VIA's finances run short - funding sought to ensure survival...private equity fund Apax Partners through its Titan Acquisition Co vehicle, with 99.29% of votes cast in favour. The

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MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF AUTOTALK.CO.NZ – VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 3 | APRIL 2019

T H E V E H I C L E D E A L E R ’ S N E W S S O U R C E

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Shareholders approve Trade Me sale

VIA's finances run short - funding sought to ensure survival

The body that represents the used import vehicle trade is approach-ing financial trouble - and looking

to multiple sources to secure its future.A VIA board meeting scheduled

for later this month will discuss the association's budget deficit, which chief executive David Vinsen describes as "precarious".

"Yeah, it is precarious," Vinsen says. "We've got funds, and we can carry on for a while, but we've got a deficit budget."

Vinsen would not be drawn on the size of the deficit, but AutoTalk under-stands it is hundreds of thousands of dollars. All will be revealed when the association reports its accounts for the AGM shortly.

Decisions will need to be made about the future before the money runs out, with Vinsen pointing out the board does not want to be caught in the legal posi-tion of trading while insolvent.

"My board is very conservative, and

they're very mindful of not wanting to try it while technically insolvent, so we want to make sure we've got sufficient money in the bank to cover all of our costs and contingencies."

Vinsen says significant work has gone into bringing the budget into line, and every cost is up for review. This could include the two full-time, and three part-time staff - Vinsen is one of the latter. Due to the sensitivities of the issue, Vinsen was reluctant to be drawn

Continued on page 11

The takeover of Trade Me - the biggest listing site for Kiwi car dealers and owner of informa-

tion supplier Motorweb - looks set to go ahead.

Shareholders voted at a special general meeting for the takeover by private equity fund Apax Partners through its Titan Acquisition Co vehicle, with 99.29% of votes cast in favour.

The scheme is still subject to approval by the New Zealand High Court with the final court hearing scheduled for April 16.

Chairman David Kirk said the board was confident shareholders would support the deal.

“The board was unanimously in favour of this proposal and was confident that this was an attractive offer for shareholders," Kirk said.

“Shareholder approval is a major hurdle in this takeover process. The remaining formal step is the hearing of a High Court application later this month.


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Mixed reactions to motorcycle ABS ruleT

he New Zealand Transport Agency has proposed changes to rules that will require most motorcycles entering ser-

vice to carry anti-lock braking - and reactions from the industry have been mixed.

The NZTA released the draft rule late March. It will require all motorcycles enter-ing service in New Zealand, after a specified date, to be equipped with either an antilock braking system (ABS) or a combined braking system (with some exceptions).

It also removes a requirement for twin-wheel motor tricycles to be fitted with a park brake.

All bikes over 250cc will require the tech-nology, although off-road bikes will be allowed to have an off switch. Bikes between 50-125cc will require ABS or a linked braking system.

The agency says: “ABS is a proven tech-nology which will help save the lives of

motorcyclists.”The draft amendment rule, together with

explanatory material (including information about making a submission), questions and answers and an online submission form, is available at: www.nzta.govt.nz/light-vehi-cle-brakes-2019.

Suzuki New Zealand general manager of motorcycle and ATV marketing Simon Meade says such a rule change will come at a cost to some customers.

“It is going to have an effect on what is being sold,” Meade says. “There are a large number of motorcycles in the smaller size ranges sold without ABS or a linked braking system.”

“If the rule change is adopted there will be a cost to consumers.”

Meade says our unsealed roads and the popularity of adventure bikes is an issue.


Edwards returns to AutoTalk's editor's chair

Experienced automotive industry journalist and Auto Media Group editorial director Richard Ed-

wards has taken on the role of editor of AutoTalk again.

Edwards has nearly 20 years of automotive industry journalism expe-rience, and became a partner in the company that publishes New Zealand's leading magazine for dealers and the trade in 2009.

He is taking over from Scott Morgan,

who after three years with Auto Media Group, has taken on a communica-tions role.

"I am really excited to get my hands back on AutoTalk on a day-to-day basis," Edwards says. "Scott did a great job, but I am keen to bring my own reporting style back to the title."

"The next few years are going to be incredibly challenging for the market, with the economy approaching a negative trend,

Richard Edwards


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Upheaval and uncertainty in industry training shake-up

MITO is among 11 industry training organisations (ITOs)

facing a possible shake-up or even disestablishment under wide-reaching changes to work skills training proposed by edu-cation minister Chris Hipkins.

Radical reforms are sug-gested, including the proposal to transfer responsibility for industry training and apprenticeships under the direction of single polytechnic entity the “NZ Institute of Skills and Technology”. This would bring all 16 polytechnics across New Zealand under one umbrella.

March 27 was initially signalled as the deadline for submissions – a further week of consultation was granted following the Christchurch massacre.

But MITO chief executive Janet Lane maintains that the seven-week consultation

period is insufficient to allow for meaningful engagement on such a substantial proposal considering that there had been no previous indication of the enor-

mity of these changes. “We were blindsided with

the announcement. Further-more, with no indication of costs and efficiencies to be

gained, it is impossi-ble to meaningfully assess the merits of the proposal,” she says. “Guaranteed, this will cause huge uncertainty and massive upheaval to a system that has been operating successfully for over 25 years.”

Lane says that sorting out the polytechnic system is critical. The government invested $100 million in four polytechnics which were fi-nancially at risk last year, with more in financial jeopardy.

“By all means get the polytechnic situation sorted, but not at the expense of industry training organi-sations,” she says. “Simply transferring 145,000 learn-ers to a national institution is not the answer.”

Lane says MITO has demonstrated that it’s suc-cessfully meeting the needs of industry. She says annual customer surveys show 96% of employers are satisfied overall with MITO and 94% of employers rate MITO’s train-ing programmes very highly.

The New Zealand Qualifi-cations Authority (NZQA) also gives MITO the thumbs up.

“We have a proven track record,” Lane says. “Our success stories are our learners’ success stories.”

She says MITO provides coaching, mentoring, record keeping, goal setting and en-sures learners can meet their targets and are followed up in every step of their journey.

MITO qualifications group manager Michael Alsford adds that the organisation has just launched the New Zealand Certificate in Electric Vehicle Automotive Engi-neering (Level 5) for qualified and experienced automotive

technicians to ensure the industry are up-skilled to safely inspect, service and repair EVs.

The certificate, now open for en-rolments, takes 11

months to complete and covers eight unit standards, comprising e-learning and practical workshops.

“With the support of our industry reference group, and funding provided by the Low Emission Vehicles Contest-able Fund, we were able to expedite the development of this new qualification in record time,” Alsford says.

“This is an example of how nimble MITO can be to meet industry demand. With the Government’s proposal we have concerns that the new national institution will not respond to industry as quickly or efficiently as ITOs currently do.”

Reports indicate about 145,000 people are involved in apprenticeships or other on the job training, while about 110,000 are enrolled in polytechnics.

Many involved in the training industry, such as the Industry Training Federation (ITF) and Competenz, have been highly critical about the whole government proposal.

Workplaces will end up with less control over training, ITF chief executive Josh Williams says of the government’s “poorly thought through” ap-prenticeship reforms.

The reforms propose to transfer responsibility for industry training and appren-ticeships away from em-ployers and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to vo-cational providers, including a new national polytechnic,

Continued on page 6

Janet Lane

Michael Alsford

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Upheaval and uncertainty in industry training shake-upContinued from page 4

he says.“These reforms will cause

a huge upheaval in appren-ticeships and on-the-job training. Industry will lose ownership of a growing and increasingly efficient indus-try-run system.

“That would remove choice for local employers and limit their voice. Businesses will lose access to both their local polytechnic and their indus-try-run ITO at the same time.” Williams says.

