Automotive industry in New Zealand

Parts of this article (those related to reasonarticle makes reference to Holden being a major seller even though it has not sold cars in NZ since 2020) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2022)

The automotive industry in New Zealand supplies a market which has always had one of the world's highest car ownership ratios. The distributors of new cars are essentially the former owners of the assembly businesses. At the dealership level they have maintained their old retail chains in spite of the establishment of the many new independent businesses built since the 1980s by specialists in used imports from Japan. Toyota entered into direct competition with those used-import businesses refurbishing old Toyotas from Japan and selling them through their own dealers as a special line. The nation's car fleet is accordingly somewhat older than in most developed countries.

New Zealand no longer assembles passenger cars. Assembly plants closed after tariff protection was removed and distributors found it cheaper to import cars fully assembled. Cars had been assembled at a rate nearing 100,000 a year in 1983, but with the country's economic difficulties their numbers dropped sharply. Towards the end of the decade the removal of various restrictions as part of the nation's restructuring of its economy made available low-priced old used cars from Japan. These used cars met the local need for high ownership levels in a financially straitened world but since that time continue to arrive in such large numbers they substantially increase the average age of the nation's fleet.

Toyota and Ford dominate the new vehicle market but there were more new Mazda cars than Holden cars sold in 2018 while Ford and Nissan cars were no longer among the volume sellers. They were overtaken by Hyundai, Kia and Suzuki. Holden cars are sliding towards Ford sales levels in 2019.^[1] The tiny home market—the size of a large city — and distance from potential export customers combined with first-world pay rates against the formation of any significant indigenous manufacturers. Only small boutique kit and replica car firms were able to survive. They produce original kit and replica cars using locally-made car bodies and imported componentry for both the local and international markets. Several of these, while small in size, are noted internationally for the quality of their workmanship.