Senior Sergeant Anna Lloyd said the man turned himself into the Rolleston police station on Monday morning after the blaze on Brookside Rd about 3.10pm on Sunday.
He was held in custody, pending his court appearance.
Lloyd said the man was known to the owner of one of the vehicles and had already been identified by police before turning himself in.
“There’s still an element of investigation that will be occurring,” Lloyd said.
Rolleston Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Cam Kenyon said firefighters were alerted to the incident after a call-out about smoke in the area.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the three cars which were parked next to each other at the residential address.
“We handed it over to police because we couldn’t confirm what started it,” Kenyon said.
