EV dealer flees country with thousands owed
The “bankrupt” boss of embattled Waikato electric vehicle sales firm HamiltonEV has apparently fled New Zealand, leaving possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to creditors.
Whether Nicholas Down’s departure to Dubai - announced on Wednesday on his business’ Facebook page - is an attempt to avoid paying whatever he may owe or, as he claims, simply a move made for the good of his mental health is unclear.
His unexpected exit also brings into question the value of warranties and lifetime service agreements arranged by the company for people who bought cars from him.
HamiltonEV has been embroiled in a legal stoush with a car importation business it has sourced cars from, which recently filed a High Court application to place it in liquidation. The outcome of the application is not yet known.
Down told customers on Facebook that it was “with a heavy heart ... effective this morning I am moving to Dubai and will take a break from business and work for a company in the property management industry”.
“After several months of intense business dealings and some incredibly hard decisions on top of a well hidden serious health issue I am withdrawing from social media for the foreseeable future.
“Yes my mental health has taken a hiding but I am safe and loved ... To state the obvious, as already mentioned it has simply just become too much.”
Down said “leaving New Zealand broken, fundamentally bankrupt and without a dollar to my name is embarrassing and for the grace of god I will eventually overcome this chapter in my life”.
It was a remarkable scene at HamiltonEV’s store on the corner of West and Greenwood streets yesterday.
The remaining 10 vehicles on the property were being loaded on to a transporter truck as, simultaneously, painters, carpenters and other workers were outfitting and redecorating the building a vivid pink to make way for its new tenant – Boof’s Ice Cream Diner.
Boof’s owner-operator Steve Morrow said the HamiltonEV sign atop the building was due to be taken down today.
He was moving into the premises mainly because it was large enough to host children’s ice cream parties – something his former premises in downtown Hamilton was too small to handle.
Asked where he was taking the cars to, the transporter driver said he had been told simply to load the cars and then await further instructions.
The application to place HamiltonEV in liquidation had been brought by Auckland-based vehicle importer and wholesaler Key Alliance Pro earlier this year.
That firm’s manager, Glenn Keatley, referred inquiries to his company’s solicitor, Tan Nguyen. She was unable to give the precise amount HamiltonEV owed Key Alliance Pro, but confirmed that in was in the region of $100,000.
A further High Court court hearing was due to be held in April.
Attempts to get hold of Down were largely unsuccessful yesterday, save for a few curt responses by text.
“You have never printed my side of things before, why are you willing to do it now,” he asked, apparently referring to a previous story on moves to liquidate HamiltonEVs, for which Down declined to answer questions. Attempts to press him on his firm’s financial situation went unanswered at press time.
His ex-wife Jodyann Down was unable to shed further light on the situation.
She said she had genuine concerns for her former husband’s mental health, and had not been informed of his plans to leave the country. Since his Facebook announcement, her phone had “blown up” with calls from people with questions she could not provide answers to.
Although she had assisted with the business in the past, she said she had no stake in the business, and no idea how much her former husband owed, and to how many people.
It has been a tough time for electric vehicle firms in New Zealand in recent times. EV sales plummeted nationwide earlier this year – from one in every four vehicles sold to one in 26 – after the new Government scrapped the previous government’s Clean Car Discount scheme.
Down also made headlines late last year after he was prosecuted by the Hamilton City Council for dumping a trailer load of rubbish under the Massey Hall Overbridge, not far from his business in Frankton. Down claimed the trash was mostly picked up off the roadside, and the reason he dumped it was because he lost his temper with staff at a nearby refuse centre.