Getting your TVR into NZ - new info
Discussion
Since April 2002 it has been virtually impossible to get TVRs younger than 20 years old into New Zealand, and I know through this forum of various people who have suffered from this problem.
My own 400SE was denied registration in 2003, and though I sued Land Transport NZ, they still refused me, and that without giving any acceptable reason.
Lobbyists have put continuous pressure on the minister, who is anyway sympathetic to this type of car, and it has finally paid off. There is new legislation coming into force on May 8th which will allow some TVRs in as classic/collectible/cherished vehicles, or as "baggage" vehicles under certain conditions.
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/rules/q-and-a/frontal-impa...
The reason for the problem derives from differing definitions of a "low-volume vehicle". Land Transport NZ considers a threshold of 200 units of manufacture per year, as opposed to the almost universal standard of 500 per year. This make TVR a high-volume car in NZ and therefore subject to frontal impact testing.
Unusually, these tests were in fact done on the Wedges, but because shortcut were made in order to combine the steering column test with the frontal impact test, these world-class engineers (ahem) at LTNZ dismiss the tests as inconclusive and imporperly executed. There is an agenda at work here.
One of the silliest examples of a car denied registration in NZ for lack of crash-testing was a new Ferrari Enzo imported privately 3 or 4 years ago. LTNZ are desperately out of step with public opinion in NZ, and are increasingly derided. Why should they care? Uniquely, they effectively make laws without reference to Parliament or the Electorate. This will all end badly for them - we hope. Maybe the Beatles will arrive in a yellow submarine and turn all the Blue Meanies at LTNZ to stone.
My own 400SE was denied registration in 2003, and though I sued Land Transport NZ, they still refused me, and that without giving any acceptable reason.
Lobbyists have put continuous pressure on the minister, who is anyway sympathetic to this type of car, and it has finally paid off. There is new legislation coming into force on May 8th which will allow some TVRs in as classic/collectible/cherished vehicles, or as "baggage" vehicles under certain conditions.
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/rules/q-and-a/frontal-impa...
The reason for the problem derives from differing definitions of a "low-volume vehicle". Land Transport NZ considers a threshold of 200 units of manufacture per year, as opposed to the almost universal standard of 500 per year. This make TVR a high-volume car in NZ and therefore subject to frontal impact testing.
Unusually, these tests were in fact done on the Wedges, but because shortcut were made in order to combine the steering column test with the frontal impact test, these world-class engineers (ahem) at LTNZ dismiss the tests as inconclusive and imporperly executed. There is an agenda at work here.
One of the silliest examples of a car denied registration in NZ for lack of crash-testing was a new Ferrari Enzo imported privately 3 or 4 years ago. LTNZ are desperately out of step with public opinion in NZ, and are increasingly derided. Why should they care? Uniquely, they effectively make laws without reference to Parliament or the Electorate. This will all end badly for them - we hope. Maybe the Beatles will arrive in a yellow submarine and turn all the Blue Meanies at LTNZ to stone.
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