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The automotive industry in New Zealand no longer has a vehicle assembly industry for passenger cars. Changes to protection of the local industry eventually led to the closure of the assembly plants since they could not compete with foreign counterparts. Annual output of automotive industry achieved more than 100 thousands in 1980s and then dramatically decreased due to Asian market import. Currently, there are a number of small domestic companies producing original kit and replica cars using local-made car bodies and imported componentry for both the local and international markets. Several of these, while small in size, are noted internationally for the quality of their workmanship. Most domestic vehicles are imported, with Toyota, Ford, and General Motors Holden division dominating the market. The automotive industry started with the importation in 1898 of two Benz cars from Paris by William McLean. Apart from a few attempts to create locally made cars in the 1900s (decade) most were imported. New Zealand Government legislation and import duties in the early 1920s created conditions which meant that major international companies such as Ford and General Motors started assembling cars locally. These major companies and the legislation in turn worked against the formation of any significant indigenous automobile companies. Only small boutique kit and replica car firms were able to survive. In the 1980s, the removal of import duty and restrictive legislation caused an influx of secondhand Japanese cars and unrestricted access for new imported vehicles. In turn, this caused the closure of all the large local assembly plants by the late 1990s because it was cheaper to build mass-produced vehicles overseas. ==First automobiles== McLean's motor cars were landed at Wellington from the ''SS Rotomahana'' on 19 February 1898. They were named a Benz Petrolette and the other a Benz Lightning.〔New Zealand in Review: an illustrated digest of interesting information, historical, geographical and otherwise, relating to New Zealand, James Berry, page 59〕 After McLean's Benz cars were imported it was almost two years before the next four-wheel car was imported. At least three three-wheelers were imported in 1899: Mr Acton Adams of Christchurch's De Dion, Arthur Maychurch's Star Motor Company Stuart, and Mr Maunsell's of Masterton.〔Editorial, Mataura Ensign, Issue 635, 14 September 1899, Page 2〕〔Local and General, Star, Issue 6596, 21 September 1899, Page 3〕 All three arrived in September 1899, with Acton Adams vehicle being involved in New Zealand's first motor vehicle accident two months later.〔Accidents and fatalities, Star, Issue 6650, 23 November 1899, Page 3〕 The three motor-tricycles were followed in 1900 by a Darracq and a Locomobile steam car along with a Pope-Toledo, Eagle, Argyll, Oldsmobile, and Daimler. In 1903, 153 cars and motorbikes were imported.〔New Zealand Official Year Book 1904, page 175〕 By the 1920s imports had increased to over 20,000 per annum.〔Motor vehicle imports, Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 79, 3 April 1926, Page 19〕 Cars in 1903 cost more than twice the average annual income meaning the market was limited to the wealthy.〔100 years of motoring in New Zealand, John McCrystal, Hodder Moa Beckett Publishers Limited, 2003, ISBN 1-86958-897-5〕 Petrol was not readily available and in some instances owners had to order it from Sydney, Australia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Automotive industry in New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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