Gearing up for change
Awards, massive renovation and a new service centre and showroom in Pāpāmoa are pushing the dealership to greater heights.
Awards, massive renovation and a new service centre and showroom in Pāpāmoa are pushing the dealership to greater heights.
Photos | Amanda Aitken + Jahl Marshall
The dealership that occupies a whole block on Hewletts Road is set to build in Pāpāmoa, to keep up with the growth of its 16 vehicle brands. Offering everything from quality pre-owned cars, right up to new luxurious brands, the time seemed right to develop further. In 2024, Farmer Autovillage will zoom into Pāpāmoa with the opening of the new service centre and showroom. They're the first dealership to put down roots in the area.
UNO caught up with the Farmer Autovillage team to find out about the most recent changes and the exciting developments happening this year – and next – at Farmer Autovillage.
Image courtesy of Chow:Hill Architects Limited.
Feel at home in Farmer Autovillage
Expanding the scope of the Škoda showroom was the first priority for the dealership when it decided to upgrade part of the Hewletts Road
site one year ago. Modernisation of the downstairs area achieved an at-home feel and gave Farmer Autovillage the opportunity to improve their customer-focussed offering, including the café.
Customer feedback around the café has been overwhelmingly positive. Aiming to make it more comfortable and providing a relaxing environment for their customers was imperative in the planning.
Walking into the newly restyled café feels as if you're stepping into a sophisticated Melbournian-style eatery. With a dedicated space for kids, comfortable lounge area, business lounge upstairs and free wifi, customers can sit back, relax and enjoy the food and coffee on offer.
PĀpĀmoa Expansion
Building a brand new service centre has been a major project for the Farmer Autovillage team this year. With 30 percent of their customers based out towards Pāpāmoa and Te Puke, they knew it made sense to provide a more convenient location.
Construction will start on the 10-bay workshop in Pāpāmoa in July 2023, and will be complete with a five-car showroom by January 2024. The workshop will service their 16 brands, and all other makes and models are welcome.
Electric Mobility
Farmer Autovillage has the biggest range of electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid vehicles in the Bay. The dealership accommodates for all budgets when it comes to electric vehicles, from the gran turismo of the Audi RS e-tron GT to the value packed MG ZS EV, there's something for everyone.
Now the Autovillage has recently added Horwin electric mopeds and GoScoot electric scooters, to provide people with even more mobility options.
Ensuring customers always have a range of vehicles at hand is a top priority for the team, to make loan services as easy as possible. And now they’re driving sustainable practices by moving all of their service loan cars to electric and hybrid, while also offering GoScoot Electric Vehicle Scooters and E-Bikes, for customers to pick up and take.
Of course they still have the courtesy Volkswagen multivan running daily for people to jump aboard, but group after sales manager Bevan Sheppard says they’re now encouraging use of the new pedestrian laneway that runs along Hewletts Road into the city and to Bayfair.
In terms of servicing electric vehicles, Farmer Autovillage has been one of the most progressive dealerships in New Zealand. They were the first dealership in the Bay of Plenty to install a 175kW DC ultra-fast supercharger on site four years ago. For those new to the electric vehicle world, the dealership's Wallbox showroom offers an interactive space where customers can learn about electric/wall chargers and interact with them alongside the Farmer Autovillage parts specialists.
The dealership's Wallbox showroom offers an interactive space where customers can learn about electric/wall chargers and interact with them
Over the last five years, the team has worked hard to create total vehicle care solutions, aimed at customer and vehicle care. Now it includes services such as windscreen chip repairs, as well as wheel repair and alignment for all makes and models.
“The ultimate aim is for customers to know they can come to us,” says Bevan. “Anytime you think, ‘I need something for my car’, we want to be able to provide that. And we’re about 99 percent of the way there. We've invested in things that no other car dealership really does.”
And now with the online booking portal, customers can easily book in services like a warrant without spending time on the phone.
Awards aplenty
Adding to their already jam-packed shelves of awards is always a bonus for the Farmer Autovillage team. Farmer Nissan recently took home the Master Elite award for best Nissan dealer worldwide – a monumental achievement for the team. Prior to that the coveted Audi Dealer of the Year 2022 award was bestowed upon the dealership, with six team members also awarded as winners of six different categories.
Dealer principal Blair Woolford says the team was more than satisfied with the multiple awards, especially the overall Dealer of the Year win. "To win the award twice in three years speaks volumes of the hard work and dedication of our whole team,” he says.
And for Farmer Autovillage, that ongoing hard work and dedication is the best reward of all.
A will to give
A will to give
The Acorn Foundation hands over millions every year to deserving community projects. But, what sets them apart from many other charities, is that they’ve succeeded in creating an innovative way to ensure their precious donors’ money is a gift that keeps on giving.
The Acorn Foundation hands over millions every year to deserving community projects. But, what sets them apart from many other charities, is that they’ve succeeded in creating an innovative way to ensure their precious donors’ money is a gift that keeps on giving.
Words Nicky Adams / Photos supplied
Established 19 years ago, the Acorn Foundation may have started as a seed of an idea, but fast forward to now, and it’s grown into a whopping, solid oak. As with anything, it’s important to be innovative to succeed, and whilst Acorn is often known as the charity that many people donate to via their will, corporate giving is a vital part of the donation system. It is through this avenue that Farmer Autovillage, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, has chosen to support the Acorn Foundation. The Farmer Autovillage programme is a scholarship aimed at helping school leavers put funds towards tertiary education to be run at Mount Maunganui, Papamoa and Te Puke colleges, and implemented for the first time this year.
