aza
Linuxluver:
But for now petrol cars are selling like hotcakes. I suspect that is partly due to the rise in property values and people using a chunk of the mortgage to buy the car they want. I've never seen so many Porches....and they would be $80K brand new at least.
It's the finance. There are more pure EVs available second hand than new. But in ICEVs there is abundant choice new and new enables access to offshore finance rates. That situation is distorting the market.
Money is dirt cheap in Japan, USA and Europe. Manufacturers are using that to buy market share. Volvo were advertising 0.9% finance on TV last week, Honda recently 1.7%. That's cheaper than using the mortgage.
Meanwhile NZ finance companies ~10%. I've seen 13% advertised to car buyers like it's a good deal
Ignoring type of vehicle for a moment, people buying a near new car face a much higher interest rate, which translates into a significantly higher cost of ownership.
For all that EV registrations are increasing ... from a low base.
In 2016 63 EVs were registered for the first time in NZ (MIA website data).
In the first half of this year that figure was 186, suggesting a 6 fold increase in EV registrations for all of 2017.
Mostly looks like imported used/ex-demonstrator etc.