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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 in the 1980s at a rate of more than 100,000 a year but their numbers dropped sharply when the removal of various restrictions made available low-priced if old used cars from Japan. Toyota, Ford, and General Motors Holden division still dominate the new car market. These major companies and the legislation in turn worked 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 local-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.

First automobiles
The industry began with the importation in 1898 of two Benz cars from Paris by William McLean. Apart from a few attempts to create locally made cars in the 1900s (decade) most were imported and a local assembly industry got under way in the 1920s.

McLean's motor cars arrived in Wellington from Sydney by the SS Rotomahana on 19 February 1898. They were a Benz Petrolette and a Benz Lightning. After McLean's Benz cars were imported it was almost two years before the next four-wheel car was imported. A three-wheeler arrived in Auckland in November 1898 for Messrs George Henning and WM Service. At least three three-wheelers were imported in 1899: a De Dion for Acton Adams of Christchurch, Aucklander Arthur Marychurch's 4-wheeled Star sold after a few weeks to Skeates and Bockaert who took up the agency and sold it  to Christchurch grocers, Wardell Bros, and a third for Robert and Frederick Maunsell of Masterton, sons of the missionary. All three arrived in September 1899, with Acton Adams's vehicle being involved in New Zealand's first motor vehicle accident two months later.

The three motor-tricycles were followed in 1900 by a Darracq and a Locomobile steam car along with a Pope-Toledo, Eagle, Argyll, Oldsmobile, and Daimler. In 1903, 153 cars and motorbikes were imported. By 1925 imports had increased to over 20,000 cars a year. Cars in 1903 cost more than twice the average annual income meaning the market was limited to the wealthy. Petrol was not readily available and in some instances owners had to order it from Sydney, Australia.

Early indigenous cars
If steam-powered vehicles are counted, the first vehicles were believed to be a steam buggy constructed by a Mr Empson of Christchurch in 1870 and a steam buggy imported from Edinburgh by J L Gillies of Dunedin, also in 1870. The first traction engine, an 8 hp Reading Iron Works Limited traction engine, had only been imported three years earlier. Gillies steam buggy was more probably a Thomson Road Steamer and not a steam buggy. Gillies sold the Thomson to the Canterbury Provincial Government in 1871 for ₤1,200. These were followed by Professor Robert Julian Scott's 1881 steam buggy.

There is debate about who made the first petrol driven vehicle. Timaru engineer Cecil Wood made a petrol engine in 1897, but later made an unsubstantiated claim to have created and driven a three-wheel vehicle in 1896 followed by a four-wheel vehicle in 1898. His first independently confirmed vehicles date from 1901.

On 3 May 1898 a Nelson newspaper reported that a Mr Sewell of the Upper Buller had constructed a motor car and was to drive it to Wakefield that week. A letter to the Evening Post's editor later that year stated that there were two engineering firms in Wellington constructing motor car engines. Whether Wood, Sewell, or the engineering firms made a roadworthy vehicle at this time is not known as there were no further articles about them.

The first New Zealand designed and constructed automobile known to have run was made by Frederick Dennison. It was a motor tricycle reported in the local newspaper on 8 May 1900. The article stated that Dennison intended to convert the tricycle to a four-wheel motor-car. He did so and drove it from Christchurch to Oamaru in July 1900. It was the only one made and was destroyed by fire on its return journey. A replica of this car was completed and driven in June 2000 in celebration of its first journey.

This was followed by several models constructed by Wood between 1901 and 1903, A W Reid of Stratford's steam cars from 1903 to 1906, Gary Methven of Dunedin's petrol driven car, Pat and Thomas Lindsay of Timaru's steam cars in 1903, and Topliss Brothers of Christchurch's car in 1904. A Blenheim engineer, John Birch, constructed the Marlborough in 1912 and several cars named Carlton's between 1922 and 1928 at Gisborne. One of these is still in existence with the Gisborne vintage car club.

Impact of legislation
Government legislation has always had a major impact on the New Zealand industry. The first automobile legislation was the McLean Motor Car Act 1898 rushed through by McLean just before his cars were unloaded. It legalised the operation of motor vehicles, providing they were lit after dark, and did not go faster than 20 kilometres (12 miles) per hour. The Motor Cars Regulation Act 1902 followed.

A tariff (import tax) applied to cars and car parts brought into New Zealand, although with McLean's cars there was some initial confusion as to what rate might apply. In 1906 local coachmakers sought an increase in the tariff to 50% for completely built up vehicles. In 1907 a 20% tariff (import tax) was charged on cars that arrived in New Zealand already assembled, to protect local coachbuilders and car assemblers. There were also higher duties imposed on imports from countries outside the British Empire. During the First World War the tariff was reduced to 10%. Until the establishment of the car assembly industry in 1924 cars were imported fully assembled or as a complete rolling chassis. Import statistics of the time provide different quantities for bodies and more numerous chassis and no mention of complete cars.

