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Speaker 1: The car industry has got some life, some numbers for

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Speaker 1: you in a moment, sales up, new brands though opening

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Speaker 1: business here. We've got five new brands from China in

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Speaker 1: the last two months, Dong fing. They're the latest three

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Speaker 1: Bev's got the Box, got the Vega, got the Double.

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Speaker 1: Seven dealerships are going to be open in Auckland, Wellington,

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Speaker 1: christ Church later this year. So i'mon Rutherford's the boss

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Speaker 1: at auto Distributors in New Zealand and is with us.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning to you, Mike. Thanks for having

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Speaker 2: me on the show.

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Speaker 1: Great pleasure. This has got to end in tears, doesn't it.

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Speaker 1: I mean, five new brands in two months. There's no

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Speaker 1: way we can sustain that many car brands, is there.

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Speaker 2: I think there'll be a reshuffling of the pack. So

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Speaker 2: undoubtedly be a lot of turmoil in the industry, and

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Speaker 2: we're already experiencing that.

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Speaker 1: What are the I mean, the logistics of opening your doors,

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Speaker 1: providing back up, servicing, warranties, people hiring all of that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's a big ask. It's not just a

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Speaker 1: matter of having a car and turning up, is it.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we've been working on this for some time. So

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Speaker 2: obviously all those back end logistics systems training, you know,

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Speaker 2: just even configuring the show rooms and systems is all

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Speaker 2: working pay. So, you know, we're really excited about where

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Speaker 2: we are with that. We wouldn't have been committing to

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Speaker 2: an opening time in the fourth quarter unless we're already.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, So, how does it work in terms of people

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Speaker 1: buying cars? Do we have any hard data in the

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Speaker 1: sense do I buy a car from a brand I've

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Speaker 1: never even heard of?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I think that what we've seen is a recognition

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Speaker 2: that the you know, the Chinese market is hugely competitive.

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Speaker 2: Chinese consumers themselves are very very demanding, and you just

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Speaker 2: can't succeed. You know, I lived and worked in China

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Speaker 2: about ten years ago, and obviously I've been back on

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Speaker 2: recent trips and the transition is quite phenomenal where Chinese.

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Speaker 2: You know, Chinese consumers are recognizing that they have better

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Speaker 2: products and they'll choose what they want. So I think

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Speaker 2: that's probably my barometer of what's going on.

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Speaker 1: Are they dumping now?

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Speaker 2: I don't think there's there's dumping. There's certainly a strategy

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Speaker 2: to expand an export from purely domestic and we've seen

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Speaker 2: that start over probably the last ten years to different degrees.

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Speaker 1: Are we going to see a price war here, the

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Speaker 1: sort of price war we're seeing in places like Europe.

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Speaker 2: I think we're already seeing that to some degree, Mike.

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Speaker 2: It's extremely competitive out there. There's also other elements in,

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Speaker 2: you know, the kind of ecosystem around achieving CO two targets,

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Speaker 2: and we're actually a little bit behind where we need

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Speaker 2: to be on that. Yeah, you know as a country,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure you're well away for that.

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Speaker 1: Exactly are we going to test the market in terms

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Speaker 1: of see evs aren't that hot here and you've suddenly

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Speaker 1: got five brands, five more brands just selling evs. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's really a test for the market and appetite.

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Speaker 2: Isn't it. Yes, I think it is. I think that

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Speaker 2: we're at this sort of there is a little bit

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Speaker 2: of a tipping point. If you'd asked me three to

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Speaker 2: four years ago, I would have said that, yeah, there

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Speaker 2: was a that wasn't an acceptance of evs at all.

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Speaker 2: But if you look at the market, it's already shifted

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Speaker 2: to a sort of state where people certainly is perhaps

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Speaker 2: the second car and the Garacter are very much willing

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Speaker 2: to consider an EV and even this year, although we

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Speaker 2: sort of don't talk about it too much, there has

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Speaker 2: still been a shift of about ten percent out of

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Speaker 2: pure ice into something electrified. So you know, the transition

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Speaker 2: was always going to take time. And the other thing

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Speaker 2: I think is worth mentioning is that you know, bands

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Speaker 2: like Dong Fung they're not just ev whilst we're bringing

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Speaker 2: three vs in initially, they're multi energy and they cater

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Speaker 2: to multiple segments of all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Simon, appreciate your time. You have a good week

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Speaker 1: in Simon Rutherfood Auto Distributors. The commercial numbers for September here,

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Speaker 1: they're up fourteen and a half percent, thirty six hundred

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Speaker 1: and thirty seven new commercial sold Ford ranges back at

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Speaker 1: number one. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast listen

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Speaker 1: live to news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio