SUZUKI CARRY 5 HOLDEN COLORADO 12

TOYOTA HILUX 5 HINO RANGER 8

DODGE RAM 4 NISSAN NAVARA 8

HOLDEN COMMODORE 4 VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK 8

MAZDA TITAN 4 NISSAN ATLAS 8

32 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

Ford’s Ranger ute remained New Zealand’s best-selling vehicle in September with 1408 units

registered

But more than 3505 new vehicles with some form of electrification in their drivetrain were sold during the month as the market rebounded strongly, in spite of Auckland new vehicle dealers operating in alert level three. The Ranger led the market, followed by the Tesla Model 3 and the Mitsubishi Outlander. It was the first time a battery electric vehicle (BEV) has been in the top three registrations in any one month.

According to the Motor Industry Association (MIA) there were 16,518 new vehicle registrations in September 2021 which it says was the second strongest month of any month since the professional body began keeping records.

In September 16,518 vehicles were sold compared to 10,902 in September 2020, an increase of 51.5% (5616 units).

Year-to-date there have been 123,016 vehicles sold compared to 87,474 to the end of September 2020, an overall increase of 40.6% (35,542 vehicles).

“New vehicle distributors have worked hard under trying circumstances to

supply orders. The result is remarkable given Auckland was at alert level three for the month,” says MIA chief executive David Crawford. “This is the first time there were more fully electric vehicles registered in a month than (non plug-in) hybrid vehicles,” he says.

The top market segment in September was SUV Compact vehicles with 22% share followed by SUV Medium with 19% share and then the Pick-up/Chassis 4×4 segment with 14%. Year-to-date, compact and medium SUVs remain the strongest individual segments, and 56% of the market is small to medium sized vehicles.

Toyota remains the overall leader with 18% market share (2934 units), followed by Mitsubishi with 13% (2176 units) and Ford with 11% market share (1870 units).

Tesla was fourth with 6% share (1066 units).

There were 1505 light vehicle and seven heavy vehicle full BEVs registered in September.

The top selling models were the Tesla Model 3 (1066 units) followed by the MG ZS (122 units) and the Hyundai Kona (84).

There were 537 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs)

registered in September. The top sellers were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (282 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (115 units) and the MG HS (47 units).

Hybrids continued their consistent strength with 1456 vehicles registered in the month of September. The top selling models were the Toyota RAV4 (466 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (247 units) and Toyota Yaris Cross (117 units).

Toyota retained the market lead for passenger and SUV registrations with 17% market share (1993 units) followed by Mitsubishi with 16% (1920 units) and then Tesla with 9% market share (1066 units).

The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Tesla Model 3 (1066 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (963 units) and the Toyota Corolla (744 units).

COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SALES SEPTEMBER 2021

Ford retained the market lead with 32% market share (1503 units) followed by Toyota with 20% (941 units) and Mitsubishi third with 6% market share (256 units).

The Ford Ranger kept the top spot for the month of September as the best-selling commercial model with 30% share (1408 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 14% share (648 units) and the Toyota Hiace in third place with 5% market share (232 units).

FLURRY OF NEW CAR ACTIVITY FOR AUCKLAND DEALERSHIPS Auckland-based dealership groups Andrew Simms, Continental Car Services, and Southern Autos all say September’s return to business in alert level three got off to a very positive start with a flurry of activity to plate as many cars as possible by month end.

Southern Autos Botany and Manukau dealer principal Andrew Craw says unlike the last alert level four lockdown in Auckland there was no

COMPETITIVE FINANCE ON

NEW VEHICLES

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

STATSTALK

TESLA CHASING RANGER FOR TOP SPOT IN SEPTEMBER

to page 33...

YOUR SPECIALISTS IN STOCK FINANCEudc.co.nz | 0800 500 832

BY RICHARD EDWARDS

NEW PASSENGER SALES 2015 TO 2021

33OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

COMPETITIVE FINANCE ON

NEW VEHICLES

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

YOUR SPECIALISTS IN STOCK FINANCEudc.co.nz | 0800 500 832

STATSTALK

...from page 32

uncertainty around the business and everyone had a job to come back to.

Craw says there was strong customer enquiry during the lockdown and many are already converted into sales. He says the two Southern Autos dealerships have a large backlog of pre-sold units so it was a case of all hands to the pump preparing and conducting contactless delivery before month end. “Although good levels of stock arrived in the country during lockdown, most of that was pre-sold to customers, we are still experiencing shortages of some models,” Craw says.

“The most positive aspect is that we had enough work in our workshop to be safely staffed at 100% on day one of alert level three. Let’s hope it continues like this and we continue on the same bounce we were on prior to

lockdown,” he says.

