The New Zealand Motor Corporation was the New Zealand representative, importer, distributor and retailer of a number of the best-known British

automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

. It carried out the same functions for a wide range of manufacturers of industrial machinery and equipment. It inherited and operated four independent plants assembling CKD kits of British Leyland and, from the late 1970s, Honda models. It was succeeded piecemeal by Honda New Zealand in the 1980s.

Formation

Nuffield Street From Newmarket Viaduct I

1982 New Zealand Motor Corporation Sticker (8239962651)

New Zealand Motor Corporation (NZMC) was formed and listed on the New Zealand Exchange in 1970. It was the long-delayed pooling of their ownership and resources by British Leyland's two principal New Zealand representatives, motor assemblers, distributors and retailers: Dominion Motors ( Nuffield) and the

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Distributors Federation. Together they had 3,000 staff, 40 retail branches and four car assembly plants Newmarket ( Morris), Panmure (Morris), Petone (Austin) and Nelson (

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

- Triumph). At that time British Leyland brands had a good market share in New Zealand but sales dropped reflecting British Leyland's sagging fortunes. New Zealand's principal export customer, the United Kingdom, joined the Common Market in 1973 and took up different sources for its agricultural produce. The mid-1970s witnessed a firm switch to Japanese brands. Not until the end of the 1970s did Hondas begin to replace the British

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

and Princess on NZMC's assembly lines. Economic difficulties in the early-1980s brought about a major restructuring of the New Zealand economy. A new government set about removing protection from many industries including local vehicle assembly. All NZMC assembly plants except the near-new former Rover-Triumph now Honda plant in Nelson had closed by 1988. Nelson closed in 1998.Mark Webster, page 193 ''Assembly, New Zealand Car Production 1921–1998'' Reed 2002

Products

Cars and commercial vehicles, bus chassis and bodies, tractors, industrial and earthmoving equipment, diesel engines, cranes, shipping containers.''New Zealand Business Who's Who''. 22nd edition, FEP Productions, Wellington While primarily producing vehicles for the New Zealand market, some were exported to Australia.

Brands

, Honda,

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

, Land Rover, Leyland, Morris, Rolls-Royce,

, Triumph :

Aveling-Barford Aveling-Barford was a large engineering company making road rollers, motorgraders, front loaders, site dumpers, dump trucks and articulated dump trucks in Grantham, England. In its time, it was an internationally known company. History Rus ...

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

, Cummins, Davis,

ERF Erf or ERF may refer to: Industry * Enerplus, a North American energy producer whose stock is listed as ERF under the TSX and NYSE * ERF (truck manufacturer), a former British truck manufacturer Mathematics * Error function, erf * Exponential ...

, Liebherr,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

, WABCO, White

Franchised dealers

There were 65 franchised dealers in 1980.

Honda

Honda began acquiring the Honda assets from NZMC in the mid-1980s, first acquiring a 25% stake in 1985. Honda New Zealand Ltd was formed in 1988 and assembly of Honda passenger vehicles continued at the Nelson plant until August 1998, when tariffs on imported cars were abolished.Building a car community
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Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...

'' 16 June 2009

References

External links

Honda New Zealand Website
Defunct manufacturing companies of New Zealand Motor vehicle assembly plants in New Zealand New Zealand companies established in 1970 {{motorvehicle-company-stub