He believes the industry training sector was surprised to see the proposals as none of the governing parties campaigned on this change at the last election.

“Nobody is arguing that the system cannot be

strengthened. But we should strengthen what is working, rather than double down on what is not,” Williams says.

“In recent days the Min-ister of Education has been saying that with 15% of em-ployers offering formal train-ing, the system is not doing well. Those 25,000 employ-ers currently deliver more vocational education than the rest of the system com-bined, and twice as many vocational qualifications to twice as many learners as the polytechnic sector.

“I invite the minister to outline which part of the reform proposal he expects will increase the number of participating employers. We can certainly see the part that risks losing the willing

employers we have.

“Collec-tively, ITOs have spoken to thousands of our em-ployers over the last six weeks, and there is widespread concern about this proposal,” Williams says.

“Our stakeholders do not feel sufficiently informed, nor adequately consulted, because they haven’t been.

“The proposals are already creating uncertainty in the sector and the upheaval will likely reduce the number of apprentices training in New Zealand.”

Competenz chief execu-tive officer Fiona Kingsford says ITOs are already hugely

responsive to apprentic-es’ needs, her organisation responsible for about 20,000 apprentices and trainees.

Kingsford points out that research indicates the indus-try training system produces more than 300 qualified peo-ple for every million dollars spent by the government in tertiary education, while pol-ytechs produce about 50.

While there’s room for im-provement, abolishing ITOs goes too far, she says.

And at a time when some skills shortages are critical, Kingsford says a reform that risks undermining workplace training and apprenticeships is the last thing needed.

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In a recent report, the Bank of America Merril Lynch noted dealerships should

strive to get more wom-en employed in a typically male-dominated sector.

Lynch’s study, Women Impact-ing Dealerships: Market Oppor-tunities. Work-place Strategies suggests more women employed in franchised new car retail environ-ments could be an advan-tage to both automaker and dealer.

This raises questions about the role women play in the automotive industry in New Zealand.

Statistics NZ figures indi-cate that women are almost

as likely as men to work in managerial occupations, but these women in managerial roles tend to be concen-trated in female-dominated industries. Is the automotive industry still a male dominat-

ed one?South Auckland

Motors Ford sales manager Melissa Rushton doesn’t think so. She has been in the industry for 30 years, and she doesn’t think of her-self as a woman in a

male-dominated industry. At South Auckland Motors there are four female salespeople including herself, out of 11.

“Females are great to buy cars from,” Rushton says. “Our top salesperson is female. Listening is their top skill. They don’t just try

to fit somebody in a car, they listen to what the customer wants first.”

“You don’t have to have a technical knowledge,” Rushton adds. “That’s often the perception. It’s a people and relationship industry. It’s exciting.”

Lynch’s study also indi-cates that women in the US make 85% of purchasing decisions.

Rushton says there’s al-ways a female involved in the buying; wives and mothers are influential in the decision.

PEOPLETALK

Women taking the wheel in the automotive industry

Continued on page 9

Emma Gilmour

Melissa Rushton

BY SOPHIA WANG

http://www.autoterminal.co.jp/web/modules/home.aspx


NEWSTALK

Auckland City BMW head of aftersales Michelle Bates would love to have more women working in the au-tomotive industry but notes that there are certainly more women than there were 23 years ago, when she started.

Bates has had to work harder to prove that she is just as good as her fellow male counterparts, if not better. She has worked in management roles for 19 years.

“I was one person in a pool of blokes,” Bates says. “I had to prove myself and get a name in the industry.”

She recalls a time in her career, three or four years in, when a recruitment worker told her that a management role was between her and a male, and the male would get it purely for his gender.

She used to receive phone calls from men that would ask to speak with a male, because they “know more about cars than girls.”

These sexist assumptions have caused girls and young ladies to have a negative perception towards dealerships, but Bates assures that this is not the case today.

“That doesn’t happen anymore. It’s a different world now,” Bates says. “It’s not the sexist environment like it was when I started. Guys are very respectful – certainly in deal-erships. Everyone is treated equally.”

But her gut tells her that women still think it is a bloke’s environment. She has friends that tell her they are intimidated by dealerships and feel that they are taken advantage of because they are women.

“I have ladies, customers, that see that I’m the manager and they are delighted and

calm down!”Auckland City BMW has

an executive management team of five people, two of them being women, including Bates. However, only 17 wom-en work in various roles in the company (from reception to executive management) out of 102 people.

Bates does believe that the industry is changing its view on women and do see the benefits and attributes women have.

Bates mentions that she has asked the human re-sources manager to try and engage with girls’ schools to talk to them about the opportunities in the auto-motive industry. By planting this seed, young women will be aware of the automotive industry as an environment full of good opportunities and challenges.

Female technicians are certainly lacking. Women have historically had low rates of employment in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathe-

matics) occupations. However, demand is growing.

Just the other day, Bates witnessed a young girl wearing an apprenticeship’s uniform, and it brightened her day – seeing a young girl embracing the role.

She adds that as women you do have to have cer-tain attributes to work in a dealership environment, such as being methodical, highly organised, and thick-skinned.

Jim Wright, managing director of Jim Wright Nissan in Hamilton, says that he doesn’t care about gender when hiring, as to him it makes no difference.

“We have a female sales-person, our business man-ager is a female, our service advisers are all female, we

have a female parts assistant in our parts department, and our business team is all female.”

“We’ve got too many!” Wright jokes. “It doesn’t matter what gender they are. I wouldn’t hesitate to employ female technicians, just as long as they can do the job.”

Gilmour Motors dealership principal Emma Gilmour was exposed to the automotive industry through her family’s car dealership. She worked part-time in administration at her father’s dealership through university, before her rally racing career took off.

After starting her own dealership business and buy-ing her parents out, Gilmour has made a name for herself in the industry.

“I don’t see being female

as a disadvantage or a limiting factor,” Gilmour says, when asked about her first steps into the in-dustry as a female. “I faced challenges any new business person would face.”

Gilmour estab-lished a relationship with Suzuki through rallying, and Suzuki gave her a chance when many franchises wouldn’t have.

It’s not just the automo-tive industry where there’s a lack of women in manage-ment roles, it’s everywhere, Gilmour says.

“Women are so capable, but we doubt ourselves. The more we see women in our industry just shows other women can do it and sup-port other women as they come through.

“We should back ourselves more, we can do it!”

Continued from page 8

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Mixed reactions to motorcycle ABS ruleContinued from page 3


“One of the issues with New Zealand is there are a lot of un-sealed roads. ABS doesn’t work that well on loose surfaces.

“A lot of adventure bikes are used in ‘adven-ture’ environments, and in New Zealand

that means gravel roads.”Motor Industry Association chief

executive David Crawford says its mo-torcycle council has met to discuss the rule, and while it is welcomed, it is not without issues.

“We welcome the rule, it is a step in the right direction, but there are a few wrinkles that need to be addressed,” Crawford says.

He explains the implementation date of November 1 this year for new models is too soon. He understands the rule was originally scheduled for consulta-tion in October 2018.

“To delay by six months and not amend the implementation dates is a bit daft,” he says.

“We support the application of ABS and combined braking systems on

road bikes, however, there are are elements of the proposed rule that are problematic,” Crawford says.

“While they have provisioned for adventure bikes to have ABS, we will be pushing for dual sport and enduro bikes as well.

“We were a bit surprised they require ABS or combined braking systems on bikes as small as 50cc to 125cc. They are really an urban bike and not going that fast.”

Ray Holmes, a salesperson from Mount Motorcycles, believes the rule is a good idea.

“It would be a good safety feature to implement,” Holmes says. “To have all motorbikes over 125CC to have ABS.”

