there never were any large scale domestic auto manufacturers in NZ, and the ones that were there are still there pumping out bespoke stuff.
NZ just didn't have a large enough automotive industry, so all cars had to be imported, thus the regulations on imports and costs of importing are far less than in australia. it adds about 4k to 5k on the price. That cost is negligible at high cost cars, but for cars under 20k, that becomes a significant percentage.