By 1960, NZR had concluded that stainless steel carriages, which reduced maintenance costs, including avoiding the need to paint were preferable, even though this was at a cost premium of 12–20%. That meant in 1970 a per-carriage cost of $100,000+ for Japanese or Australian stainless steel construction, with $60,000 to $70,000 for conventional Italian or Swedish-built first-class carriages. In 1941 NZR built 31-seat first-class carriages at a cost of £7,140 and second-class, 56-seat carriages at a cost of £5,920 per carriage.