Andrew Simms Newmarket and Botany dealer principal Matthew Wales says the business had really strong enquiry during its alert level four campaigns and took a significant number of deposits subject to test drives, so the sales team were busy booking contactless test drives to secure these deals before September month end.

“The new environment of forward order that we all find ourselves in is interesting as the ships have kept arriving and we have hundreds of cars that have just arrived for preparation and delivery – so it is a very different experience than the last time we came out of level four, it is nice not starting from scratch,” Wales says.

“We have all our service team back and are focusing on vehicles that were already with us before lockdown and

internal work for the first couple of days with limited retail bookings and then retail ramped up – we were very heavily booked so went to nine-hour days and six-hour Saturdays to catch up,” he says.

Continental Car Services retail general manager Michael Doeg says it’s good to be back to the degree of business that alert level three allows in Auckland.

to page 34...

NEW PASSENGER GRID SEPTEMBERV 2021

Alfa

Rom

eo

Audi

BM

W

Ford

Hol

den

Hon

da

Hyu

ndai

Jeep

Kia

Lan

d R

over

Lexu

s

Maz

da

Mer

cedes

-Ben

z

Min

i

Mit

subis

hi

Nis

san

Peugeo

t

Pors

che

Skod

a

Ssan

gyo

ng

Subar

u

Suzu

ki

Toyo

ta

Volk

swag

en

Volv

o

Oth

er

Tota

l

21-JAN 11 151 191 369 48 364 586 62 1352 185 132 808 226 48 1002 320 71 56 130 91 233 719 1422 320 110 705 9712

20-JAN 23 145 237 510 534 413 592 90 964 132 76 674 272 107 588 467 88 61 145 70 291 596 1220 293 64 447 9099

% diff -52 4 -19 -28 -91 -12 -1 -31 40 40 74 20 -17 -55 70 -31 -19 -8 -10 30 -20 21 17 9 72 58 7

21-FEB 4 174 171 436 30 369 431 125 1056 113 85 733 167 95 1105 396 168 82 99 114 167 571 1058 327 63 571 8710

20-FEB 17 142 144 408 276 415 557 84 751 90 81 580 189 62 764 409 112 44 141 71 295 494 1093 288 47 357 7911

% diff -76 23 19 7 -89 -11 -23 49 41 26 5 26 -12 53 45 -3 50 86 -30 61 -43 16 -3 14 34 60 10

21-MAR 15 161 163 442 64 461 464 212 1054 135 90 786 201 83 1018 469 142 48 165 100 464 715 1106 536 70 949 10113

20-MAR 6 107 112 129 432 234 299 30 521 55 66 393 72 63 314 191 35 49 76 61 176 510 997 211 23 238 5400

% diff 150 50 46 243 -85 97 55 607 102 145 36 100 179 32 224 146 306 -2 117 64 164 40 11 154 204 299 87

21-APR 10 131 157 257 5 220 553 143 1090 128 81 618 163 73 1188 444 93 51 131 60 248 653 1260 371 67 630 8825

20-APR 0 3 15 14 50 39 74 0 169 1 0 35 4 4 27 21 13 1 4 5 24 102 51 22 0 29 707

% diff - 4267 947 1736 -90 464 647 - 545 - - 1666 3975 1725 4300 2014 615 - 3175 1100 933 540 2371 1586 - 2072 1148

21-MAY 12 206 184 295 0 383 480 160 1016 98 76 734 230 100 1183 497 99 74 176 51 362 772 1359 562 39 864 10011

20-MAY 6 107 112 129 432 234 299 30 521 55 66 393 72 63 314 191 35 49 76 61 176 510 997 211 23 238 5400

% diff 100 93 64 129 -100 64 61 433 95 78 15 87 219 59 277 160 183 51 132 -16 106 51 36 166 70 263 85

21-JUN 16 156 225 201 1 358 610 125 1019 211 87 679 266 77 1415 453 118 33 191 108 226 834 1285 536 42 1033 10305

20-JUN 14 168 159 154 510 293 576 70 708 97 93 561 209 65 478 498 70 39 123 97 2 240 955 334 47 853 7413

% diff 14 -7 42 31 -100 22 6 79 44 118 -6 21 27 18 196 -9 69 -15 55 11 11200 248 35 60 -11 21 39

21-JUL 16 156 225 201 1 358 610 125 1019 211 87 679 266 77 1415 453 118 33 191 108 226 834 1285 536 42 1033 10305

20-JUL 14 168 159 154 510 293 576 70 708 97 93 561 209 65 478 498 70 39 123 97 2 240 955 334 47 853 7413

% diff 14 -7 42 31 -100 22 6 79 44 118 -6 21 27 18 196 -9 69 -15 55 11 11200 248 35 60 -11 21 39

