Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and even a heavy duty commercial fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) made it the distributor stands of the National Fieldays held at Mystery Creek from June 14 to 17.
In spite of being the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere, the National Fieldays has also become the countries de facto motor show over the last 20 years.
Some vehicle distributors have blown hot and cold over the event as a branding exercise. Notable absences this year were brands such LDV, Ssangyong, and Nissan. Hino Distributors is one of the few exclusive truck brands to attend. Fuso and Isuzu Trucks decided to forgo the event once again.
Hyundai New Zealand is a major sponsor of the event and brought along its full suite of passenger, light and heavy duty commercial vehicles.
In addition to the Ioniq BEV family, the full range of Hyundai PHEV models was available for public inspection in addition to the Hyundai Mighty BEV light duty truck and the Hyundai Xcient heavy duty FCEV truck.
Volkswagen New Zealand’s restored and re-engineered 1966 Kombi Electric Vehicle (KEV) took pride of place amongst its Golf and Multivan PHEV models in addition to the striking ID.4 and ID.5 BEV SUV models.
Ford New Zealand returned to Mystery Creek with the Mustang Mach-E BEV, Transit Cargo BEV and the Escape PHEV range.
Mitsubishi Motors brought a long a new EK X BEV micro car for public feedback and evaluation in addition to the popular Eclipse Cross and Outlander plug-in hybrid models.
BYD Seal revealed
BYD New Zealand unveiled its Tesla Model 3 competitor at the event on June 14, adding that three models of the Seal EV sports sedan will be in customer hands before Christmas 2023.
Final prices and specification have yet to be confirmed, says local brand manager Warren Willmot, with BYD New Zealand already taking 12 deposits from customers.
He says all New Zealand-bound Seal models will feature a black interior, a 60:40 split folding rear seat and the top spec model will offer a head-up display.
The BYD Seal sedan will be available in Dynamic (150kW) and Premium (230kW) rear-wheel-drive specification with a 61kWh and 82kWh Blade battery pack respectively.
The top spec Seal Performance is offered with a 390kW all-wheel-drive powertrain and a 82kWh Blade battery pack.
Range is quoted at 460km, 570km, and 520km (WLTP) respectively for the three grades.
