Vehicle Scrappage Programs in New Zealand: History and Impact Vehicle Scrappage Programs in New Zealand: History and Impact In recent years, there has been increasing concern over vehicle emissions and their impact on the environment. To address this issue, the New Zealand government has implemented various vehicle scrappage programs aimed at reducing emissions and promoting the use of fuel-efficient vehicles. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the history of these programs and their impact on the country. The Clean Car Discount Program (2021) The most recent vehicle scrappage program ..read more

In 2021 the New Zealand government started subsidizing electric and hybrid vehicles. Despite this the top 10 best selling makes are the traditional internal combustion engine cars. Had the subsidy kicked in at the beginning of 2021, we might have seen Tesla make this list. Data Source Table contains a list of the top ten cars in all 12 months of 2021. The number for each car make is the total number of registrations in 2021. Make Count TOYOTA 29437 MITSUBISHI 20152 FORD 17279 KIA 10151 MAZDA 9258 NISSAN 8611 SUZUKI 8126 HYUNDAI 8120 VOLKSWAGEN 5452 HONDA 4110 Ho ..read more

There were 23072 passenger cars/vans registered in July 2021, 9955 were new and 13113 were used imports. In this blog post we publish the most popular passenger cars/vans that run on petrol or diesel based on vehicle make and model. Data Source Most popular cars by make in July 2021 Top 10 passenger cars by Make in July 2021 that run on petrol or diesel. A table entry with a dash indicates that the vehicle was not in the top 10 list in the past month. Vehicle number count and position changes are relative to previous month’s data. Vehicle Num ΔNum ΔPos MAZDA 2161 -56.0 (-2.5%) 0 TO ..read more

There were 761 new and 534 used electric vehicles registered in July 2021 and were eligible to receive the clean car rebate. This blog post lists the most popular EVs in July 2021 based on make and model, and also shows the comparison with the preceding months’ data. The data used here is limited to passenger vehicles. Data Source In June 2021 there were 349 new and 82 used electric vehicles registered. We can see a clear impact of the clean car rebate programme. The number of new EV registrations in July more than doubled compared to June. Similarly the number of used EV registrations in Ju ..read more

We give a history of “cash for cars” to explain how it began and what it means today. We explicitly define “cash for cars” for future reference. To the best of our knowledge this is the first such attempt at a formal definition of “cash for cars” and it will have major implications for second hand car owners and the industry. History of “Cash For Cars” Cash for cars has been a Google search term since the beginning of the search engine. Initially the phrase may have been used as part of sentences such as “Where to sell car for cash?”. But later on it started getting used as a standalone phr ..read more

Last year New Zealand imported more than a million tonnes of high emissions producing coal (source) to generate electricity. In this blog post we want to learn how many combustion engine vehicles would have produced the same CO2 as a million tonnes of coal. The problems with replacing Petrol cars with EVs The import of coal to generate electricity looks bad given that the government declared climate emergency in the same year. It looks even worse in view of the fact that in June this year James Shaw the minister for climate change announced a clean car rebate to encourage uptake of electric ..read more

Of the 26621 total vehicles registered in June 2021 there were 101 plugin hybrids. For comparison there were 431 passenger EVs registered in the same month. In this blog post we publish the most popular hybrid vehicles based on vehicle make and model. Data Source Best selling plugin hybrids There were 101 plugin hybrid vehicles registered in June 2021 that qualified for the clean car rebates. Top 5 hybrid vehicles by make Top 5 Petrol/Diesel Hybrids by Make in June 2021 that can be externally charged and that are eligible for a rebate. A table entry with a dash indicates that the vehicle wa ..read more

Clean Car Discount overview page provides some preliminary information on the rebate amount. Detailed information such as rebate amount about per gram/kilometre of CO2 emissions is missing. However, a graphic titled “Clean Car Programme 2022” is provided and we have shown that graphic as figure 1 here. In this blog post we explain the problems with this graphic. Clean car discount To be able to clearly see the problems in the Clean Car Discount graphic it helps to see a graphic that does not have the problems. See figure 2, titled “the proposed feebate scheme”. As I learnt in my year 12 ma ..read more

In 2009 the Ministry of Transport, NZTA and Environment Canterbury ran a vehicle scrappage trial in Wellington and Christchurch for three and a half weeks. The trial cost $150,361 and 349 vehicles were scrapped. In this blog post we list some important lessons learnt from the trial and comment on the future viability of similar trials. Data Source The trial cost about $430 per vehicle but scrap vehicle owners were only offered $250 per eligible vehicle with a large chunk of the cost spent on advertising the trial itself. Vehicle scrappage trial For a vehicle to be included in the trial it ..read more

Of the 26621 total vehicles registered in June there were 5097 GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY vehicles registered in June 2021, 4638 were new and 459 were used imports. In this blog post we publish the most popular GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY vehicles that are classified as light vehicles but used in commercial activities and that run on petrol or diesel based on vehicle make and model. Data Source Most popular GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY by make in June 2021 Top 10 GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY vehicles by Make in June 2021 that run on petrol or diesel. A table entry with a dash indicates that the vehicle was ..read more