21-AUG 9 51 57 88 0 153 238 38 171 17 37 368 88 26 518 131 12 13 100 33 84 834 1285 536 42 1033 10305

20-AUG 12 142 129 288 158 309 490 51 735 97 66 552 178 81 435 231 81 32 131 60 210 240 955 334 47 853 7413

% diff -25 -64 -56 -69 -100 -50 -51 -25 -77 -82 -44 -33 -51 -68 19 -43 -85 -59 -24 -45 -60 248 35 60 -11 21 39

21-SEP 12 145 198 367 0 302 673 85 829 63 67 571 251 45 1921 266 225 58 180 83 273 727 1993 349 71 2122 11876

20-SEP 12 134 168 191 125 350 603 109 801 83 75 604 193 31 618 268 83 11 184 84 211 625 1217 339 53 563 7735

% diff 0 8 18 92 -100 -14 12 -22 3 -24 -11 -5 30 45 211 -1 171 427 -2 -1 29 16 64 3 34 277 54

YTD 21 100 1374 1549 2635 149 2962 5325 1057 8300 1056 745 6033 1841 761 10785 3417 1025 438 1414 718 2242 6198 11973 3603 555 8668 84159

YTD 20 111 1090 1178 2181 2930 2687 4005 600 5722 805 589 4373 1461 488 4229 2787 618 266 989 616 1639 4051 9230 2324 368 3615 58952

%diff -10 26 31 21 -95 10 33 76 45 31 26 38 26 56 155 23 66 65 43 17 37 53 30 55 51 140 43

34 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

COMPETITIVE FINANCE ON

NEW VEHICLES

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

YOUR SPECIALISTS IN STOCK FINANCEudc.co.nz | 0800 500 832

STATSTALK

NEW COMMERCIAL MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKESEP '21

SEP '20

MOVEMENT % CHANGE MARKET SHARE

FORD 1,503 803 87.2 32.4

TOYOTA 941 406 131.8 20.3

ISUZU 299 112 Up 4 167.0 6.4

MITSUBISHI 256 361 Down 1 -29.1 5.5

LDV 248 146 Up 1 69.9 5.3

NISSAN 205 227 Down 2 -9.7 4.4

MAZDA 173 206 Down 2 -16.0 3.7

GREAT WALL 136 52 Up 8 161.5 2.9

VOLKSWAGEN 106 79 Up 3 34.2 2.3

FUSO 92 81 Up 1 13.6 2.0

OTHER 685 694 -1.3 14.8

TOTAL 4,644 3167 46.6 100.0

NEW COMMERCIAL MODELS SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE MODELSEP '21

MAKE MODELSEP '20

FORD RANGER 1,408 FORD RANGER 663

TOYOTA HILUX 648 MITSUBISHI TRITON 360

TOYOTA HIACE 232 TOYOTA HILUX 265

ISUZU D-MAX 210 NISSAN NAVARA 227

NISSAN NAVARA 205 MAZDA BT-50 206

MITSUBISHI TRITON 196 FORD TRANSIT 140

MAZDA BT-50 173 TOYOTA HIACE 122

GREAT WALL GWM CANNON 133 HOLDEN COLORADO 96

FORD TRANSIT 92 FIAT DUCATO 95

LDV T60 81 SSANGYONG RHINO 58

LDV G10 77 LDV V80 56

SSANGYONG RHINO 61 GREAT WALL STEED 52

TOYOTA LANDCRUISER 61 VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK 50

MITSUBISHI EXPRESS 60 HYUNDAI ILOAD 48

RAM 1500 60 LDV T60 46

“All Auckland dealerships are open for contactless sales and service, with strict level three protocols in place and all staff that cannot work from home are now back on site, but again with level three protocols in place,” Doeg says.

“We did get some new and used vehicle enquiries in level four and all dealerships dealt with a backlog of

deliveries with a focus on following the strict contactless guidelines as set out for level three operations.

“Our workshops had good forward bookings including a number of jobs to complete from prior to lockdown, while new bookings continue to be steady and build up,” he says.