As far as Holmes is concerned, all of Mount Motorcycles’ BMW bikes have ABS and have had it for a long time. However, from an industry perspective, he says it will slow down or restrict a lot of second-hand Jap-anese bikes that don’t have ABS. This will affect the market and dealerships across the country.

“It will rule out cheaper entry level bikes.”

With implementation suggested for November this year on new models, Holmes thinks it could do with a longer lead-in time, allow-ing distributors, wholesalers and importers to change things with their suppliers.

Holmes uses the DR650 Suzuki motorbike as an example of a pop-ular entry level bike that doesn’t have ABS. It can only be fitted at the factory, so distributors will have to push the price up – then it won’t be an entry level model.

Any bikes now, or in storage that don’t have ABS installed can be used and sold. Once the rule is

David Crawford

http://www.gocover.co.nz


NEWSTALK



implemented, speculated to be No-vember this year, you will not be able to register a new or used motorcycle without ABS.

Holmes predicts that dealers that have non-ABS bikes sitting in their ware-house will register them straight away and clear stock.

“After that date’s implemented, they can’t register it,” Holmes says.

The rule won’t affect Mount Motor-cycles as they are not an entry-level dealership, and deal with exclusive BMW customers.

“We may lose an odd sale,” Holmes says. “But it won’t affect our market.”

In a comment on AutoTalk’s website, Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council deputy chair Janice Millman welcomed the rule.

“It is a pity that Suzuki are choosing to focus on the negative of ABS rather than the swathe of positive evidence which demonstrates ABS saves lives,” Millman said.

“Most adventure bikes entering the market have switchable ABS and most countries have already mandated it.

“The industry needs to promote safety for its customers and work with government on implementing standards that will bring NZ in to line with other [safer] countries.”

VIA chief executive David Vinsen, himself a regular adventure bike rider, was fine with the rule - provided it is following on from standards implemented overseas.

“A lot of bikes are coming out with ABS - my bike has ABS. It is certainly a safety feature off road, though mine

needs to be stopped and turn off to allow it to be deactivated for gravel roads,” he explained.

“I personally believe it is rider train-ing and driver training that is probably the biggest missing link in the safety chain. It is not just about how to start, stop and go around a corner. It is about attitudes and roadcraft.”

further on staffing.The association's Mount Wellington

office is also up for review. The lease has not been renewed, with the ar-rangement shifting to month-to-month around six months ago. It is a feature of the association Vinsen is reluctant to give up.

"The office brings the advantages of hav-ing a central place of business, somewhere where we can meet, where we have a pres-ence, where we have made our offices avail-able for government departments who are industry relevant, who have meetings there not necessarily with us, but with industry participants,” he explains.

“For instance, if the NZ Transport Agency wants to have meetings with in-dustry clients, they can use our offices, and that’s really helpful.”

How did VIA get here?So how did VIA end up in this situation?

In the past, the association has had to call for funding for specific campaigns, but rarely has it been in trouble. The last cash crunch came in 2011 as legal challenge

bills mounted, and financing from individ-ual trader members waned and switched to the supply chain.

AutoTalk understands from more than one player - none of whom wished to speak on the record - in the supply chain that while they still value the work VIA does, with the tightening market, they are reducing their financial spending across the board - including their sup-port for the association.

Vinsen says the main drop in income, however, comes from the rapid decline in demand for services such as the issuing of compliance certificates for vehicles. The need for these peaked with the last emissions rule, along with commercial competition for such services.

“We had a very good source of income from providing certificates in the industry, technical information cer-tificates for a particular sort of catego-ry of vehicles that required additional information and documentation to be able to be certified,” Vinsen says.

“That source of income has dried up as a result of the dramatically reduced volume of those particular vehicles.

“We knew it was going to be a drop-off. In fact, we got probably three years more income out of it than we had originally planned.”

Vinsen says industry support has

continued and is rising - converse to what AutoTalk expected from industry sentiment.

“We haven’t had people dropping out or reducing levels of support. In fact, the opposite. Because people are now aware that they need us more than ever.”

NZTA work a fix?The long-debated fix for VIA’s fund-

ing has been the idea of a levy on every imported used vehicle that comes into the country. Vinsen says while the option is not impossible, it is very, very difficult. It would require full consensus between all the major players in the supply chain.

“It’s very difficult to get that agreed, and certainly a fixed amount agreed,” Vinsen says. “So, it would have involved renego-tiating individual sponsorship agreements, and that proved very difficult.

“The membership and the industry have said that they agree to the basic principle of a levy. It’s how to put it in place.”

Instead, the saving grace for VIA could be to go back to its old model of supplying information for funding.

Vinsen has been discussion over various funding options with the NZTA, in part based on the supply of data.

“Specifically data and information about vehicles and the fleet, in order to



David Vinsen


NEWSTALK

Nissan has big aspirations for its electric vehicle effort. By 2022 it wants to have sold one million

electrified vehicles worldwide, and is rolling out the models to get it there.

Between now and 2022 it will launch eight new pure electric models. It has already been showing off its wares with the IMQ concept crossover displayed at Geneva, with more to come.

Leading its efforts is global electric vehicle director Nicholas Thomas, who AutoTalk caught up with last week at Nissan’s Electric Futures think-tank in Hong Kong.

Thomas’s job of hitting the target has got off to a good start with the new Leaf we also drove during the event.

“We sold more than 100,000 of the new car in our three key regions of US, Europe and Japan,” Thomas says. “But now it’s very exciting to be able to be launching it around the rest of the world. Particularly here around Asia Pacific, where we see a great deal of interest in the car.”

That tally takes Nissan to 300,000 electric vehicles sold, most the suc-cessful first generation Leaf.

Thomas says the new model is im-portant because of its range.

“It’s been really, really well received in terms of firstly the extra range we’re able to offer now. Once you’ve crossed that kind of 150 miles, 280-kilometre barrier, that’s quite a psychological barrier. It now means that for a lot of people you can do all of your week’s driving on a single charge.”

Nissan, he suggests, is at an advan-tage to other players in the electric vehi-cle market. As many brands launch their first generation cars, Nissan is selling its second and developing its third.

“Which means our engineers firstly have resolved a lot of the quibbles if you like of the first product and the second generation product has really grown.”

Broader accept-ance of electric vehi-cles and government pressure are also finally combining to assist the rollout of electric cars.

“And then you add the government pressure which is driving for - par-ticularly in cities in Europe, China, California and Japan - cleaner air in cities; trying to reduce air pollution and trying to take active measures to do that,” Thomas says.

“Zero emission cars are just about the most obvious way that a govern-ment can take action on those sorts of things.”

The much-fabled crossover point for battery cost is also approaching Thom-as says, though not merely from the technology getting cheaper. Emissions regulation is raising the price of internal combustion powertrains up to meet batteries - especially in Europe.

“Batteries will come down to $100 per kilowatt hour, and the price of NOX and CO2 which is driving up the price

of petrol and diesel engines will cross over,” he explains.

“It doesn’t automatically mean that the EV itself will be as cheap as the cheapest petrol car you can buy today, it’s still a big battery. At the same time as the cost per kilowatt hour is coming down the demand for bigger batteries is going up.”

Thomas says a big challenge in his job is to convince buyers that afforda-ble electric cars are not necessarily low priced. The battery is essentially an asset that can be used for other things.

“Yes clearly sticker price is huge-ly important but when you look at different things we’re able to do. With an EV, as long as you can get electrons into it, which are substantially cheaper than hydrocarbons, in most cases, then you’ve kind of paid for your fuel already because you’re paying for battery life.”

The battery can also be used in ve-hicle-to-grid or home setups, allowing the owner to generate via solar or wind cheap electricity and store it for times when demand and cost is high then dra-matic savings can be made. The battery could also be used by energy companies for load balancing, and the owner paid for offering this service.

