Discussion
I`ve been down in New Zealand and took time to stick my head into Aston Martin Auckland, which is part of the Giltrap Group who are probably NZ`s biggest supporters of motorsport, and it`s no surprise when you look at the brands they handle other than Aston; Porsche, Lamborghini, McLaren, Nissan, Jaguar, Bentley, Audi and several more. They have a new building on Great North Road that`s been open for about 18 months, and the ground level is divided evenly between AM, Lambo & Bentley.
The AM manager Greg Brinck came to speak with me as I was looking at a very nice DB11 AMR and sipping on a flat white from the cafe in the foyer. The cafe has an upstairs seating area where people can ogle cars while having lunch or whatever. We ended up talking for at least 45 minutes and he very nicely took the time to show me around the setup, 4 levels above ground, 4 levels below, workshops, car parks, driving sim, offices, etc, and what was impressive was the stock of new and used cars they had, and not just AM. There were 5 DBSS on the premises, plenty of DB11`s, 2 or 3 Rapides and a few new Vantages including a very nicely specced Cinnabar in the ground level and an equally nice Skyfall Silver on the second level.
There was a yellow Aventador SVJ being prepped for customer and when viewing that from the gallery above the workshop it looked very Sci-Fi, and a white DBSS waiting in the collection area for it`s new owner.
They are not just in stock either, they are moving a good number of cars from what I understood. For little old New Zealand they seem to shift a decent amount of totally unecessary sports cars, the likes of which we all seem to enjoy! Bodes well.
(The building exterior image I nicked off the internet)
The AM manager Greg Brinck came to speak with me as I was looking at a very nice DB11 AMR and sipping on a flat white from the cafe in the foyer. The cafe has an upstairs seating area where people can ogle cars while having lunch or whatever. We ended up talking for at least 45 minutes and he very nicely took the time to show me around the setup, 4 levels above ground, 4 levels below, workshops, car parks, driving sim, offices, etc, and what was impressive was the stock of new and used cars they had, and not just AM. There were 5 DBSS on the premises, plenty of DB11`s, 2 or 3 Rapides and a few new Vantages including a very nicely specced Cinnabar in the ground level and an equally nice Skyfall Silver on the second level.
There was a yellow Aventador SVJ being prepped for customer and when viewing that from the gallery above the workshop it looked very Sci-Fi, and a white DBSS waiting in the collection area for it`s new owner.
They are not just in stock either, they are moving a good number of cars from what I understood. For little old New Zealand they seem to shift a decent amount of totally unecessary sports cars, the likes of which we all seem to enjoy! Bodes well.
(The building exterior image I nicked off the internet)
No one replied to your post Dean, but thank you for describing some of AM scene in NZ.
Has your home country been a long established market for AM, perhaps going back to when customers bought the early DB cars?
Looking forward to seeing some of your AM motorsport photos this year. Expect you will be going to Le Mans. I am hoping that the future rule changes there, will allow race versions of road cars (ie. Valkyrie) to replace the LMP1 prototypes. Very clever engineering and immense performance, but seeing road type cars leading the race, would be much more interesting.
Dean
Interesting story - I've been contemplating shipping my 07 to NZ and leaving it there for 6-9 months and then doing a couple of extended driving tours around both islands. Good to know there is a decent dealer and a number of cars there.
Unlike Australia where there is a 33% luxury car tax on new vehicles over $60k NZ has much better pricing of the exotics so that may help to explain the numbers of cars.
Also it's had a pretty buoyant economy for quite a few years now
Graeme
Interesting story - I've been contemplating shipping my 07 to NZ and leaving it there for 6-9 months and then doing a couple of extended driving tours around both islands. Good to know there is a decent dealer and a number of cars there.
Unlike Australia where there is a 33% luxury car tax on new vehicles over $60k NZ has much better pricing of the exotics so that may help to explain the numbers of cars.
Also it's had a pretty buoyant economy for quite a few years now
Graeme
Missed this post originally. Aston Martin Auckland is an excellent dealer and Asia Pacific Aston Dealer of the year.
NZ is the largest per capita market for Aston, Lamborghini and McLaren, I think. All vehicles are sold through Giltraps Auckland Dealerships. They do offer local servicing in Wellington and Christchurch, although I drive from Wellington to get mine serviced, any excuse to have a days drive. Their service is excellent and the staff always very friendly. They also arrange several track days and community drives for customers.
I would highly recommend spending time in the country, with an Aston, but the police do strictly in force the speed limits, although there are very few motorways the roads are generally in good condition and are great driving roads.
NZ is the largest per capita market for Aston, Lamborghini and McLaren, I think. All vehicles are sold through Giltraps Auckland Dealerships. They do offer local servicing in Wellington and Christchurch, although I drive from Wellington to get mine serviced, any excuse to have a days drive. Their service is excellent and the staff always very friendly. They also arrange several track days and community drives for customers.
I would highly recommend spending time in the country, with an Aston, but the police do strictly in force the speed limits, although there are very few motorways the roads are generally in good condition and are great driving roads.
Jon39 said:
No one replied to your post Dean, but thank you for describing some of AM scene in NZ.
Has your home country been a long established market for AM, perhaps going back to when customers bought the early DB cars?
Looking forward to seeing some of your AM motorsport photos this year. Expect you will be going to Le Mans. I am hoping that the future rule changes there, will allow race versions of road cars (ie. Valkyrie) to replace the LMP1 prototypes. Very clever engineering and immense performance, but seeing road type cars leading the race, would be much more interesting.
No Le Mans for me this year unfortunately. My two clients for the WEC were Red Bull & Porsche Motorsport, more specifically the LMP1 team, and as they stepped out of their very successful LMP1 to concentrate on Formula E, the need for WEC images dried up! I was hoping to get along to Le Mans anyway but I have a friend`s wedding to attend, so not this year, but I will be back! After doing two 24hr Le Mans I feel like I still haven`t scratched the surface. Interested to see what the WEC come up with after this "super series"...
No idea about the history of AM on the NZ market, but I did come across a historic photo while I was there, me standing next to the first Aston I drove, a DB7, circa 2004... the most amazing thing about this is I don`t appear to have any grey hair!
Graze01 said:
Dean
Interesting story - I've been contemplating shipping my 07 to NZ and leaving it there for 6-9 months and then doing a couple of extended driving tours around both islands. Good to know there is a decent dealer and a number of cars there.
Hey Graeme,Interesting story - I've been contemplating shipping my 07 to NZ and leaving it there for 6-9 months and then doing a couple of extended driving tours around both islands. Good to know there is a decent dealer and a number of cars there.
Not your worst idea! NZ has some very good roads, of course Mr. Plod enforces the meagre 100km/h speed limit quite vigilantly, especially around any holiday periods. The biggest cause of accidents in NZ is people crossing the centre line so if biffing a car around in an exuberant manner choose your times and lines wisely... Oh, and radar detectors are legal, so invest!
oilit said:
i do like the cinnebar as a colour on the vantage!
sounds like an impressive main dealer premises.
Yes, it was a decent set-up. The Cinnabar looks great!sounds like an impressive main dealer premises.
mafisher said:
Missed this post originally. Aston Martin Auckland is an excellent dealer and Asia Pacific Aston Dealer of the year.
NZ is the largest per capita market for Aston, Lamborghini and McLaren, I think. All vehicles are sold through Giltraps Auckland Dealerships. They do offer local servicing in Wellington and Christchurch, although I drive from Wellington to get mine serviced, any excuse to have a days drive. Their service is excellent and the staff always very friendly. They also arrange several track days and community drives for customers.
I would highly recommend spending time in the country, with an Aston, but the police do strictly in force the speed limits, although there are very few motorways the roads are generally in good condition and are great driving roads.
Largest per capita, interesting fact. Two to three new Vantages per month and I think nine DBSS thus far is impressive numbers for a country of that size me thinks, I was quite surprised they were going so well. Not shifting Vantages at that rate in Switzerland from what I can tell.NZ is the largest per capita market for Aston, Lamborghini and McLaren, I think. All vehicles are sold through Giltraps Auckland Dealerships. They do offer local servicing in Wellington and Christchurch, although I drive from Wellington to get mine serviced, any excuse to have a days drive. Their service is excellent and the staff always very friendly. They also arrange several track days and community drives for customers.
I would highly recommend spending time in the country, with an Aston, but the police do strictly in force the speed limits, although there are very few motorways the roads are generally in good condition and are great driving roads.
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