How Japanese cars ran

the rest off Fiji’s roads

From ROBERT KEITH-REID in Suva Fifteen years ago the appearance of a Japanese car on Fiji’s roads promoted curiosity. Today, the hold Japanese car manufacturers have on the country \s relatively small ($lO million a year) car market is almost com plete. This year the Datsun and Toyota factories alone mil supply 60 per cent - 70 per cent of all new cars sold in Fiji.

These became clear when the cars were subjected to the rough punishment any vehicle inevitably gets on the abrasive gravel surface that constitutes most of the Fiji road system.

As Japan’s share of the world car market grew, the quality of its vehicles im proved markedly. The initial bad impres sion they made in Fiji was forgotten. Suva Motors Ltd, the coun try’s biggest car dealer, dropped its British Motor Corporation agency to concentrate on selling Datsun, when it realised just how competitive Japanese cars had become.

Sales manager John Reader com mented: “The Japanese car, any of them, not just Datsun, is mechanically superior to other makes sold in Fiji. They simply stand up better to conditions here than counterpart British models which, price wise, can’t compete.”

Looking at the way Japanese cars won their place in the Fiji transport system, it is difficult to avoid comparison with British vehicles.

Fiji was a British colony until 1970, and it was not until Australian car factories were opened that sales of British vehicles were ever challenged.

Cars from continental European coun tries are rare and American cars were, and still are, even more rare.

Australia’s Holden was the top seller in the 1960 s through to 1974, though sales of Japanese cars crept up steadily in this period.

Then the Fiji Government made the first of two decisions that all but cleared the market of serious rivals for Japanese vehicles.

First, it scrapped the Commonwealth preferential system under which British and Australian cars were landed in Fiji at half the duty applied to Japanese and other cars not made in British Commonwealth countries.

As Japanese cars are shipped from fac tories only half as far from Fiji as British factories, they were already competitive in price when the equalisation of tariffs dramatically improved their sales position.

British cars, now costing $3OO-5600, and in some cases up to $2OOO more than equivalent Japanese models, can no longer compete in price.

The other decision favouring Japanese cars was the imposition in 1975 of a ban on imports of cars of over 2000 cc engine capacity with the idea of cutting petrol

consumption.

It was the end of the road in Fiji for big Australian vehicles like the Holden, Ford Falcon and Chrysler Valiant. Until then they together commanded more than one third of the car market.

Deprived of the ability to buy large Australian cars and unwilling to pay hun dreds of dollars extra for European cars, hundreds of motorists have since switched to Japanese models.

Figures for sales of private cars or taxis tell the story best.

Sales of British cars dropped from 342 in 1969 to under 200 in 1974. Sales of Australian cars dropped from 501 in 1969 to 141 in 1974.

Sales of Japanese cars have risen from 536 in 1969, and have not fallen below 1000 since 1972, with 1124 being sold in 1974.

Last year’s figures for the eight months to the end of August show 15 Australian cars sold against 869 Japanese cars.

For a time, Britain retained her position as chief supplier of lorries, tractors, buses and other types but Japan is now dominating this area also.

In 1969, Britain supplied 236 heavy vehicles, Australia 135 and Japan 141. The 1974 figures were, Britain 149, Australia 60 and Japan 823.

Britain once supplied virtually all the motor cycles sold in Fiji. Not now. In 1974 258 of the 260 sold were Japanese.

Datsun and Toyota seem likely to retain their places in Fiji as sales leaders. Mazda, with sales of 100-150 cars a year, is third, but Honda’s new Civic saloon could take this place from it soon.

Names like Subaru, Isuzu, Daihatsu, Hino and Nissan are still comparatively unknown in Fiji.