During the 1920s the most common vehicles were U.S. brands made in Canada (to attract reduced Imperial Preference duties) or American. For example, in the first nine months of 1927, out of 8,888 cars sold the five top-selling brands, 4612 cars, were all North American. The Government introduced preferential duties (British 5% for unassembled and 15% for assembled and all others 50% for unassembled and 60% for assembled) and then, in 1938, import licensing under the Import Control Regulations 1938 which also favoured the much more expensive and delicate British cars. British cars still numbering more than half of all new cars. Australian brands accounted for another third. The Government intervention was designed to protect the New Zealand car assembly and related industries and to reduce the effect of vehicle purchases on the country's balance of payments overseas. One of the outcomes of import licensing was to make relatively new second hand vehicles more expensive than new ones.

New Zealand’s car assembly industry grew largely as a result of protectionism. By the 1980s when the number of assembly plants reached its high of 16 following the relaxation of restrictions on importing ckd packs the Government recognised that it was cheaper and more efficient for cars to be assembled in the country where they were made. Australian cars were already duty-free under the Closer Economic Relations agreement and now their manufacturing as well as assembly industry follows the same path 30 years later.

The Motor Vehicle Industry Development Plan was put into effect in 1984. It began by opening import competition, though spreading that over the four years to 1988, and by mid-1988 only seven of the sixteen separate assembly plants remained in business. The Government announced in December 1987 following a review of the plan that all import controls would be removed from 1 January 1989. At the same time a programme for reduction of tariffs on vehicles and their components was announced.

As tariffs on imported cars were phased out a flood of second-hand Japanese imports led to the demise of local assembly plants. Imports had risen from less than 3,000 in 1985 to 85,000 in 1990. By 2004 over 150,000 vehicles were imported in one year. Second-hand Japanese cars made up the majority of these cars. The last tariffs were removed in 1998.

Assembly plants
New Zealand's car assembly industry has its roots in pre-car trades. In the early 20th century, coachbuilders and wheelwrights quickly moved into building bodies for imported motor vehicle chassis. In 1926 after the announcement that General Motors would begin local assembly a deputation of members of the New Zealand Coach and Motor Body Builders' Federation waited on the Prime Minister asking for greater protection because they said American manufacturers were dumping cars in New Zealand and flooding the market. The Prime Minister deferred any decision until he had heard from other interested parties. . The local managing director of General Motors responded that the failure of chassis imports to grow was "entirely due to public preference and price".

From the 1920s to the 1940s American makes mostly sourced in Canada for Imperial Preference tariffs dominated the local assembly industry. Postwar supply was restricted by a dollar shortage then balance of payments difficulties and British later combined with Australian makes dominated. In the late 1960s assembly of Japanese vehicles began to supplant the British vehicles and by the end of the 1990s British vehicles had virtually disappeared.

1922 Colonial Motor Company
Rouse and Hurrell, coachbuilders and wheelwrights of Courtenay Place Wellington, took up a Ford Motor Company agency in 1908. In 1911 their business was transferred to a newly incorporated Colonial Motor Company Limited. CMC's first specialised car assembly plant was constructed in 1922 at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington – a steel box of nine floors, based on the Ford assembly works in Ontario, Canada. The building stood over 30 metres high and was Wellington’s tallest building at the time. The top two floors were used for administration. Assembly of cars from imported packs of parts started on level 7, and finished vehicles were driven out the ground floor. In the 1970s the assembly building was given a new facade inspired by a car radiator. Today it is separated from its Capital City Ford retail operation by the Wesleyan Methodist Church and a recent office building. In addition to Courtenay Place CMC built smaller assembly plants in Parnell, Auckland, and in Timaru.

1926 General Motors
In 1926, General Motors opened a plant in Petone, in the Hutt Valley. At first, it produced American Chevrolet, Pontiac and Buick cars, adding the Oldsmobile in 1928. Its first British Vauxhalls were built in 1931, along with Bedford trucks.

Australian Holdens were first introduced as assembled cars in 1954, but the first Holden from General Motors’ Petone plant, an FE Series, emerged in 1957. A large new plant at Trentham in the Hutt Valley was opened in 1967, where General Motors built such vehicles as the Australian Holden HQ series, Commodore, and UK Vauxhall Viva. By the early 1970s, more than 80% of New Zealand's new cars were supplied by General Motors, Ford, Todd Motors and New Zealand Motor Corporation. By 1988 the General Motors plant at Trentham had been reduced to a truck assembly operation, later to close altogether.

