Photo: RNZ
Prices on electric vehicles (EVs) are being slashed ahead of the end of the Clean Car Discount scheme, but dealerships spoken to by RNZ say interest from consumers is lukewarm.
National had promised it would scrap the rebate and higher fees for gas guzzlers - the so-called "ute tax" - in the first 100 days of government if it got into power.
However, with coalition talks under way, dealerships were reporting the EV market was mostly flat.
"Most distributors are slashing prices and becoming more competitive," Gazley Motor Group dealer principal Oliver Gazley said.
They were not seeing floods of people rushing in before the Clean Car Discount was removed, Gazley said, and it had been a flat market for some months with a lot of uncertainty.
He said some would be looking for a change in government to be finalised, but with inflation and high interest rates people also were not throwing money around.
Brendan Foot Supersite dealer principal David Foot said many EV manufacturers had a lot of stock on the ground.
"We're finding that they're wanting to clear as much of that stock as possible, whilst the market is stimulated by the government rebates."
He said they had seen some people wanting to take advantage of the government rebates.
Used cars sales not accelerating
Drive EV director Steve Greenwood said while the election had put EVs on people's radar, there had not been a stampede in the door.
"I think it's probably more just people who are going to buy an EV and maybe being moved forward a few months in the process because it's, I guess, an incentive to do something now."
However, Greenwood believed the EV industry would continue to grow regardless of whether there was a rebate.
"With or without rebates, electric vehicles make sense from so many different angles."
Auckland City Electric Vehicles director Nick Jackson believed losing the rebate would broaden the gap between new and second hand EVs.
He said the price of imported EVs would also be influenced by what they were able to buy them for in Japan.
"They might stay the same price, they might lower now since the rebate's gone."
He said without a discount he expected about 30 percent of their customers could opt to keep using a petrol car.
Election not driving change
Trade Me head of motors Jayme Fuller said there had been a steady increase in New Zealanders searching for hybrid and electric vehicles on Trade Me throughout the year.
"Whilst we haven't seen a dramatic change in users' behaviour looking at electric vehicles since the general election, we did record a couple of spikes in searches for EVs and hybrids during the major campaign period which may be a result of National's policy announcements."
Slamming the brake on 'ute tax'
Ute sales were also expected to rise, with National promising it would stop the government raising funds from high-emissions vehicles.
Gazley said with several distributors covering the tax, many customers had not had to pay it anyway, but Foot said they were expecting a lot of people to wait until the new year before purchasing a high-emissions vehicle.