“When there’s extra energy, when there’s solar being generated during the day, let’s put it into all of the EV’s.

“And then in the evening when there’s an excess of demand, when everybody turns on their AC, turns on their cookers, turns on their lights etc,

Affordability does not mean a low sticker price - Nissan EV chief


Nicholas Thomas

Nissan electric autonomous vehicle concept


NEWSTALK

assist in managing the fleet for safety and environmental reasons,” Vinsen says.

“It’s all the stuff that we’ve been doing anyway, for members, but it’s about par-celling it out and NZTA having access ... to help them with their decision making.”

Part of the association’s role in the past has to go against the NZTA to fight specif-ic rule changes. Could being a commer-cial partner with the NZTA create any real or perceived conflicts of interest?

Vinsen says the issue has been dis-cussed.

“It will not affect our relationship whatsoever,” Vinsen says. “It’s the same as my being involved in various other governing bodies, but that doesn’t pre-clude us taking action as necessary.”

new regulation and new technology all likely to have an impact on vehicle sales,” Edwards says. “It will be great to spotlight the issues.”

Edwards also has a passion for video and new methods of digital publishing, which will become an increasing part of AutoTalk’s offering.

He will continue to oversee an ex-

panded Auto Media Group editorial team who work alongside freelance writers to produce six titles in New Zealand and Australia.

He will be assisted by journalist Sophia Wang, who will work primarily on Auto-

Talk and AMG’s websites.“Sophia is quickly becoming a great

asset to us,” Edwards notes. “She is new to the trade, but that brings the advan-tage of fresh eyes and an inquisitive nature.”

Edwards can be contacted at [email protected], and Wang on [email protected].

“Provided the High Court process proceeds as we expect, Titan will ac-quire all the shares in Trade Me in May and Trade Me will leave the NZ and Australian Stock Exchanges then.”

In a statement to AutoTalk, Trade Me's

head of Motors Alan Clark says dealers should expect business as usual from the company.

"For all Trade Me customers, includ-ing automotive dealers, it's business as usual," the statement says.

"We're looking forward to working

closely with Apax to keep improving the services we provide to New Zealand businesses, and continuing to be the leading place for New Zealanders look-ing to find their next vehicle."

there’s a big peak in demand, we can actually give a small amount of the en-ergy in each battery back to the building or to the grid. And again, customers can get paid for that.

“So affordability is not just about how much does the car cost at the begin-ning, it’s about what are all the different things I can do with it during the life of the car.”

This technology is not necessarily cheap, though Nissan is working to bring the cost down.

It is working with third parties to offer such bi-directional charging units, and wants to bring one to market later this year for as low as $3000. This could then be packaged with the vehicle at sale as part of the finance or lease.

Utes a long way offWhat is not likely to come soon is

an electrified version of New Zealand-er’s favourite type of vehicle - the ute. Thomas suggests the way such vehicles are used makes them a challenge.

“Most people buy a car to use it fairly

lightly and make the occasional long distance trip,” he explains. “People use commercial vehicles to carry heavy loads, driver longer distances - they use them intensively.”

They are also - generally - low cost vehicles.

“Those are hard-working vehicles, and they are also very low-cost vehi-cles,” Thomas says. “We’re not there with battery technology yet. We need to wait for batteries to become more affordable.”

Avanti Finance has you covered.

Call the team today 0800 286 020f

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Sophia Wang

Shareholders approve Trade Me sale




Edwards returns to AutoTalk's editor's chairContinued from page 3

http://www.avantifinance.co.nz


NEWSTALK

Mahindra takes another crack at NZ marketI

ndia’s Mahindra brand is having another crack at the New Zealand market,

with more factory backing and a rationalised range of vehicles.

At a meeting with jour-nalists last week, managers made the bold claim that the brand is on a mission to “disrupt” the New Zea-land market with the most competitive pricing around when it comes to new utes and SUVs.

New dealer principals Harry Singh and Muhammad Sarwar have been running the New Zealand operation for the past six months under the business Dealer Direct Wholesale, with distribution for the brand being handled directly from India.

Industry veteran Russell Burling, who has previously held local distribution rights for SsangYong and Daewoo, has also come on board in an advisory role. Burling also had a hand in the Mahindra brand when it was repre-sented previously by Great

Lakes Motor Company and Nichibo.

The new head site is based in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, with another 17 dealerships around the country.

The search is also on to find new people to join the team and help expand the

brand’s local dealer network.Mahindra representatives

from India also visited for the media launch. This included head of international auto operations Joydeep Moitra and international operations export sales senior manager Nrupal Choudhari.

Moitra says there are “great expectations” for Ma-hindra in New Zealand.

“I believe it is a very in-teresting opportunity … it’s a right-hand drive market, it’s a market that should be abso-lutely fit for the new range of Mahindra products.

“If we are able to build a dealer network and a service network which is good, we will get great quality prod-ucts and great value propo-sition into the New Zealand market.

“We see the buinsess in New Zealand really growing and we are going to invest to make the brand grow,”

Moitra says.Meanwhile, Burling says

the Pik Up models have the potential to be a real “dis-ruptor” in the farm trans-port space, especially when health and safety is becom-ing the number one concern.

The utes offer a practical and safer alternative to quad bikes and side-by-sides which have resulted in many deaths and accidents over the years, he says.

Burling says the Pik Up is priced to compete with such options and is also cheaper to maintain.

Mahindra’s new relaunch into the New Zealand market comes with plenty of back-ing. The multinational group is worth over US$20 billion, with a presence in more than 100 countries and employing over 240,000 people.

It includes a broad range of portfolios and industries



NEWSTALK

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such as farm equipment and machinery, aerospace, IT, financial services, defence and more.

Burling says it’s one of the reasons Mahindra can offer such aggressive pricing. The group has large scale man-ufacturing and ownership of everything from chassis to engine.

With Pik Up model utes starting at $25,990 and the premium XUV 500 SUVs starting at $29,990, the brand expects to sell over 1000 new vehicles by 2022.

Auto Media was invited to test drive the latest models on a recent trip from Auck-land to Rotorua to Taupo. The 4WDs were given a tough workout at Off Road NZ’s course along the way.

The utes come in three variants including the entry level S6 single cab chassis, S6 double cab chassis and the S10 double cab wellside.

A Mahindra-built 2.2L, four cylinder, turbo diesel mHawk CRDe engine offers 103kW of power and 320Nm of torque from 1600rpm.

The utes feature 6-speed manual with 4WD BorgWarn-er transfer case and Eaton diff lock. Towing capacity is 2.5 tonnes, fuel consumption 8.6L per 100km.

Off road, the utes handled all obstacles with comfort and ease. The Eaton diff lock was put to good use and the

mechanical locking system proved reliable in getting the vehicle out of sticky situa-tions.

These utes should have no problems handling the toughest terrains including mud, ice or snow.

The latest vehicles have seen a major redesign with the front grille, headlights, bonnet and foglamps. The black and grey interior is very spacious, with excellent headroom.

It includes a six-inch touch screen system with Bluetooth on all models.

A built-in navigation system, automated temper-ature control, cruise control and rain sensing wipers and auto headlamps add comfort to the top range variants.

Safety feature include ABS braking, electronic stability control, dual front airbag, crash protection crumple zones, adjustable steering column, child seat anchors behind the rear seat, three-point seatbelts on the rear seats. Auto Media found overall visibility in the Mahin-dra’s excellent.

Meanwhile, the XUV 500 SUVs come in two variants including the W6 priced from $29,990 and the W10 at $35,500.