1935 Motor Assemblies Amuri Motors later Standard Triumph International
Christchurch. Dodge and Standard cars from CKD packs beginning with Dodge New Zealand's third assembly plant, the other two being in Wellington

1935 Todd Motors
Todd Motors developed out of a Ford agency held by their small Otago stock and station agency. They later distributed a number of American brands throughout New Zealand. One of them was Maxwell which was bought by Walter P. Chrysler and given his name. In 1935 having successfully introduced Russia sourced Europa brand petrol and oil to New Zealand the Todd brothers built a new building and created a small car assembly plant in Petone which gathered more facilities about it as sales rose. There, starting with Fargo trucks and Plymouth cars, Todds assembled Rootes Group's Hillman, Humber, Commer and Karrier brand vehicles and Chrysler Corporation's Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto Diplomats from Canada Britain (Chrysler Kew) and Belgium and from 1963 until 1979, Valiants from Chrysler Australia. In the 1970s Todd erected a large capacity expensive purpose-built plant named Todd Park at Porirua where in association with Mitsubishi it built Rootes/Chrysler's Hillman Hunter and Chrysler Alpine; and Mitsubishi's Mirage, Sigma, and Lancer vehicles. Todd Park began assembling vehicles in early 1974. In 1986 Todd sold Todd Park to Mitsubishi. It closed in 1998. The Todd Motor's factory in Petone assembled Renualts for a short time in the late 1960s. The main factory building was a Railway Workshop prior the building of the new Woburn workshops in the 1920s and 1930s. The Petone factory assembled the Mitsubishi Galant 1850 coupe at Petone in 1973 as a precursor to Porirua assembly. Mitsubishi Fuso trucks were also initially assembled at Petone. The Petone factory is now a Placemakers Building Supply outlet.

1935 Dominion Motors later New Zealand Motor Corporation
Morris cars were assembled by Dominion Motors, founded in 1912 by Charles Norwood. It built a factory in Auckland in 1935. Austin agent George H. Scott became the official Austin factory representative in 1919. He formed the Austin Distributor Federation (ADF) which assembled Austins. The New Zealand Motor Corporation, formed in 1970, was a merger of ADF and Dominion Motors, and built Jaguars, Triumphs, Rover and Land Rover products at its plant in Nelson, a former tobacco facility. Dominion Motors's factory in Newmarket, Auckland is now a shop of Farmers Department stores.

1936 Ford Motor Company
In 1936 Ford Motor Company of New Zealand took over assembly and distribution of its own vehicles, building a new factory at Seaview in Lower Hutt and leaving the principal retail operations with Colonial Motor Co.

1958 Motor Holdings
Motor Holdings developed from the New Zealand franchise of Jowett Motors. The New Zealand franchise imported and assembled Bradford trucks in Auckland. Following Jowett's demise in the UK in 1954, the New Zealand company gained the Volkswagen franchise and changed its name to VW Motors and by 1958 had built a new assembly plant at Fort Richard Rd in Otahuhu. By 1964 the parent company of Motor Holdings was formed, which controlled 15 smaller companies, including VW Motors and the new assembly company of Motor Industries International Ltd. During the 1960s and 1970s Motor Holdings assembled many different makes in addition to Volkswagen including Studebaker, Nash, Hudson, Peugeot 404, Datsun, Simca, Skoda, the Fiat Bambina, and the New Zealand-made Trekka. The company became European Motor Distributors (EMD) in 1978.

1964 Campbell Motor Industries
Campbell Motor Industries (CMI) assembled a variety of cars in their Thames factory. Originally an importer (Campbell's Wholesale Ltd.), their plant was finished in 1964. Cars from competing manufacturers were often assembled by Campbell's, such as Renault and Peugeot, Nissan and Toyota. New Zealand's first Toyota Corollas were assembled by CMI from 1968. The Hino Contessa was also built by them, as was the Isuzu Bellett and a number of American Motors vehicles such as the Rambler Classic, Rebel, Matador, and Jeep. Although the Rambler brand was officially dropped by AMC from 1968, the marque was continued in New Zealand, Australia and other export markets of AMC during the 1970s. Campbell Motors also assembled RHD Chevrolet Impalas until 1969, with bodies imported from Canada. CMI became part of Toyota New Zealand in 1975 which brought an end to production of AMC vehicles.

