Accelerating car sales pushed up the volume of New Zealand's total retail sales in the quarter ending September, the government statistics agency said Monday.
Rising volumes for both motor vehicles and fuel accounted for almost three-quarters of the September quarter's total increase, according to Statistics New Zealand.
Total retail sales volumes rose 0.9 percent in the quarter and followed a strong 2.2-percent rise in the June 2016 quarter.
"Continuing strong new and used car sales, along with higher fuel sales volumes as prices fell, have put the vehicle-related sectors in pole position this quarter," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement.
Motor vehicles and associated sectors also pushed up the value of total retail sales also rose 0.9 percent, or 192 million NZ dollars (134.59 million U.S. dollars) for the September quarter.
In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was 20.1 billion NZ dollars (14.09 billion U.S. dollars) in the September quarter, up 4.7 percent year on year.
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