The XUV500 includes a 2L petrol mHawk engine offering 103kW of power and 320Nm of torque at 2000

to 3000rpm plus six-speed automatic transmission.

The utes feature 6-speed manual with 4WD BorgWarner transfer case and Eaton diff lock. Towing capacity is 2.5 tonnes, fuel consumption 8.6L per 100km.

The seven-seater people mover gives customers the

option of buying new when they might otherwise be in the market for a used SUV.

The W10 model features electric sunroof, black leather trim, seven-inch touch screen with reversing camera and navigation, auto headlamp and wipers and more.


http://www.questinsurance.co.nz


NEWSTALK

A New Zealand Certifi-cate in Electric Vehicle Automotive Engi-

neering (Level 5) has been launched by MITO.

Announcing enrolments are now open for qualified and experienced automo-tive technicians, MITO chief executive Janet Lane told about 60 guests at the Wel-lington launch it would take about a month to complete each module – 11 months in all - with the courses covering two theory and six practical unit standards.

A safety component features heavily in the pro-gramme, MITO qualifications group manager Michael Alsford says. And there’s a leadership aspect as well for those who intend moving into supervisory or manage-

ment roles.He says the new qual-

ification, approved by the New Zealand Qualifications

Authority (NZQA), will help with EVs’ human infrastruc-ture and encourage more widespread EV adoption.

“Workshops especially will have the opportunity to upskill people and their busi-ness,” Alsford says. He adds that from a safety aspect in particular, it will boost con-fidence and provide more choice among EV custom-ers as to where they go for servicing and maintenance work.

Alsford says the new certificate is for experienced and qualified technicians and builds on EV safety components now incorpo-rated in light vehicle, heavy vehicle and auto electrical programmes.

He says the programme will be assessed to determine if there is a need for any further training.

Thanking the many in-volved in helping establish the certificate, including the NZQA and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), Lane says it was a “massive” undertaking all done in a year.

Lane says the new course will help with safety in main-taining and servicing EVs.

EECA chief executive Andrew Caseley says EECA was delighted to contribute to the certificate through

its low emission vehicle contestable fund.

He says the fund usually gets applications dealing with EVs and charging infra-structure.

“So when we got MITO’s application it threw us into a bit of a spin,” coming from the training sector.

“But I was delighted we could contribute to help with EV certification and inspire confidence in how EVs are serviced and other aspects.”

Caseley pointed out that any incorrect work involv-ing EVs has the potential to cause harm, but that courses like MITO’s will avoid that.

“I’m looking forward to hearing how this programme goes.”

Congratulating MITO on delivering to the milestones set and achieving its aim within about a year, Caseley says the EECA wants to see successful fund applicants deliver as quickly as they can.

He says about 90 fund applications have been ap-proved worth $17.4 million over five rounds with round six successful applicants likely to be announced around late July or early August.

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MITO launches EV certificate

Janet Lane and Andrew Caseley

MITO managers, from left, Lee Graham, Mark Lawrence and Richard Wright check out a Hyundai Kona Electric at the EV certificate launch

http://www.getgenuine.co.nz


NEWSTALK

Fair’s fair...U

nfair business-to-business contract terms are widespread across the motor trade, so

MTA is making a strong submission to government in a bid to even the playing field.

MBIE is consulting on a possible law change, and we’ve drawn on informa-tion gathered from members in recent years for our submission.

Some of that information was pro-vided in confidence because of the tight secrecy demanded by many supply contracts, or because small players were nervous about a possible negative reaction from their suppliers.

The submission largely reflects issues faced by service stations with their fuel providers, car dealers with their fran-chisers, and repairers with insurance companies. In most situations, it is the big suppliers telling our members to “take it or leave it” in their supply con-tracts – there is very little, if any, ability to negotiate the contract terms.

For instance, service station con-tracts with their fuel supplier are often long term, exclusive, and highly confidential. They contain operational controls like having to accept discount cards, and include restraints of trade or personal guarantees.

Many service stations have a cash on delivery demand within their supply contract. This can mean they have to pay $10,000 to $15,000 on the day of delivery, or within a few days. It can create real cash flow difficulties – par-ticularly if the fuel supplier has also pro-moted a discount to the public which the service station must honour, even if it cuts out any profit.

I also know of one fuel retailer who has a long-term contract with his sup-plier. A couple of years in, the supplier opened an unmanned site very close by, which began selling fuel at a price lower than the wholesale rate it provided to the retailer. The manned site can’t compete with this price differential. But he can’t get out of his contract because there is no protection through prohi-bitions on unconscionable conduct or unfair contract terms. We need to change this type of situation.

Franchise arrangements New vehicle dealers also have little

bargaining power when it comes to their franchise agreements. They can be given just a few months’ notice that their franchise agreement will not be renewed, leaving very little time to make plans, to find another franchiser, or close down shop.

There are also inad-equate capital expenditure protections. For example, a dealer can be required to fund a store refit to accompany the franchiser’s decision to introduce a new logo or colours.

Dealerships can also be required to comply with changes in sales expecta-tions or marketing strategies, even if this does not match the local operation.

We have also heard of dealerships who’ve lost their franchise being denied access to the authorised parts necessary for repair work.

Others who’ve had end of term

arrangements where manufacturers may not buy back vehicle stock, parts, tools or equipment once an agreement expires or is terminated. This leaves dealers vulnerable to further financial hardship.

Collision repairers The collision repair industry is made

up mostly of small businesses with few-er than 20 employees. Pricing is largely controlled by insurance companies.

Repairers have virtually no ability to negotiate their contracts with insurers. The contract has schedules that set out the time allowed to carry out cer-tain types of repairs, the margin that can be charged on parts, hourly pay rates, and even the price the insurance company will pay for paint.

The insurers stipulate when they will pay invoices but often, they do not comply. There is no penalty or redress for this. We know of some contracts that set the insurers payment at 10 days, but they often don’t pay for 60 days. Small businesses can’t cope with that type of delay in what they’re owed.

Overall, the motor trade is often subjected to unfair commercial prac-tices by the “big boys” that they cannot challenge, or if they do, the process is complex and can put their business at risk.

We want to see the government extend legal provisions to better protect businesses from suffering these types of practices.

Craig Pomare

http://www.mta.org.nz/mediationhttp://www.mta.org.nz/mediation


INDUSTRYTALK

Learning to live with a battery only vehicleA

s the title suggests, I have re-cently been driving a full electric vehicle. It is my work vehicle for

the time being, which means it needs to easily travel beyond city limits, quite considerably so.

Did I have some apprehensions before taking on a battery only vehicle for a while? Did I have reservations about driving long distance, know-ing where to find charge stations and when getting there whether there would be a queue. I would be lying if I said no because I most certainly did. I squirmed, hesitated and just about said no thanks, please give me a PHEV.

So, this month’s column is dedicated to my learning curve about driving a BEV, a vehicle where there is no backup hydrocarbon driven motor to be seen for love or life. Just a battery and an electric motor. I labour this point, as the absence of a petrol backup option was at the heart of my hesitation. This is my honest assessment warts and all. No glossing up the EV image and ignoring little idiosyncrasies as is so often the case when others promote EVs.

Starting at the end, I am enjoying the BEV. It is cheap to charge up, easy to drive and generally a liveable and usea-ble vehicle. It has a smugness value that feels good, not conceited. I wish I could keep it, for both on the open road and around town it is a pleasure to drive. I don’t need to say anymore in its praise than that.

But the transition to this point was not without some frustrations and I think the transition needs to be easier than what it is.

To prepare I had a new dedicated line wired out to the garage, single phase/32 amp. I was unable to hook up a three-phase capability as I don’t have that option at my switchboard in the house and the expense of putting it in was considerably more than I was

prepared to pay. At the moment I have just a three-pin plug option wired to the new fuse board in the garage, with the option of fitting a 32-amp socket at some point in the future.