Japanese Cars
The first Japanese cars constructed in New Zealand were Nissans, then known as Datsuns. Datsun Bluebird P312s were built in Mount Wellington from March 1963. Until it built its own permanent plant in Wiri, south Auckland, in the late 1970s, Nissans were assembled all over New Zealand - by NZ Motor Bodies in Mt Wellington (early Bluebirds) Campbell Industries in Thames (1200 and 1600, 120Y, 180B), Motor Holdings, Waitara (1200 wagon, 120Y wagon), Todd Motors, Porirua (180B) a Nissan-owned 'temporary' plant in Mt Roskill, Auckland (1200, 120Y) and commercial vehicle plants in Glen Innes and Mangere.

Other Japanese manufacturers followed Nissan with Toyota Coronas (and later Crowns) being assembled by Steel Brothers Limited in Christchurch and Campbell's in Thames building the Corolla from the late 1960s. Steel Brothers Limited also assembled Lotus Sevens under licence. Campbell Industries Limited also assembled Hino Contessas, the Isuzu Bellett, and Toyota Corollas after their takeover of Hino.

New Zealand Motor Corporation first built Hondas in Petone in from 1976, adding Mt Wellington, Auckland, later and eventually consolidating at the former Jaguar/Triumph/Rover/Land Rover plant in Nelson. Todd Motors replaced its Petone plant in 1975 with a large new facility in Porirua to produce Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Talbot vehicles plus some Datsuns.

Mazda B-Series pickup trucks were first built by Steelbros (later Toyota) in 1969 and the first cars in 1972 were made by Motor Holdings in Otahuhu and, later Mount Wellington (taking over the Motor Bodies plant). Later Mazda assembly was shared with Ford in a joint assembly plant called Vehicle Assemblers NZ (VANZ), originally Ford's new Wiri plant opened in 1973.

Other makes
Prior to Campbell Motors in 1964, earlier Renaults like the Dauphine and R8 were assembled by Todd Motors under contract while the first NZ-built Peugeots were assembled at Motor Holdings in Otahuhu.

Studebakers were first built along with Nash and Hudson at the original Standard plant in Christchurch prior to being made at Motor Holdings.

Ladas were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of an import deal between Fontera's predecessor, the New Zealand Dairy Board and the Soviet Union but were never locally assembled.

In 2014 prominnent Auckland businessman Toa Greening proposed constructing Tango T600 electric microcars under licence as a means to reducing traffic congestion, particularly in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

Demise of the assembly plants
With the reduction and removal of tariffs through the 1980s and 1990s plus the importation of second hand Japanese cars, the major assembly plants began to close. New Zealand Motor Corporation which had closed its aging Newmarket plant in 1976 and Petone plant in 1982 closed their Panmure plant in 1988. General Motors closed its Petone plant in 1984 and its Trentham plant in 1990. 1987 saw a run of closures: Motor Industries International, Otahuhu, Ford Seaview, Motor Holdings Waitara. Suzuki in Wanganui closed 1988 and VANZ at Sylvia Park in 1991. Toyota Christchurch in 1996 and VANZ Wiri the next year. Finally in 1998 along with Mitsubishi Porirua, bought from Todd in 1987, Nissan shutdown at Wiri, Honda closed in Nelson and Toyota in Thames.

Second Hand Imports and Left Hand Drive vehicles
In the early 1990s, import regulations were relaxed and an influx of Japanese second hand vehicles occurred. These had a two-fold effect. Second hand car prices collapsed and the New Zealand public were faced with a huge range of Japan-only, low mileage motor vehicles, many of which were unheard of in neighbouring Australia, where otherwise car trends were similar. The relaxation of regulations also led to many imported American and European cars, trucks and SUVs. Despite being a right hand drive country many left hand drive cars, mostly from the United States or Canada, could be seen on New Zealand roads until 2001 when the New Zealand government introduced new regulations requiring owners of LHD cars to have a special permit. Prior to this a permit was not required to own and use a left hand drive vehicle. Accordingly, subsequently imported LHD vehicles were required to be converted to right hand drive with some exceptions. The two main exceptions are: Category A. LHD vehicles under 20 years of age that have been recognised as special interest vehicles by the NZ Transport Agency and have been issued with a Category A left-hand drive vehicle permit, and Category B. Light vehicles that were manufactured 20 years or more before the vehicle was certified in New Zealand.

From Trekka to date
Legislation had created a virtual closed shop to local manufacturers with the large assembly plants of General Motors, Ford, Todd Motors and Dominion Motors making it virtually impossible for indigenous start up companies to compete. Several ventrues started making utility vehicles, mainly aimed at farmers such as the Trailmaker (1965–71), the Terra (1967–1975) and the most successful the Trekka from 1966 to 1973. Others in the same period attempted to make production cars like the Anziel and Hamilton Walker's Rotarymotive never got started.

