It comes as no surprise that new vehicle registrations for April would be down as dealerships only had three days to sell products due to Alert Level 4 lockdown.

Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive David Crawford said, as expected, April 2020 registrations are down 90 per cent, with 1039 new vehicles registered compared to April 2019 and its 10,640 registrations.

“The month of April was closed for business other than for the supply of essential vehicles and three business days at the end of the month for contactless sales,” said Crawford.

“That Distributors were able to sell as many as they did was testament to their determination to partially re-open for business while maintaining strict health and safety processes.”

Year to date the market is down almost 32 per cent (15,676 units) in the same period in 2019.

Commercial vehicle registrations were down 91.4 per cent compared to April 2019.

The top models for the month of April were the Kia Seltos (95 units), followed by the Toyota Hilux (59 units) and the Holden Colorado in third place (38 units).

There were 15 EVs, 1 PHEV and 27 hybrids sold in the month of April.

For the month of April, Kia was the overall market leader with 16 per cent market share (169 units), followed by Toyota with 13 per cent (132 units) and the Suzuki in third spot with 10 per cent market share (102 units).

The MIA has called on the Government to kick-start the new vehicle sector by fast tracking a number of policies.

It says the Government should accelerate the uptake of plug-in vehicles across its fleet.

The MIA wants the Government to increase departmental votes (budgets) to permit departments to increase their uprate of EVs and PHEVs.

“Prior to the pandemic, the MIA supported in principle the adoption of a feebate scheme. However, given the degree of fiscal impact the pandemic is causing, we believe this policy needs immediate review. It is our view the Government should defer the introduction of a feebate scheme and instead provide incentives for fuel efficient vehicles, to be reviewed in 2023,” says the MIA.

The organisation also wants vehicle scrappage to be introduced in New Zealand.

“We all know we have an old fleet with numerous polluting and unsafe cars roaming our roads. We believe it is time for the Government to provide financial incentives to remove the vehicles, which are older than 20 years of age and/or where their exhaust emissions standards are the equivalent of Euro three or less. This would also be in line with the new road safety strategy and the Government’s climate change objectives”.

All distributors have introduced non-contact sales in dealerships in Alert Level 3.