NZ car dealerships set to open under ‘traffic light’ Covid strategy

The New Zealand government’s announcement of a revamped Covid-19 strategy will see car dealerships finally be able to open fully to customers if they use vaccine certificates. Although exactly when this is set to happen remains up in the air. 

This is particularly welcome news for dealerships based in Auckland, which have been operating under strict Alert Level 3 conditions since September 21; having been closed for more than a month prior while Auckland was in Level 4. 

The government’s new ‘traffic light’ Covid-19 strategy introduces three tiers of operating regulations for stores to comply with, with red representing the most stringent and green being the most relaxed. 

The crux of the strategy is that it allows the opening of retail locations, including car dealerships. At a ‘red’ level, Covid app scanning, mask-wearing, and a cap on the amount of people in one location will be required in most indoor settings, and those with vaccine certificates will be able to attend larger gatherings. 

Once a region’s Covid-19 cases become more manageable, it can move into an ‘orange’ level. Masks and scanning will still be required, but the cap on people allowed in a venue disappears for those with a vaccine certificate. 

Then, when Covid-19 case counts are low, a region can move to a ‘green’ level. Here, masks and scanning will only be requirements on flights, and the cap on people allowed inside an indoors venue becomes infinite for the vaccinated and 100 for those without a vaccine certificate. 

Speaking today, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said that areas will only move into that red zone once their local District Health Board records a double-dosed vaccination rate of 90 per cent or over. 

Despite Auckland still being in Level 3 lockdown, the nation’s car companies have soldiered on with solid sales figures. September represented the second highest month for new vehicle registrations on record, according to the Motor Industry Association. 

Although, those figures were admittedly inflated by the backlog of vehicles that could not be delivered to customers during August’s Level 4 lockdown conditions.