Car sales

Broken-down reporting method inflates sales figures – industry ‘fooling’ itself

March 26, 2015 by Alastair Sloane

New Zealanders didn’t buy a record number of new cars in 2014 after all – because around 25,000 of the 127,000 new vehicles registered were never actually sold. They were pre-registrations, logged with the NZ Transport Agency by distributors and their dealers as “sold” in order to meet internal sales targets and qualify for generous factory bonuses, say senior motoring industry … [Read more...] about Broken-down reporting method inflates sales figures – industry ‘fooling’ itself

Booming sales of new vehicles – but who’s actually buying them?

March 8, 2015 by Alastair Sloane

Sales of new vehicles for the first two months of 2015 were up 10 per cent on the same period last year, a reflection of the strong New Zealand economy, say motoring observers. It was the strongest February on record for light commercial sales, and the strongest February since 1989 for new passenger vehicles. Some would say the motoring industry is heading for another boomer … [Read more...] about Booming sales of new vehicles – but who’s actually buying them?

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If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.

Broken-down reporting method inflates sales figures – industry ‘fooling’ itself

Booming sales of new vehicles – but who’s actually buying them?

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Electric G-Wagen takes you for spin

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