6 April 2004

April vehicle registrations up 13 percent

Vehicle registrations for the month of April were up 13.1 percent on last year, according to Land Transport Safety Authority figures.

There were 24,103 first-time registrations of new and used imported vehicles this April, compared with 21,317 in April 2003.

Total first-time car registrations rose by 9.2 percent, from 16,630 in April 2003 to 18,154 last month. New car registrations were up 16.3 percent, from 4,475 to 5,206 while used import registrations rose 6.5 percent from 12,155 to 12,948.

The market share leader for new car registrations in April was Toyota with 16.3 percent, ahead of Ford with 14.6 percent and Holden with 13.3 percent.
The three most popular new car models for the month were the Ford Falcon, Holden VY2 Commodore and Toyota Corolla.

Truck registrations were up 34.9 percent, from 2,151 in April 2003 to 2,901 last month. Trailer registrations were up 16.3 percent, from 1,497 to 1,741 while motorcycle registrations (over 60cc) rose 23.1 percent, from 407 to 501. Tractor registrations fell slightly from 175 to 172, while bus registrations rose from 79 to 102.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>