Being a stand-alone garage and running a 32-amp cable from the house to the garage meant the cable had to be encased. Total value of the work was around $1400 and the car had not yet even arrived.

I picked up the vehicle and had a full and helpful orientation session with the dealer. Then I drove away.

Charging at home is easy, although occasionally the charge controller in the cable faults out and I’ve learnt I need to hang around for a minute to ensure once the car has done all its diagnostics checks the green charging light comes on, not the orange fault light.

Charging away from home is now easy. It was not at first, in fact it was quite a hassle. The hassle came in two forms - firstly finding where these fast charge units actually reside, and secondly once having located them, getting them to work.

When I was telling an EV owner while waiting to charge my car my story of the challenge in finding charging outlets, he said don’t you have the app. Of course I have the app. That is not enough though.

Finding petrol stations is easy. They are always on the main road and well sign posted. Charging stations are in-variably tucked away in strange loca-tions and when you get there it is not immediately obvious where they are.

On a recent trip from Lower Hutt to Palmerston North and return via the Wairarapa, I made a point of stopping at each place a charging unit was located, just for future reference. In my expe-rience, the easiest ones to find are at the i-site locations. Ones tucked away

in supermarket carparks can be a right royal pain in the backside to get to. Surely we can do better than this?

Now that I know how to find them, and that I need to leave sufficient time to locate these oddly placed units, plugging it in and charging the car was the next challenge.

I count myself as being app savvy. However, starting and controlling your charging session by an app is not as straight forward as it could be.

Firstly, if there are two units at the lo-cations, the name of the unit on the app is not necessarily on the physical unit you are staring at. It’s a bit of a guessing game. The solution is to buy a fob. I did.

The good news is fobs are fabulous. I now rock up to a charging unit and flash the fob and suddenly the unit knows all about me, what card to sheet home the cost and Bob’s your uncle.

As time passes I have increasing-ly stopped plugging it in each night, preferring to let the charge run down to about 30% left and then visit a fast charge station, plug in and go and get a coffee while it charges. Like filling up a car with petrol only slightly longer. As BEV battery capacity increases, the need to top up each night diminishes.

The last frustrating bit of my expe-rience to date is at my nearest home location there are two fast charging units. One of them has had a fault on it for over four weeks and it is still not fixed. It remains unusable while the fault remains.

Fast servicing of faults at charging stations is going to be essential if we want the masses to convert. Faulty units slow to be serviced is a big turnoff.

If we want to mainstream EVs my ex-perience suggests we have a little way yet go to make it easy for the masses. None of this surprises and change is coming.

CRAWFORD’S CASE


There are a number of different ways to target a select audience to elicit a particular response. The key is

to find channels that work congruently, driving higher results, giving you a solid return on investment and reducing adver-tising spend wastage.

Your customer pool is made up of a number of people all at different stages on the path to purchase journey (also known as the buying cycle or customer journey) and they respond to different messages based on what they’re recep-tive to. Identifying these audiences and connecting them with relevant timely messages is key to ensuring you’re opti-mising your advertising spend.

When applied strategically, display advertising can be a powerful campaign tool that complements and drives traf-fic to your listings, turning up the dial on your overall effectiveness.

The buying cycle impacts the required sales approach. Imagine wandering into a shop that you find interesting just to have a browse around. A pushy salesper-son convinced they can get you to buy something would be really annoying and would probably result in you walking out of the shop before you’ve had a chance to really look around.

However, if you went into the shop because you were thinking of making a purchase sometime in the future, some assistance balanced with enough space to really explore and ask questions would probably help you make your mind up and lay the foundation for you to return to that same shop when the

time is right to buy.Now imagine walking into the

same store with an urgent pur-chase in mind. You need some-thing specific and you need it right away. Now’s the time you need that salesperson telling you exactly what the deal is - anything less than that could result in you walking out of that shop and directly into the arms of the competitor waving your money ready for them to take it off your hands.

The three-layered approach can help you achieve this same effect within the digital space.

Layer 1: Creating awareness“I need a car” aptly describes the

thought process in these early stages of the customer journey. It’s not specific or detailed, it’s about buyers identifying that there is a need or a problem that needs solving. At this stage brand awareness campaigns plant the seeds that could lead to buyers actively seeking your vehi-cles out when they reach the next stage on their path to purchase.

It’s about nurturing leads and doing a good job of staying front of mind. So while customers are saying “I need a car”, put your hand up and say “we sell cars”.

Layer 2: Generating interest“I’m collecting information and looking

for advice” is what customers are thinking now. Here we find the most effective advertising messages highlight your product’s features and benefits. Custom-ers are fact gathering and they need to

be given all the information they need to weigh up all their options and make an informed decision. It’s also important to start qualifying leads at this stage. Leads should meet a minimum set criteria to ensure they are in fact warm leads and ready to move on to the next stage in the buying cycle. Specifically targeting a prequalified audience can result in further advertising waste reduction.

Layer 3: Capturing intent“I’ll be buying a car within the next

week, and I’ve narrowed it down to these options”. Now that’s a statement that is music to any salesperson’s ears.

At this stage in the game, buyers have done all the research and they can usu-ally tell you more about your product than you can. Now is not the time to talk about the super duper sound system or the safety features – it's time to start talking deals and offers. Create a clear pathway to purchase.

By combining these three layers of digital advertising with your listings, you’re ensuring that you’re appealing to customers at all stages of the buying cycle and laying the foundation for a steady and consistent flow of buyers, making your sales forecasting a whole lot easier.

INDUSTRYTALK

James PenroseSenior Account Manager Trade Me [email protected]

0800 42 88 [email protected]

www.trademe.co.nz/motors

New Zealand’s#1 vehicle listing site.

Three layers to reaching an audience

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motorshttp://www.trademe.co.nz/motors


MARKETINGTALK

In January we saw increases in leads, test drives and sales in the mid to late teens. In February it normalised slightly with leads increasing by 2.9% and test drives by 5.5%. Sales bucked the trend and decreased by 3.1% from January

to February, however, when taken into account that February was a short month, some drop-in actuals was expected.

Web – Dealer continued to grow in February – increasing

by 4.0% from January to February. Web – Classified con-tinues to be the second most common source of leads, but decreased by 2.0% from the previous month.

After a strong January, Brands continued to provide a huge number of leads to dealers with another increase of 38.6% month-to-month. Expect to see this to continue to grow as more brands ramp up activity closer to Fieldays.

Despite test drives increasing by 5.5%, only those recorded

against Web – Dealer increased in February – by 18.2%. Test drives recorded as coming via the direct source decreased by 6.4%, and Web – Classified decreased by 2.6%. These figures are not necessarily representative of any significant decrease, as February provided fewer work days than normal months.

While we saw increases in test drives and sales, we saw a decrease in the recorded number of sales in February. This was reflected in the usual top three sources of sales for kiwi dealers, which occupied the same spots, but also decreased across the board.

Sales attributed to the Web – Dealer source decreased by 11.2%, Web – Classified decreased by 9.3% and Brand decreased by 0.4%.

Make sure to check back in April to find out the most common sources of leads, test drives and sales in March 2019. To find out more about the range of reports available via AutoPlay contact us on [email protected] or +64 9 361 1505.