In 1974 two young Whataroa brothers, Kevin and Rodney Giles, formed the Duzgo Manufacturing Company to make a small two wheel drive light utility vehicle for use primarily on farms. Their creation, called the Duzgo was made using assorted Austin and Morris parts, a single-cylinder Kohler 12 hp engine and a double gearbox giving 12 forward and three reverse gears. Later models used a Robin 14-16 hp twin opposed engine. It was light and ran on knobbly motorcycle tyres which gave it excellent traction in muddy farm conditions. In all 10 were made by 1979 before the Customs Department determined that they were a vehicle manufacturing business and therefore needed to pay 30% sales tax on each vehicle. This effectively ended their business. In 2004 a Duzgo featured in the BBC series Billy Connolly's World Tour of New Zealand. There is a Duzgo (possibly number 1) in the Coaltown Museum, Queen Street, Westport and several still remain in use.

With the removal of all tariffs in 1998, new car companies need to be able to compete directly against overseas competition. The most recent New Zealand companys to try have been aimed niche markets. The first was Hulme in 2006, which is aiming to create a model for the supercar market. Its website stated that the first production model was expected to be completed in 2012. It was followed in 2013 by Martin Foster's Zetini Haast Barchetta, another sports car. In 2014 it was priced at $NZ215,590 plus GST with a six-month lead time for delivery. Whether either of these company's has sold any cars, as at May 2015, is unknown.

Alternative fuel vehicle development
There have been at least two attempts to develop electric vehicles, one by the University of Waikato called the UltraCommuter in 2008 and the other in 1995 by Heron called the PC80 and made for the electricity supply company, Powerco. Neither were put into production. The Engineering School of Waikato University is continuing work on electric and solar powered vehicles with a Suzuki Carry being converted to electricity in 2014. The van was to be driven to Christchurch to take part in New Zealand's first electric motorsport event, Evolocity on 30 November 2014.

Auckland University has been working on inductive power transfer technology for a number of years. This provides a means of recharging electric vehicles without the need for them to be directly coupled to a power supply. In 2013 Otago Polytechnic Associate Professor Zi Ming (Tom) Qi along with students from the Polytechnic, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and China’s Shenzhen Polytechnic teamed to developed an electric car which was driven by electric motors and had four independently turning wheels. By 2015 Qi announced that the car was being manufactured in China for assembly in New Zealand.

Kit cars and replicas
New Zealand had a long history of small garages and vehicle enthusiasts modifying and creating sports and sports racing cars. The Everson brothers, who were noted for making New Zealand first indigenous twin engined mono-plane, between 1935 to 1937 created a small two-seater rear engined car called the Everson Cherub. Three different one-off models were made by the brothers. Ernest's son Cliff built a variety of Everson models from the 1960s to the 1980s. The most successful was his eight Cherub's that were similar in design to the Mini Moke.

In the early 1950s, with the advent of fibreglass bodied cars, a new opportunity arose for local companies associated with car enthusiasts to create car bodies. Among these early manufacturers was Weltex Plastics Limited of Christchurch, which imported a Microplas Mistral sports car mould and began making bodies and chassis in 1956. They were followed in 1958 by Frank Cantwell's Puma and Bruce Goldwater's Cougar. Also in New Zealand during this period, Ferris de Joux was constructing a variety of sports racers. De Joux is noted in particular for his Mini GT from the 1960s.

Ross Baker's Heron Cars started in 1962 making racing cars and eventually began producing kit cars in 1980. Bill Ashton, formerly of Microplas and Weltex, joined with Ted George in the 1960s and made the Tiki. Three were known to have been made. Graham McRae with Steve Bond of Gemini Plastics imported a replica Le Mans McLaren M6B styled GT mould in 1968, The cars were made and sold by Dave Harrod and Steve Bond of Fibreglass Developments Ltd, Bunnythorpe as the Maram. McRae went on to make a very good Porsche Spyder replica in the 1990s.

A number of new companies entered the market in the 1980s - Almac 1985, Alternative Cars (1984), Cheetah (1986), Chevron (1984), Countess Mouldings (1988), Fraser (1988), Leitch (1986), and Saker (1989). Some recent ones are Beattie (automobile) (1997), which became Redline in 2001, and McGregor (2001).

Two companies which specialise in making replicas of various models to order are Classic Car Developments (1992) and Tempero. Both of these companies were noted for the quality of their workmanship. Commencing in 2002, Coventry Classics Limited from Gore specialised in making replica Jaguar C-Types.



New vehicles registered and used imports registered

 * (calendar years ended 31 December)