Far North taonga on world stage

The Far North will be thrust on to the world stage in more ways than one later this month when the trophy for Women's World Car of the Year is awarded at a Paris motor show.

Not only was the international competition founded by a Northlander, but this year's trophy was carved in a Far North shed.

The trophy was to have been made in Holland but when the Dutch failed to come up with the goods Women's World Car of the Year chief judge Sandy Myhre, of Kerikeri, had to find an alternative in a hurry.

Rather than panicking, which had certainly been an option, Ms Myhre said she called Waimate North carver and 2010 Far North mayoral candidate Hugh McKechnie.

It just so happened he had carved a piece of macrocarpa into a koru with a wing or tail-like form representing motion, without quite knowing what he was going to do with it.

Kerikeri company NPC Signworx came to the party, adding the award logo and title in inlaid paua.

"It was a sensational rescue package from Kerikeri and I'm enormously proud to take this trophy to Paris."

Ms Myhre said she would present the trophy to the makers of this year's winner, the Range Rover Evoque, who would then put it on permanent display in their UK boardroom.

She would also be telling world media about the trophy when it was handed over at the Paris Motor Show on Thursday next week, "so a small part of the Far North will be on the world stage."

Ms Myhre, who has been a motor sports journalist for 30 years and is now editor of Focus magazine, published by the Northland Age, founded Women's World Car of the Year five years ago with two other female motoring writers, Liz Swanton of Australia and Caroline Carver of the UK.

It was a reaction to the male monopoly of the US-based World Car of the Year, which at that time had not a single woman among the 43 judges on its panel.

That was despite women making up an estimated 49 per cent of all car purchasers, and women having an influence on 80 per cent of all car-buying decisions.

"Women were so poorly represented in the motoring industry, you just didn't see them being catered for," she said.

"So I said, 'Let's start our own World Car of the Year.' It started as one of those throw-away lines."

The original Women's World Car of the Year panel consisted of eight judges from seven countries, with the first supreme winner the Jaguar XF.

The trophy was made in South Africa and presented in London in 2010.

The following year saw a dead heat between the BMW 3 Series and Citroen DS3.

The two trophies were made in India and presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Since then the judging panel has grown to 21 women from 17 countries.

Ms Myhre said her passion had always been to give women a greater voice in the car industry.

And it was starting to pay off, with Women's World Car of the Year now recognised in Europe, although, ironically, not in New Zealand or Australia, as providing that long-overdue voice.

Sandy Myhre's writing for Focus magazine earned her the runner-up title in the best columnist category of the APN Regional and Community Newspaper Awards earlier this year.