...from page 33

NEW PASSENGER MODELS SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE MODELSEP '21

MAKE MODELSEP '20

TESLA MODEL 3 1,066 TOYOTA RAV4 464

MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 963 SUZUKI SWIFT 290

TOYOTA COROLLA 744 KIA SPORTAGE 285

TOYOTA RAV4 575 TOYOTA COROLLA 283

MITSUBISHI ASX 473 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER 262

MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE CROSS 427 MAZDA CX-5 242

MG ZS 328 HYUNDAI TUCSAN 232

MAZDA CX-5 297 KIA SELTOS 229

KIA SPORTAGE 266 MITSUBISHI ASX 227

HYUNDAI KONA 242 NISSAN X-TRAIL 201

SUZUKI VITARA 232 TOYOTA YARIS 182

FORD EVEREST 215 HYUNDAI KONA 150

HAVAL JOLION 210 HONDA CRV 148

TOYOTA HIGHLANDER 194 SUZUKI VITARA 143

KIA STONIC 191 TESLA MODEL 3 139

NEW PASSENGER MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKESEP'21

SEP'20

MOVEMENT % CHANGE MARKET SHARE

TOYOTA 1,993 1217 63.8 16.8

MITSUBISHI 1,921 618 UP 2 210.8 16.2

TESLA 1,066 158 Up 12 574.7 9.0

KIA 829 801 Down 2 3.5 7.0

SUZUKI 727 625 Down 2 16.3 6.1

HYUNDAI 673 603 11.6 5.7

MAZDA 571 604 Down 2 -5.5 4.8

MG 454 - 3.8

HAVAL 389 103 Up 11 277.7 3.3

FORD 367 191 Up 2 92.1 3.1

VOLKSWAGEN 349 339 Down 3 2.9 2.9

HONDA 302 350 Down 5 -13.7 2.5

SUBARU 273 211 Down 3 29.4 2.3

NISSAN 266 268 Down 5 -0.7 2.2

MERCEDES-BENZ 251 193 Down 4 30.1 2.1

PEUGEOT 225 83 Up 7 171.1 1.9

BMW 198 168 Down 3 17.9 1.7

SKODA 180 184 Down 5 -2.2 1.5

AUDI 145 134 Down 2 8.2 1.2

JEEP 85 109 Down 1 -22.0 0.7

OTHER 612 776 -21.1 5.2

TOTAL 11,876 7,735 53.5 100.0

35OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

STATSTALK

SALE 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 2021

Public to Trader

198 2177 1043 212 581 129 59 460 174 141 715 125 1105 174 121 31 1 2052 89 7 531 290 10415

Public to Public

1587 7042 3305 579 2036 908 406 1436 955 587 1635 517 3025 987 414 164 32 4860 505 125 1888 1151 34144

Trader to Public

366 2179 1132 216 672 301 138 588 300 222 696 211 1399 299 160 63 10 1923 179 33 650 420 12157

CARS 2020

Public to Trader

263 5684 1397 99 752 105 55 455 262 117 736 131 1205 219 121 44 1 2213 123 6 552 262 14802

Public to Public

2317 14723 4192 563 2629 886 448 1546 1131 541 1918 502 3339 1120 412 207 73 5252 706 192 2009 1041 45747

Trader to Public

701 6439 1841 266 1160 353 195 733 506 250 981 234 1932 375 203 81 29 2627 281 79 893 371 20530

CARS % CHANGE

Public to Trader

-24.7 -61.7 -25.3 114.1 -22.7 22.9 7.3 1.1 -33.6 20.5 -2.9 -4.6 -8.3 -20.5 0.0 -29.5 0.0 -7.3 -27.6 16.7 -3.8 10.7 -29.6

Public to Public

-31.5 -52.2 -21.2 2.8 -22.6 2.5 -9.4 -7.1 -15.6 8.5 -14.8 3.0 -9.4 -11.9 0.5 -20.8 -56.2 -7.5 -28.5 -34.9 -6.0 10.6 -25.4

Trader to Public

-47.8 -66.2 -38.5 -18.8 -42.1 -14.7 -29.2 -19.8 -40.7 -11.2 -29.1 -9.8 -27.6 -20.3 -21.2 -22.2 -65.5 -26.8 -36.3 -58.2 -27.2 13.2 -40.8

MOTORCYCLES 2021

Public to Trader

3 40 40 1 20 8 6 5 4 15 4 52 9 43 3 15 4 272

Public to Public

80 457 187 40 91 49 17 84 58 35 126 30 178 78 40 8 2 309 33 4 88 45 2039

Trader to Public

10 60 46 8 27 14 2 16 12 7 15 8 47 7 6 2 45 8 1 23 13 377

MOTORCYCLES 2020

Public to Trader

4 113 62 30 2 6 8 8 17 4 58 10 1 47 20 13 403

Public to Public

99 703 192 27 181 50 22 87 72 36 87 27 175 81 43 15 2 311 39 12 84 39 2384

Trader to Public

16 114 58 15 38 12 2 28 17 3 23 4 55 19 5 51 11 2 31 14 518

MOTORCYCLES % CHANGE

Public to Trader

-25.0 -64.6 -35.5 - -33.3 300.0 - 0.0 -37.5 -50.0 -11.8 0.0 -10.3 -10.0 -100.0 - - -8.5 - - -25.0 -69.2 -32.5

