Spending on vehicles lifted in August compared with a year earlier, while fuel spending remained weak, new electronic card data shows.
Seasonally adjusted figures from Stats NZ reveal $201 million was spent on vehicles (excluding fuel) in August 2025, up 3.6% from $194m in August 2024.
Month on month, vehicle spending slipped from $203m in July, though it remains well above the year’s low point of $191m in April.
Fuel spending fell to $477m in August 2025, down 7.7 per cent from $517m in the same month a year earlier. It was unchanged from July’s level, marking the fourth straight month of stable results in the high-$470m range.
Overall spending in the retail industries increased by $45m, or 0.7%, in August from the previous month, reaching $6.94b.
