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New Zealand can’t get enough of the new Mustang!

29 May, 2015

With the impending arrival of Ford New Zealand’s 2015 Mustangs later on in the year, hype is clearly building here in little old New Zealand — more than 300 orders have already been placed for the new Mustang. The most popular choice so far seems to be the Mustang GT Fastback, equipped with five-litre V8 and six-speed automatic, which makes up around 60 per cent of overall orders.  

“Just like in America, we are seeing great early demand for the V8 GT models,” said Corey Holter, Managing Director of Ford New Zealand, “But, we anticipate the EcoBoost model will be a bigger seller longer term … as people see its great combination of performance and fuel economy.” Prices for the new Mustang start at $56,990 for a Fastback with 2.3-litre EcoBoost and six-speed automatic, climbing to $76,990 for the range-topping Mustang GT Convertible with five-litre V8 and six-speed automatic.

Racing Mazdas

12 June, 2026

Both Rod Millen and Ron Kendall were rotary racing kings, emanating from the North Shore of Auckland, where I grew up. And the ultimate rotary techno guru was Bill Shiells, who developed the engine into a rocket ship while working out of Gulf Mazda in Takapuna from 1969, and later in his own business, Rotorsport. He began to extract some phenomenal horsepower from the enigmatic rotary engine. Bill was one of the first to race the Mazda RX-2 Coupe in 1971 and achieved immediate success, causing others to sit up and take notice, particularly the North Shore’s racing elite. They included Robbie Francevic, Rod Millen, Ron Kendall, John Woolf, John Le Feuvre, and Rex Findlay.

Range Rover CSK — the original SUV

5 June, 2026

The Range Rover, thanks to Charles Spencer King, went into production in 1970 boasting an iconic shape that would last until 1996. The vehicle that would create the SUV moniker came about because Rover decided it was time to add a bigger four-wheel-drive vehicle, one with a 100-inch wheelbase, to the model range. Land Rover made a 109-inch wheelbase model but the standard vehicle had a 88-inch wheelbase.
The new model would be more suitable for road use than the existing Land Rover, which was considered to be predominantly for rural use. To make sure it could cope on any road it came standard with the Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine. The body design was originally sketched by King and went into production with only a few minor touch-ups by the Rover styling team.
According to King, “The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover. Nobody was doing it.”