Public to Public

-19.2 -35.0 -2.6 48.1 -49.7 -2.0 -22.7 -3.4 -19.4 -2.8 44.8 11.1 1.7 -3.7 -7.0 -46.7 0.0 -0.6 -15.4 -66.7 4.8 15.4 -14.5

Trader to Public

-37.5 -47.4 -20.7 -46.7 -28.9 16.7 0.0 -42.9 -29.4 133.3 -34.8 100.0 -14.5 -63.2 20.0 - - -11.8 -27.3 -50.0 -25.8 -7.1 -27.2

TRUCKS 2021

Public to Trader

63 552 283 49 113 51 35 140 36 43 207 54 167 84 37 4 410 30 1 121 119 2599

Public to Public

355 973 647 143 381 180 104 347 208 155 358 135 473 253 100 50 5 909 220 25 405 275 6701

Trader to Public

119 448 307 62 195 93 74 168 69 64 198 73 217 91 58 20 5 431 57 16 191 118 3074

TRUCKS 2020

Public to Trader

70 1076 239 24 122 37 26 140 46 25 190 35 138 77 31 6 304 22 4 100 80 2792

Public to Public

495 2096 785 139 497 175 125 309 244 118 436 115 504 219 68 50 17 885 145 34 398 232 8086

Trader to Public

259 1149 412 85 272 83 68 191 113 64 231 88 280 170 46 25 6 462 62 16 205 136 4423

TRUCKS % CHANGE

Public to Trader

-10.0 -48.7 18.4 104.2 -7.4 37.8 34.6 0.0 -21.7 72.0 8.9 54.3 21.0 9.1 19.4 -33.3 - 34.9 36.4 -75.0 21.0 48.8 -6.9

Public to Public

-28.3 -53.6 -17.6 2.9 -23.3 2.9 -16.8 12.3 -14.8 31.4 -17.9 17.4 -6.2 15.5 47.1 0.0 -70.6 2.7 51.7 -26.5 1.8 18.5 -17.1

Trader to Public

-54.1 -61.0 -25.5 -27.1 -28.3 12.0 8.8 -12.0 -38.9 0.0 -14.3 -17.0 -22.5 -46.5 26.1 -20.0 -16.7 -6.7 -8.1 0.0 -6.8 -13.2 -30.5

SECONDHAND SUFFERS MARKET’S BIG HIT

Though the new and used import markets showed surprising resilience in COVID-restricted September, the secondhand market took a big hit.

Dealer sales to the public of passenger cars for the month were down 40.8% to 14,802 units, while dealer purchases were down 29.6% to 10,415. Public transactions fell a quarter to 34,144.

In bikes, dealer sales were down 27.2% to 377 units, while purchases fell 32.5% to 272. Public transactions were down 14.5% to 2039.

In trucks, dealer transactions to the public were down 30.5% to 3074, while purchases fared better at 2599, down 6.9%.

36 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

STATSTALK

NEW BIKE MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKESEP '21

YTD '21

SEP '20

% CHANGE

MARKET SHARE

SUZUKI 197 155 1325 27.1 20.0

HONDA 104 93 658 11.8 10.5

KTM 91 90 620 1.1 9.2

KAWASAKI 79 45 388 75.6 8.0

YAMAHA 77 112 677 -31.3 7.8

ROYAL ENFIELD 70 33 386 112.1 7.1

HARLEY DAVIDSON 65 84 469 -22.6 6.6

DUCATI 37 30 227 23.3 3.7

INDIAN 34 18 199 88.9 3.4

FACTORY BUILT 27 8 156 237.5 2.7

TRIUMPH 23 42 377 -45.2 2.3

BMW 21 29 176 -27.6 2.1

FORZA 18 22 163 -18.2 1.8

TNT MOTOR 18 33 201 -45.5 1.8

VESPA 16 29 197 -44.8 1.6

BENELLI 11 6 104 83.3 1.1

ZNEN 9 10 112 -10.0 0.9

SYM 8 5 39 60.0 0.8

OTHER 82 97 795 -15.5 8.3

TOTAL 987 941 7269 4.9 100.0

OTHER 22 580 53 -58.5 4.8

TOTAL 458 6282 715 -35.9 100.0

NEW BIKE MODELS SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE MODEL SEPTEMBER '21

SUZUKI GN125H 55

SUZUKI DR650SE 38

HONDA C 110X 23

SUZUKI GSX1300RRQ HAYABUSA 23

KAWASAKI EX 400GMFNN 18

ROYAL ENFIELD CLASSIC 17

ROYAL ENFIELD HIMALAYAN 17

ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR 650 17

HONDA GLC 150SH 16

KAWASAKI KL 650N 16

USED BIKE MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MAKE SEP '21 SEP '20%

CHANGEMARKET SHARE

HARLEY DAVIDSON 61 66 -7.6 39.6

TRIUMPH 15 23 -34.8 9.7

YAMAHA 14 9 55.6 9.1

HONDA 13 11 18.2 8.4

DUCATI 11 19 -42.1 7.1

BMW 8 10 -20.0 5.2

KTM 6 6 0.0 3.9

MOTO GUZZI 6 3 100.0 3.9

SUZUKI 4 5 -20.0 2.6

BUELL 3 3 0.0 1.9

OTHER 13 18 -27.8 8.4

TOTAL 154 173 -11.0 100.0

SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES REFLECTED IN NEW BIKE SALES

Suzuki New Zealand motorcycle marketing general manager Simon Meade says the demand for

new road bikes is still strong thanks to internal tourism and a strong discretionary spend but monthly sales reflect which distributor has stock available.

“It’s certainly not a normal year, and all distributors are dealing with inconsistent stock arrivals and much longer transit times which is beyond our control,” he says.

He says the September sales figures for new motorcycles also reflect distributor marketing promotions and activity to move stock on before the implementation of the ABS rule which comes into force on November 1.

“The sales you see recorded are accumulative and are based on arrivals. We have a record number of forward orders in the system, but we can only deliver the stock we receive through the supply chain which is struggling with multiple issues.”

Meade says much like the automotive

industry, New Zealand motorcycle and scooter distributors have also been affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global supply chain.

They’re weathering “a perfect storm” of delayed production caused by a lack of semi-conductors and wiring looms, matched by a shortage of shipping containers.

He says freight prices have jumped more than four-fold, and there are much

longer transit times across the whole supply chain.

“We’re still awaiting some February production from one particular overseas factory that is yet to arrive,” Meade says.

“Shipping containers from Japan to New Zealand used to take up to four weeks, now it’s more like six to 12 weeks.”

37OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

STATSTALK

NEW TRUCK MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MARQUESEPT '21

SEPT '20

% CHANGE

MARKET SHARE

YTD '21

YTD '20

FUSO 92 81 13.6 16.5 659 459

ISUZU 89 82 8.5 16.0 680 751

HINO 83 53 56.6 14.9 547 397

SCANIA 48 39 23.1 8.6 336 266

IVECO 38 29 31.0 6.8 253 219

MERCEDES-BENZ 34 46 -26.1 6.1 253 268

DAF 29 20 45.0 5.2 130 123

FIAT 24 39 -38.5 4.3 305 222

KENWORTH 18 17 5.9 3.2 169 132

VOLKSWAGEN 16 2 700.0 2.9 129 36

OTHER 85 79 7.6 15.3 850 740

TOTAL 556 487 14.2 100.0 4311 3613

USED TRUCK MAKES SEPTEMBER 2021

MARQUESEPT '21

SEPT '20

% CHANGE

MARKET SHARE

YTD '21

YTD '20

HINO 43 36 19.4 25.7 362 233

ISUZU 35 61 -42.6 21.0 366 307

TOYOTA 34 65 -47.7 20.4 415 316

MITSUBISHI 20 23 -13.0 12.0 212 130

NISSAN 10 12 -16.7 6.0 132 95

MAZDA 4 5 -20.0 2.4 43 43

FUSO 6 1 500.0 3.6 13 8

FORD 2 2 0.0 1.2 40 17

GMC 2 - 1.2 6

KENWORTH 2 2 0.0 1.2 16 13

OTHER 9 12 -25.0 5.4 162 186

TOTAL 167 219 -23.7 100.0 1767 1348

Registrations of new trucks bounced back in September while used truck registrations

took a dive.

Total registrations of new trucks and buses over 3500kg GVM sits at 556 units for the month, up 14.2% compared to the same period a year prior which saw 487 registrations of new commercials.

Total registrations of used trucks and buses over 3500kg GVM sit at 167 units for the month, down 23.7% compared to the same period in 2020 when 219 were registered.

Fuso is market leader for new commercials in September with 92 registered and a 16.5% market share. This is up 13.6% compared to the same period the year before which saw 81 units registered.

Isuzu is in second spot for the month, up 8.5% year-on-year with 89 units registered and a 16% market share.

