Marac parent company Pyne Gould Corporation has announced it expects to report a net profit ahead of expectations.

Profit for the year to June 30 will be $22 million, ahead of a forecast of $20.9 million.

PGC’s press release noted strong contributions from Marac's vehicle finance operations among its investments.

The recovery of vehicle sales in the last quarter has had a postive effect on the economy.

The seasonally adjusted volume of total retail sales rose 1.3% in the June 2010 quarter, the fifth consecutive quarterly increase in sales volumes.

This quarter’s increase in sales volumes was dominated by a 4.0% increase in motor vehicle retailing, and a 3.4% increase in appliance retailing.

The recovery in new vehicle sales stopped in a rest area to admire the view during July.

July sales of 4446 new passengers cars were down 23% over June 2010 and 1% compared to July 2009, making it the second smallest month for the year to date.

Commercial vehicles sales rose 25.1% during the month to 1585 from 1267 in July 2009 – reflecting the afterglow of fielday’s deliveries.

Ian Stronach, MTA marketing and communications general manager says: “While it’s never good to see an upward trend in sales falter, it’s not a surprise given the strength of the market in June.

"On the face of it, quite a few sales were brought forward, with customers seeing the array of offers that most distributors had out there in June as being too good to turn down.”

I’m not sure what they’re putting in the slightly sparkling mineral water at Bellamy’s these days, but I’m guessing 'reality check juice' isn’t one of the ingredients. These past couple of weeks we have seen the emergence of Dr. Jackie Blues’ Consumer Guarantees Act and the requisite hand-wringing, passionate sound bites from Ministers upon a voyage of discovery into the murky waters of  Trade Me and the Shock! Horror! of the REAL marketplace in New Zealand.

Kiwis going about business unfettered by consumer law, comebacks, taxation, legal beagles and red tape. In other words, pretty typical commerce for the average Kiwi punter, whether in household junk, TV sets or cars.

You could almost sense the injustice of it all in Dr. Blues’ press release: “There are people out there getting ripped off. It’s really quite urgent.” Well, duh. Welcome to Trade Me - the perfect unofficial trade mechanism for a society that prides itself on fleecing one another, so much so it’s almost a sport.

The age of used imported vehicles into New Zealand is dropping - according to the IMVIA's monthly report on the dynamics of the New Zealand vehicle fleet.

Last year the mean average age of imported vehicles was 8.31 years.

Year-to-date in 2010 this has dropped to 7.76 years - an improvement of almost half a year (0.55) in the age of used vehicles coming into the country.

Despite higher Road User Charges, buyers are increasingly opting for diesel vehicles.

According to the Motor Trade Association, June 2010 saw sales of new diesel powered cars exceed 20% of all sales for the first time.  For the year to date, diesel powered cars account for almost 18% of new car sales, almost double the level of just three years ago.

This is despite rumours of 'dirty diesel' - which the MTA refutes.

Ian Stronach, MTA marketing and communications general manager says, “Despite all the stories about so-called ‘dirty diesel’ that were around, MTA was able to disprove those and buyers have continued to recognise the many inherent advantages that diesel power provides.

Automotive financier MARAC has had its credit rating affirmed by international rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) as BB+, and its outlook improved to “stable” from “negative”.

MARAC chief executive Jeff Greenslade says “The rating outlook improvement is an acknowledgement by S&P of the substantial progress made within MARAC’s business over the last 12 months and reflects improving asset quality, strong liquidity, a robust balance sheet and capital base, and MARAC’s good market position.”