KEY POINTS:
The Government bypassed a cheaper and greener limousine to take up with BMW - but it got a superb deal from the German carmaker.
The BMW 730ld - with a shelf price of $170,000 - won the tender, with the Government making much of its environmental friendliness.
But the Herald has learned the Peugeot 607 option, which has a shelf price of $75,990, lays claim to a better record in the fuel consumption and emission requirements touted by the Government.
The reasons for the decision become clearer by factoring in the heavy discount from BMW, which is understood to have sold the 34 cars for less than $90,000 each and with a two-year-plus service guarantee thrown in.
The heavy discount surprised car industry sources yesterday.
They said that while all companies would offer a discount to win the tender, BMW's was particularly generous.
The Department of Internal Affairs, which manages the limousine contract, has refused to release the cost of the BMWs or the details of the 15 other tenders submitted by car companies, citing "commercial sensitivity".
Its press release announcing the BMW compared its green factors favourably against the present Ford Fairlanes - an unfair comparison considering Ford did not put anything forward in the tender.
The release said the BMW "outperformed all others" in energy efficiency and was second in emission standards. It also praised its economic "whole-of-life" costs - everything from depreciation to daily running costs.
An Internal Affairs spokesman could not explain why the Peugeot 607 figures - provided in the tender - were better than those it released for the BMW except to say that they were "very close".
The French-made Peugeot 607 runs on diesel like the BMW.
Nissan New Zealand customer services manager Mike Perez said his company did not lodge a tender because it had no vehicles that matched the specifications.
He said he was surprised to hear BMW had got the contract, and had not considered the German vehicle when considering what car would win the contract.
"It depends on what price discount was offered," Mr Perez said.
"It doesn't leap out to me as the prime choice, but it is the Government's choice."
Chrysler New Zealand, whose 3000c diesel vehicle was among those rejected by the Government, said its $69,990 vehicle was a match for the BMW in terms of performance and efficiency, but was a completely different product for a different market.
"For $69,990 the car is really good value," marketing manager Stephen Bowater said. "They seem to have been looking for something more in the luxury stakes."
Lexus national manager Matthew Morrison said he understood his company's luxury four-wheel-drive, the $106,200 RX400h, had come close to winning the tender.
Lexus had thought its hybrid vehicle more than matched the Government's ecological requirements, Mr Morrison said.
"We offered the cars at what we thought was a very reasonable price. It [being outdiscounted] may have been what happened, who knows?"
The Sustainable Energy Forum yesterday said if the Government had paid the full $170,000 price for the BMWs it was sending the wrong message about climate change.
"By being clever and using the latest available technology, it is possible to make considerable energy savings and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions at little or no extra cost," said a forum spokesman, JohnBlakeley.
"It would be a quite ridiculous position for the Government to say that a saving of about 2.1 litres/100km in fuel consumption justifies spending almost twice as much money on the purchase of ministerial cars."
IGNORED
PEUGEOT 607
* Costs $75,990.
* Uses 6.4 litres of fuel (diesel) per 100km.
* Emits 170 grams CO2 per km.
* Top speed 223km/h.
* 4 cylinder, 2.2 litre.
CHOSEN
BMW 730LD
* Costs about $170,000 - Government got for under $90,000.
* Uses 8.1 litres of fuel (diesel) per 100km.
* Emits 212 grams CO2 per km.
* Top speed 238km/h.
* Six cylinder, 3 litres.