Hino is third, up 56.6% with 83 units registered and a 14.9% market share.

Scania follows, up 23.1% with 48 units registered; Iveco up 31% (38); Mercedes-Benz down 26.1% (34), DAF up 45% (29), Fiat down 38.5% (24), Kenworth up 5.9% (18) and Volkswagen up 700% (16).

Hino is market leader in used commercials for the month with 43 units registered and a 25.7% market share. This is up 19.4% compared to the

same period a year prior which saw 36 Hinos registered.

Isuzu is in second spot for used commercials, down 42.6% with 35 units registered and a 21% market share.

Toyota is third, down 47.7% with 34 units registered and a 20.4% market

share.

Mitsubishi follows, down 13% with 20 units registered; Nissan down 16.7% (10), Mazda down 20% (4), Fuso up 500% (6), Ford (2), GMC (2), and Kenworth (2).

TRUCK REGISTRATIONS A MIXED BAG IN SEPTEMBER

38 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

to page 39...

LESSONS FROM FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPLAINTS

Financial Services Complaints Limited, an independent adjudicator of issues around

finance and insurance contracts, has issued more case studies dealers can learn from.

For more about FSCL, visit www.fscl.org.nz.

DISABILITY ALLOWANCE WRONGLY INCLUDED AS INCOME

In 2019 Sean, a sole parent of three children, borrowed $12,000 to buy a car.

The lender approved the loan, but Sean defaulted almost immediately on a payment.

Payments were irregular until 2020 when Sean went to a financial mentor for help.

The mentor got the payments on track, but Sean’s budget was still in deficit.

The mentor began to question whether the loan was affordable and asked the lender for their affordability assessment.

The lender provided the information and the financial mentor concluded that the lender had made a mistake.

The lender maintained it had assessed Sean’s application correctly, so the financial mentor complained to FSCL.

The lender said Sean’s weekly budget was about $100 in credit and, from its perspective, he could afford to repay the loan, and the lender had met its responsible lending obligations.

However, when the financial mentor looked at the lender’s calculations, it considered the lender had overestimated Sean’s income and underestimated his expenses.

The lender had included disability allowances for Sean and his son, inflating his income by about $150 a week, and underestimated the amount needed to feed Sean and his family by about $50 a week.

That meant Sean’s budget was in deficit by about $100 a week.

“When we looked at the information, it seemed to us that if the lender wanted to include the disability allowances in Sean’s income, the corresponding expenses should also be taken into consideration,” the FSCL said in its

review of the dispute.

“By including the disability allowance, without the expenses it was designed to cover, the lender appeared to have inflated Sean’s income.

“We were also concerned that the lender appeared to have underestimated the food allowance in the budget.

“Looking at the Statistics New Zealand Home Economic Survey data it seemed to us that the $170 allowed by the lender for Sean and his three children’s food and living costs was too low, and the $220 allowed by the financial mentor was more realistic.

“We asked the lender whether they would like to reconsider their position.”

Although the lender agreed to review the way it treats disability allowances when assessing income, it didn’t accept it had made a mistake when assessing the food allowance.

“Although the lender didn’t accept that their lending was irresponsible in terms of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, they were prepared to review their position and agreed to refund all the fees and interest that had accrued on the loan.

“Once the fees and interest were refunded to the loan balance, Sean had completely repaid the car loan and had a credit balance of $3000 in his account. The lender agreed to refund to

Sean $3000.”

In its insights for participants, the FSCL said it was pleased to see the lender taking a pragmatic approach to the complaint. “In our view, the lender likely breached their responsible lending obligations and made the wise decision to settle the complaint without the need for us to issue a formal decision.”

UNDERESTIMATED FOOD COSTS LEAD TO REFUND

In another case, Sarah, a sole parent of three young children, borrowed $12,550 to buy a car in 2019 and agreed to repay $120 a week.

She was struggling financially and in early 2021 went to a financial mentor for help.

The mentor assessed Sarah’s financial situation and was concerned that her weekly budget was about $100 in deficit.

The mentor wondered how the lender could have assessed Sarah’s 2019 loan application as affordable and asked for information about the loan application.

The lender replied that the lending was affordable because, according to its calculation Sarah’s weekly income and expenses, including the car loan and car-related costs, were exactly the same amount.

The lender noted that over the last two years Sarah had only missed one loan

DISPUTES

39OCTOBER 2021 New Zealand

www.mta.org.nz

TRADE DIRECTORYThe comprehensive guide to every service a dealer could use

FINANCE & INSURANCE

PROVIDENT INSURANCE0800 676 864 | info@providentinsurance.co.nzContact: Steve Owens, Chief Executive OfficerHelping dealers “Make Profits Grow”. Specialist F&I training, support and products to retail motor vehicle traders.