Matt Darby works for AutoPlay which specialises in pre-sale lead management tools. To find out more about AutoPlay services email [email protected] or visit www.autoplay.co.nz

Top 3 sources of Leads, Test Drives and Sales March 2019 (vs February 2018)

1

Top 3 Sources for Leads, Test Drives and Sales - New Zealand Dealerships January 2019 ( vs December 2018)

Brand 6.5%

Web - Classified 8.7%Web - Dealer 13.0%

SALES

Web - Classified 8.7%

Direct 20.1%Web - Dealer 10.5%

TEST DRIVES

Brand 29.7%

Web - Classified 8.1%Web - Dealer 15.7%

LEADS

http://www.autoplay.co.nzhttp://www.autoplay.co.nz


MARKETINGTALK

Peter [email protected] or 021-940 318

Friday, March 15 was a very black day for Christchurch and New Zealand. My heart goes out to all

family members, friends and associates of those 50 innocent Muslim people who lost their life.

To think that a non-Kiwi white supremacist lone gunman could carry out such a planned callous and mali-cious terrorist attack, beggars belief.

As one who was born, raised and schooled in both Christchurch and the neighbouring Selwyn District one could never imagine such an attack could be carried out in the “Garden City”.

With the city slowly but surely pull-ing itself up by its bootstraps following the disastrous February 2011 earth-quake, the citizens of Christchurch are now confronted with another major grief and self-reconciliation cycle.

If the earthquakes of 2010/2011 have proven anything it is how fear and flight can be quickly overtaken by resilience. For the very young or the very old this often takes longer.

As one who travelled frequently to Christchurch post the earthquakes to visit my mother and siblings, as well as carry out governance duties for an Insurance loss adjusting/claims man-agement group, this resilience became so very evident within days following the earthquakes. One saw it in all their eyes; akin to a steely resolve that any-thing was possible. Give me a job and I will get it done.

I have no doubt whatsoever similar individual resilience coupled with a new found compassion for those with-in the Muslim community will manifest itself into a striking co-existent cultur-al model for other communities within New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, take a bow.

True leaders step up to the plate at a time such as this. Jacinda has demon-strated this critical blend of competen-cy, compassion and personal control. She and her coalition will now com-fortably take the next election.

Whilst our gun laws at the time of the shooting were not as robust as those in Australia, by the time this article is published they will be. The speed of enacting the new gun laws has rightly gained worldwide recog-nition that when faced with adversity our politicians can quickly implement a bi-partisan solution.

From a digital communication perspective, it has been alarming to learn of just how the terrorist utilised live streaming to cascade his actions throughout the World Wide Web, in particular those mediums of Facebook and YouTube.

The ability of these digital medi-ums to stop and erase such malicious content has to be improved, at present they are too slow to pull down the streaming content, as was the case in this event.

I would like to think there would be no more such acts but I know this will not be the case. Unfortunately, this event will spur on other copycat acts around the world.

The smug and at times arrogant and complacent world of Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, COO, Sheryl Sand-berg and Google/YouTube CEO Sunder Pichai must come under increasing world-wide accountability to com-pletely stop this alt-right anti-Muslim and anti-Semetic material.

As an arm’s length observer the

above CEOs are quick to take advan-tage and to seek shelter within their respective companies First Amendment rights as set out under the US Consti-tution.

These rights do not extend to the rest of the world which means New Zealand has to work hard alongside our friendly allies and national coun-try groupings such as the EU to bring acute political and economic pressure on Facebook, Google and others.

It is a sad indictment to witness the transition of Facebook from its roots as an information-sharing platform to one that is now hell bent on sharing user information to sell to and, unabashedly, increase its revenue streams. They play dual games. Keep the information gath-ering streams revenue rich on the one hand. On the other, just do sufficient to show intent to keep the malicious content at bay.

It is time for the world to wake up to the level of cross border digital political infiltration and see it for what it is. More importantly it is critical for the world to recognise the very real societal damage that can be inflicted as a result of inferior AI controls within Facebook and Google.

They need to wake up to the threat of white supremacists that remain hell bent on spreading mayhem to dis-rupt healthy, normal societies such as Christchurch.

Christchurch - March 15, 2019

http://www.autoplay.co.nzhttp://www.autoplay.co.nz

Vinsen’s ViewThe monthly update from VIA chief executive David Vinsen

APRIL 2019

ADVANTAGE

WHAT DO WE DO?

Advice and advocacy for the used vehicle industryIf you have technical questions, compliance problems, consumer complaints, staff issues — we can help.

For more information: www.via.org.nz | Free phone: 0800 842 842 | Phone 09 573 3058

Are privately-owned vehicles going to be phased out?

I recently attended a presentation by minister Phil Twyford, whose port-folios include housing, urban design

and transport. My initial reaction when he was

appointed was that it would be a heavy workload, with no obvious connections between his ministries. I’ve since heard the minister speak a number of times and have come to see good synergies between his portfolios.

Urban design, housing … and transport

Housing issues cannot be resolved without good urban design, which influences and is influenced by our transport system.

A few years ago, who would have thought our association, established to advocate for the used vehicle import industry, would have to understand traffic engineering and urban design to be effective? But it’s increasingly obvious that to have a vi-able, sustainable industry, we need to be part of the solution to congestion and housing issues.

It’s equally obvious that urban design and the latest housing developments are based on reducing the need for privately owned vehicles. It’s not a comfortable idea that the transport sector, and our association, are partici-pating in plans to reduce private vehicle ownership … but we recognise change

is inevitable. The only uncertainties are how fast and how far-reaching changes will be.

“Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides oppor-tunities – to learn new things, to rethink tired processes, and to improve the way

we work.” Klaus SchwabMany of the changes we’ll have to

deal with are driven by technology; not just in vehicle design, but also in how we use them.

During his presentation and sub-sequent Q&A session, the minister outlined the Government’s thinking on

key issues that will affect our industry over time.

They included the need for integrat-ed planning for new housing devel-opments, taking into account both transport and housing requirements. He cited two developments planned in Auckland, for 4000 and 9000 hous-

es, respectively, where no provision is being made for privately owned or operated personal vehicles (POPOs).

The Government claims to be “mode neutral” in its transport preferences, and is investing funds to increase transport choices and encourage a shift away


Advice and advocacy for the used vehicle industry

CORPORATE PARTNERS

from POPOs. Choices include buses, trams, light and heavy rail, roads, cy-cleways, ferries and even “Mobility as a Service” systems.

One issue that governments every-where are grappling with is falling revenues from transport fuel taxes (“ex-cise duty” in New Zealand) as vehicles become more fuel-efficient and electric vehicle numbers rise.

To deal with this, I believe some form of road pricing, such as tolls, will be introduced. A system using GPS tracking and transponders could not only serve revenue collection but also demand management through con-gestion pricing.

The use of new technology will not stop there. I’ve written previously about Mobility as a Service systems (MaaS) becoming more widely adopted, and it seems this Government is actively encouraging it.

The minister has spoken about the need to eliminate the “entrenched car-dependency culture”, but to do that

you must also provide suitable alterna-tives.

When we think about new technol-ogy (and we should), we don’t have to look far into the future to see the legislation steaming towards us in New Zealand. In Europe, planning is well under way for more technology-driven safety features.

We have progressively accepted ABS, ESC, reversing cameras, lane assist and other active safety functions over time. Proposed new requirements are more extreme and include functions such as mandatory maximum speed limiting devices.

This is another step toward auto-mating driving functions and removing drivers’ responsibility for control of the vehicle. The end-game is, of course, a fully automated transport system com-prising self-driving vehicles in a central-ly controlled network.

My original question was “are privately owned vehicles going to be phased out?”

I think the answer is “yes”, but it won’t be because of political decisions. Rather, it will be as the result of different influences and trends coming together:

The encouragement of modal shift and alternative transport options to reduce congestion; road pricing to sustain revenue and manage demand; and finally, new technology that will improve safety and create a more efficient transport network without the need to retrofit existing towns and cities.

So, we’re facing significant changes to how we move around. Change is inevitable and we won’t have a lot of choice about what happens. We will, however, have choice over how we respond, and how we recog-nise and seize the opportunities that will arise.

