Automotive industry insights
Explore the latest industry insights from Infometrics to learn more about the industries we work with and how they’re evolving.
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Automotive industry summary
Employment in 2025
In 2025, 68,304 people were employed in New Zealand’s automotive sector. This represents 2.5% of all filled jobs nationally.
Between 2020 and 2025, employment in the automotive sector grew at an average rate of 1% per year. Employment is forecast to grow by 1.3% per year between 2026 and 2031.
Businesses in the sector
In 2025, there were 15,020 businesses operating in the automotive sector in New Zealand. These businesses made up 2.3% of all business units nationally.
Future workforce demand
Between 2026 and 2031, the automotive sector is expected to generate 17,418 total job openings. These openings include:
- 3,845 new jobs created through employment growth
- 13,573 replacement roles, reflecting workforce turnover.
Where people work
- Auckland: 21,971
- Bay of Plenty: 5,117
- Waikato: 8,460
- Wellington: 4.952
- Canterbury: 9,640
- Rest of North Island: 10,613
- Rest of South Island: 7,552
Top occupations
The top five occupations in 2025 were:
- Motor Mechanic: 15,288 jobs
- Diesel Motor Mechanic: 6,924 jobs
- Office Manager: 2,710 jobs
- Sales Assistant: 2,659 jobs
- Automotive Electrician: 2,004 jobs
These represent 28,585 jobs, 43.3% of total Automotive in New Zealand.
Self-employment in 2025
In 2025, 11,474 people working in the automotive sector were self‑employed, representing a 16.8% self‑employment rate.
This is higher than the national average, with 15.2% of workers across New Zealand being self‑employed. Over time, self‑employment rates in both the automotive sector and the wider economy have gradually declined, but automotive has consistently remained above the national average.
Sector productivity
In 2025, the automotive sector generated $7,999 million in GDP, accounting for 1.9% of New Zealand’s total GDP.
Average annual GDP growth for the automotive sector was 1% between 2020 and 2025, and 2.6% between 2015 and 2025.
Over the same periods, total New Zealand GDP grew at 1.7% and 2.5% per year respectively.
Productivity, measured as GDP per full-time equivalent (FTE), was $125,101 in the automotive sector, compared with $174,045 across New Zealand.
Ethnicity of workers
In 2025, automotive workers were predominantly European, making up a larger share of the workforce than in New Zealand overall.
Māori, Asian, and Pacific Peoples were all represented in the sector, at a slightly lower share compared with the national workforce.
Highest post‑school qualifications (2023)
Among automotive workers with formal qualifications, Level 4 was the most common.
Just under half of the workforce hold no formal qualifications.
Age profile of workers
The automotive workforce has a broadly similar age profile to the national workforce, with some notable differences:
- Younger workers aged 15–24 make up a slightly higher share of automotive employment compared with the national average.
- The largest share of workers is concentrated in the 25–54 age range, consistent with New Zealand overall.
- Older age groups (55–64 and 65+) are represented at similar levels to the national workforce.
Female participation
Women made up 16.6% of the automotive workforce in 2025.
Female participation in the automotive sector has remained relatively stable over time.
Hours worked
Automotive workers were more likely than the national average to work full‑time hours.
The largest share worked 40–49 hours per week, at a higher proportion than New Zealand overall.
Fewer automotive workers were employed in lower‑hour brackets compared with the wider workforce.
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These reports were defined by MITO Limited. Data sourced from Infometrics and Statistics New Zealand.