Lotus is finally officially being sold in New Zealand.
A couple of years ago the country's Lotus tragics were happy to hear of the brand's long-awaited official arrival in New Zealand.
Driven took a hit for its readers and spent a few days belting around the Lotus test track at Hethel in the UK, poring over future cars in
its design studio and drooling over F1 machines of days gone by in its heritage museum. This was due to the imminent launch of Lotus in New Zealand and Australia. Long story short, the Aussies got a lot of Lotuses, we got nothing. Until now.
The brand has now been officially launched with a single dealership in Auckland. Plans to open another in Christchurch have gone by the wayside for the moment, but the Auckland showroom on Great South Rd, Newmarket, is now open under the guidance of James Berry, who brings masses of exotic car experience to the brand.
"It has always been our plan to launch Lotus in New Zealand as part of our business on both sides of the Tasman," explains Neville Crichton, head of Australasia's largest independent car importer group of companies, which include Lotus importer European Automotive Imports, the Ateco Group and the freshly minted FiatChrysler New Zealand.
"However, before doing so we wanted to ensure that the full range of Lotus models was correctly positioned for the New Zealand market in terms of price and equipment, there was full and free supply of those models and that we had the ideal representation in New Zealand for Lotus."