UPDATE

Are you prepared for the new Health and Safety framework?

By 2020, the Government aims to achieve a 25% reduction in workplace injuries. Are you ready?

VIA is here to help, with industry-ready Procedures Kits for workshops, car yards and compliance shops – developed in conjunction with experts HRtoolkit.

For more information, contact: Malcolm Yorston, Technical Services Manager on 0800 046 842 or DDI 09 573 3243

Email: [email protected]

Health and Safety


JAPANESE MARKET REPORT


With March 31 traditionally sign-ing off the end of the financial year in Japan, taxation disin-

centives to hold over excess stock has created a last-minute rush in the weeks leading up to April, and although slight-ly muted by comparison to activity levels at the start of the decade, March 2019 allowed for some good opportu-nities for Kiwi buyers to capitalise on.

Auction exhibition (entered) volumes were significantly up in the second half of the month, with sites normally offering 1500-2000 units per week, increasing capacity to over 3000 and selling late into the day.

With this increase came better buying conditions, as the expanded choice and “must sell” thinking behind the entries allowed for some good news on prices paid for export stock to destinations such as New Zealand.

The fall-away in auction sold values obtained was not quite as dramatic as many would have hoped, given the cautious retail market here in New Zea-land, but enough to ensure those with access to capital could replenish the stock yards and ultimately dealerships.

Most popular-selling new car, the Toyota Prius, may have been a hit with the Japanese public, but so have used examples too, and March brought little relief to those reliant upon this model for their taxi and commercial clientele back here in New Zealand.

There is no such things as a “bar-gain buy” Prius it seems, with demand world-wide against Japanese domestic market dealers creating top-end, but firm pricing at every mileage and grade level.

Good buying at the end of the month were cheaper, tidy cars with

moderate mileage - the staple of the “volume trade” in our marketplace, as smaller adjustments in reserve pricing coupled with increased numbers exhib-ited made for enough of an opportunity to allow Kiwis to stock a few more than normal.

The retail margins at this “end of town” may be very tight, but this means, in turn, that only small chang-es to landed costs can make all the difference between profit and loss - and therefore, ability to buy.

Mazda models, especially Axela and Demio, continue to show weaker resid-ual values at auction by comparison to other popular marques.

Underbody corrosion issues that have dogged the Mazda product in recent years still restricts the selec-tion that Kiwis have realistic access to, demonstrated by the significant gap in values between suitable examples and those graded “rusty under” that would not normally concern Japanese consumers.

European models, especially Volkswagen, Audi and BMW, represent excellent buying opportunities to those Kiwi dealers prepared to work with per-ception - real or otherwise - of poorer quality control and reliability.

Volkswagen Golf in particular, one of the most successful European imports sold new in Japan over the past years, have suffered from very low residuals with Japanese domestic market dealers shunning them in favour of similar Toy-ota product and the like.

This gives Kiwis a real chance at pur-chasing a profitable stock unit, albeit one with caution around service life and potential reconditioning.

Very popular at present is the Nissan NV200 range of light vans, finding

favour with Kiwi contractors, small businesses and the self-employed, where access to vans under $15,000 is an all-important sector.

The margins may be thin, but any stock line right now that can deliver a consistent customer base to a deal-ership must surely be considered a suc-cess. Sadly though, this opportunity will be short-lived, as the NV200 appears to have avoided fitment of ESC in any form right up to 2019, and even then, may be an optional extra when ordered new.

Toyota Aqua continues to be secured in larger volumes month on month for New Zealand, although mar-gins have now been compressed down to minimal levels given the number for sale and the similar details across the selection.

Low mileage Aquas are still priced stubbornly out of reach, even with old-er 2013 examples, as Japanese dealers can clearly afford to out-bid their Kiwi rivals.

Leaf buyers will know all too well the common theme for 2019 - buy what you can, when it is available. Pricing on the latest models has settled although still marginally out of reach to find a willing volume-based market back here in New Zealand.

Expect a lift in arrivals through late April and May, with the upturn in auction sales over the past few weeks good news for volume-based logistics and service providers throughout the industry.

With ESC 2020 now a mere 11 months away, buyers must now start considering their options with stock selection and replacement - or, in the case of vans, if there are any options.

Report from the Rising SunBY GRAEME MACDONALD

All the Auto Industry HOT NEWS every day as it happens on www.autotalk.co.nzSubscribe online for FREE twice weekly updates direct to your email

JAPANESE MARKET REPORT


Former Renault and Nis-san boss Carlos Ghosn, fresh from prison, has

joined Twitter - and has said he will tell all about what is really happening with the charges against him.

Ghosn tweeted on April 3: “I’m getting ready to tell the truth about what’s happen-ing. Press conference on

Thursday, April 11.”The executive was de-

tained in November when attempting to leave the country. He was arrested on allegations of financial misconduct, including understating his income, and could face 10 years in prison.

He denies any wrongdo-

ing. He was granted bail in February set at one billion Yen.

Media reports in Japan indicate police may be pre-

paring to arrest Ghosn again over further alleged issues with financial misconduct relating to a Nissan dealer in Oman.

Anywhere. Anytime.Your most important dealership information

accessible from any desktop, tablet or mobile device. Faster. Easier. Smarter.

www.motorcentral.co.nz0800 623 687

Third straight business year rise for sales

Ghosn joins twitter - claims he will tell his story

Toyota’s auction division, Toyota Tsusho Corp, is

expanding overseas, with a deal that wills see it run Myanmar’s first auction.

The asian country competed for many years with NZ buyers

for Japanese cars, as it emerged from military rule and an archaic economy.

Cars expected to be sold at the auction include Toyota, Ford, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Chevrolet and Land Rover models.

Japanese new vehicle sales for the business year to the end of

March recorded their third straight year of growth.

Sales were up 1.2% to 5.26 million, although for the export market much of this

was driven by Kei (small light vehicles) cars.

Sales of these tax-friendly cars were up 3.4% to 1.92 million units, according to the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle As-sociation. Daihatsu was the

dominant brand, followed by Honda.

For other vehicles, sales were down 1600 units to 3.34 million.

Toyota was the most pop-ular brand, but saw volume fall 2.4%. Sales were up for

Nissan and Mazda, but Sub-aru declined over issues with vehicle inspections.

In March, new car sales dropped 4% from a year earlier to 640,811 units, with both minicars and other vehicles declining.

Japanese firm to take on Myanmar’s market

http://www.motorcentral.co.nz


F&ITALK

Over the years at Autosure we’ve worked with many dealerships to help them develop success-

ful F&I processes. As part of this we’ve discovered several negative triggers that are a good idea to avoid, so we’d like to share some of these with you.

Psycho-neuro responseHaving been involved in the auto-

mobile business for more than 30 years, we think we’ve seen pretty much every technique and strategy known to the F&I profession. And it’s become clear that what seems logical is not always the way to go. Because at the end of the day, being successful at a sale or not really comes down to the “psy-cho-neuro” response of the customer.

Technically this is an unconscious reaction to a given stimulus in a par-ticular environment that can be meas-ured and modified. Basically, there are psychological triggers that cause people to buy or not buy F&I products.

While every customer is different, there are some universal “psycho-neuro” re-sponses that apply to almost everyone. For example, asking: “Hey, have you gained some weight?” may seem a perfectly logical question if the person looks a little bigger than a couple of months ago. But, through trial and error (big error), we un-derstand that this question evokes a nega-tive psycho-neuro response, regardless of whether it’s reasonable or not.

The F&I process works much the same way - what seems logical to us is not always true. Here are some tips to help you avoid negative triggers:

Titles are everythingThis is an area where old-school

wisdom

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