Luxury range of electric vehicles hits the Waikato
Premium electric vehicles will be popping up across the Waikato with Coombes Johnston BMW becoming an authorised BMW i electric vehicle dealership.
The dealership is now selling the range of BMW i series electric vehicles, which include the fullyelectric BMW i3, an emission-free hatch, and the BMW i8 which is being marketed as a “progressive sports car” showcasing the latest in drivetrain, design and construction technology.
Coombes Johnston BMW’s head of business, Richard Johnston, says the range offers the environmentally sustainable conscious buyer the premium style, experience and features BMW are renowned for, along with a long list of sustainable design features.
“The BMW i3 is powered using a fully emission-free electric motor and is perfect for both urban and open road driving,” Johnston says. “It has a real-world range of 200km, which would easily cover all destinations in and around Hamilton city. You could also easily manage a commute from North Waikato, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Morrinsville or South Waikato through to the Hamilton CBD,” he adds.
Coombes Johnston BMW Hamilton is also hosting the BMW i8 Roadster this month — one of only a handful currently in the country.
It is sustainable inside and out, including a carbon fibre-based passenger cell, advanced aerodynamic design and an awardwinning hybrid powertrain.
“There’s no other vehicle like this on the market. It’s the epitome of style and will give you the same driving pleasure and responsibility that you’d expect from a sports car, but it’s also a plug-in hybrid and has extremely low consumption and CO2 emissions.”
The Waikato is one of the fastest growing regions for hybrid and EV registrations with Ministry of Transport figures showing almost double the number of registrations this year compared to 2017.
Coombes Johnston BMW Hamilton sales manager Nick Davies anticipatesmore new BMW i3 vehicles to be sold over the next 12 months.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) calculates charging an EV at home overnight equates to paying about 30 cents per litre for petrol — about six or seven times less than the cost of petrol.
“If we put cost and efficiency aside, one thing you cannot dispute is that the BMW i range is better for the local environment than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, with zero tailpipe emissions and zero noise pollution,” says Davies.
“As the global market for electric vehicles becomes more competitive and consumers have greater choice, I think we will see the current rate of EV uptake increase even further,” he adds.