UDC FINANCE 0800 500 832 | www.udc.co.nz

INFORMATION SERVICE PROVIDER

IT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

VTNZ 0800 88 88 69 | Sales@vtnz.co.nz

SYSTIMENZ +649 5832424 | AU 1800 221 654info@systime.co.nzAutoline – Dealer Management & Distributor Manufacturer Systems – The Most Globally used DMSFind out more at: bit.ly/2PkTPXy

ORIONNZ +649 5832455 | AU 1800 875149sales@sam.co.nzMid-range Dealer Management System installed in 500 business operations. Sales Workshop, Parts, Fleet, Rental, CRMFind out more at: bit.ly/3foMGA2

SAMNZ +649 5832455 | AU 1800 875149sales@sam.co.nzThe ultimate specialist Workshop Management System suite. Range of options to suit.Find out more at: https://hubs.ly/H0tcw9r0

repayment and had caught up quickly.

It said that if Sarah was struggling financially, it would have expected to see a poor payment history.

From the lender’s perspective, Sarah was an excellent client and could afford to repay the loan without suffering substantial hardship.

The financial mentor didn’t accept the lender’s calculation of Sarah’s expenses and complained to FSCL.

The mentor said the lender hadn’t met its responsible lending obligations because it had underestimated Sarah’s living costs.

The financial mentor explained that Sarah had only managed to make her loan repayments by sacrificing other expenses.

She had prioritised the loan repayments because she was afraid the lender would repossess her car, meaning that she couldn’t take her children to school or the doctor.

To pay the loan, Sarah had borrowed money from family and friends to feed and clothe her children.

The lender was satisfied that it had a robust loan assessment process and would never lend money to someone who couldn’t afford it.

“We reviewed the affordability assessment presented by the lender and the financial mentor and saw that the biggest discrepancy in the budget was the amount allowed for food each week,” the FSCL says. “The financial mentor had allowed $220 for food and

the lender had allowed $170.

“We asked both parties to explain the basis for their calculation. The financial mentor said that her calculation was based on the Statistics New Zealand Home Economics Survey and the Otago University School of Nutrition’s calculation.”

The lender said it doesn’t accept that the Otago University School of Nutrition’s calculation is reliable because it doesn’t consider the needs of different demographics and locations. The lender said its calculation is based on the Statistics New Zealand Home Economics Survey, because this survey takes into consideration regional differences and different income bands.

“The lender advised that the Home Economics Survey for an adult with three children, living in Sarah’s region, with the same income as Sarah would spend $260 a week on food,” FSCL says.

“The lender then explained that they discounted the $260 by 65% to reflect the fact that Sarah earns 65% of the average income, and calculated Sarah’s food allowance as $170 a week.”

The FSCL says its view is that the Statistics New Zealand data had already taken that into consideration and that the lender had made a mistake when it applied the further 65% discount.

“Using the undiscounted amount from the Statistics New Zealand data, Sarah could be expected to pay $260 a week on food, more than both her financial mentor and the lender calculated.

“It was our view that the lender had made a mistake when calculating Sarah’s affordability and had breached their responsible lending obligations in section 9C(3)(a) of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 (CCCFA) by failing to satisfy themselves that Sarah could repay the loan without suffering substantial hardship.

“The remedy for this breach, as set out at section 89(1)(aaa) of the CCCFA, was for the lender to refund all the interest and charges added to the loan.

"We recommended, and Sarah accepted, a refund of all the interest and fees charged on the loan which was about $6500.

“Once the interest and fees were refunded, Sarah’s outstanding loan balance was completely repaid, and she received a refund of about $500.”

The FSCL says that when a lender is relying on a ‘”benchmark”’ amount to assess living costs, rather than the actual costs, the amount must be based on reliable data and calculated accurately.

“If a lender makes a mistake in calculating either income or expenses, it may lead to a breach of the CCCFA.

“Where it’s found that the lender failed to satisfy itself that the borrower can afford to repay the loan without suffering substantial hardship, the law requires a refund of all the interest and fees the lender has charged over the life of the loan.”

...from page 38

DISPUTES

40 OCTOBER 2021New Zealand

TAKE CHARGE OF

YOUR CAREER!TAKE CHARGE OF

YOUR CAREER!

OVER $190,000 AVAILABLE

ACROSS 12 CATEGORIES!OVER $190,000 AVAILABLE

ACROSS 12 CATEGORIES!

Visit mito.nz/scholarships for more information and to apply.

Apply for a 2022 MITO scholarship