As a community organisation, Acorn Foundation is based upon the concept of place-based giving. CEO Lori Luke explains: “The way Acorn is different is the whole idea of the perpetuity model – our capital is invested – Craigs is our partner, and what we distribute is a percentage of the returns. That makes us different from a standard charity that’s raising money on an annual basis. The perpetuity model is a powerful one.” Essentially this is a way of donating to your community via a charity that invests the funds on your behalf. The dividends are then passed on to the charities of your choice, meaning that it’s not just donors that have grown over the years, but also the funds – unbelievably, there is currently almost $60 million under management.
Lori Luke continues: “We’ve grown really rapidly. Historically, we were always known as the organisation that gifts in a will – that’s still our primary business – but there’s a lot more living giving now, and all sorts of other ways to do it, such as small groups and corporate giving, which is how Farmer Autovillage came to us.”
While primarily centred on Western Bay of Plenty, Acorn does help donors nationally. Indeed, as well as other scholarships and awards, it distributes the prestigious Jann Medlicott prize for fiction. However, it’s the local stories that resonate the most, such as that of The Eva Trowbridge Scholarship, says Lori. “Eva left money locally to support adult learners – that’s been going for 15 years – Eva was a cleaner at the hospital and saved her coins and those coins have helped 15 women finish school. The one thing that a lot of people think is that you must be very wealthy to give back to a community. To be honest most of our donors are very humble people who just want to make a difference.”
With Acorn, everyone chooses what they want to support – some will leave their money unrestricted, but about 60 % of the money is tagged which means either specific charities or a field of interest like animals or the environment can be supported. “We have an anonymous donor who donates swimming lessons because he lost a child at age four to a drowning accident, so he now pays for two or three entire schools to get swimming lessons.” Another inspirational donation comes via a gift from the Roy and Mary McGowan estate, which has enabled the launch of a Vital Signs Youth Report. “They didn’t have children of their own but had a huge interest in the wellbeing of young people. We have a big initiative in the youth space at the moment. That will be a strong focus – the idea of helping young people in this region to live lives that they value and smoothing the path to adulthood.”
However, Lori points out that over the last six or seven years, the focus has moved to living giving, so that donors can give money while they’re alive “that way they can see where it’s going and who its helping – and they get a tax credit!” With 99% of the money remaining within the charity, the amount of work from volunteers and the team is incredible. Lori is herself from a business background, and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it all. “I’m at a point in my life where giving something back is tremendously personally beneficial so it’s a fantastic job. All of us involved are very privileged because we really feel like we can make a difference. Over the years heaps of community people have put their hands up to help Acorn succeed.”
And succeed it certainly has – with Acorn seeing some important milestones over the last couple of years – it has given to more than 200 causes, passed the $50million mark in funds under management, this year distributed $2million for the first time, and given $10million in total over the life of the foundation. That’s one mighty Acorn all right.
Food for thought
Local food charity Kura Kai is bringing whānau and the wider community together.
Local food charity Kura Kai is bringing whānau and the wider community together.
words Nicky Adams / photos Salina Galvan + align creative
Marie, Makaia and Anna cook up a recipe for teen success.
Makaia Carr seems to be someone who sees an opportunity, an opening, or a need and gets in there and plugs that gap. A successful early social media influencer, in May 2020 she saw the opportunity to use her platform to make a difference. Now, together with Marie Paterson, Anna Watkins and a team of volunteers, she uses her position in the online space to spearhead social change in the form of charitable trust Kura Kai.
The charity is making such a big impact in the Bay that it caught the attention of Farmer Autovillage. The car dealership, based in Mount Maunganui, recently celebrated 30 years in business, and to thank the community for its support in achieving this milestone, chose a number of local charities to invest in, one of which is Kura Kai. Farmer Autovillage generously donated a long-lease Nissan Qashqai, which allows staff to stay mobile and connected. As managing director Mike Farmer says, “Kura Kai is an organisation that has all the values that we support, that works within our community as well as the wider community, so is very valid and worthwhile getting behind.”
Kura Kai is a volunteer-driven service designed to support whānau across New Zealand. Funds are raised to donate chest freezers to high schools, which are then filled with food that can be accessed by the students. With social needs putting added pressure on our youth, Kura Kai sees this as a multifaceted way to help our teenagers. Makaia herself is passionate about keeping our kids in school. “My drive has always been helping rangatahi and getting in at that age of teenagers and high schools. Purely because I left high school early. I was a teenage mum and I understand the struggle to get through education.” This backdrop drew Makaia into a space of promoting female self-belief and empowerment. As her public profile grew as an influencer, along with her thousands of followers came an increased desire to find ways in which her influencing could be used for greater good. “I was asking myself how we could all be better using our platforms – something that came with age and self-assessment.”
It was the first lockdown of March 2020 that bought things into focus. “People were losing jobs, whānau were struggling – students were being sent home from school to look after kids, leaving school to get jobs to support their whānau – all that stuff was really coming to the forefront. I was open to looking at ways I could use my social media to help.” At this stage Makaia and her family were living in Auckland when Gemma, a follower from Tauranga, messaged asking if Makaia could put a shout out to her followers for meal contributions to the compassion freezer at Otumoetai Primary School. This Makaia did, and within a week 80 meals had arrived.
The more Makaia found out about the system, the more she liked what she heard. “I loved how it was really grassroots, that it was direct with kai going straight to the whānau. I think there’s such a beauty in that way to help. Especially in a Maori whānau, where showing up with kai is such a beautiful way to show love and manaakitanga.” She looked for a way that she could develop her support into a more cohesive concept. Via her social media she was able to, not only raise awareness, but also fundraise. Buying more freezers for more schools was a start point, followed by accruing volunteers to cook and coordinators to organise. Quickly the dots were joined, and Kura Kai was born. Makaia and her family moved to Pāpāmoa, and the Bay became the heart of the national charity.
Then Makaia’s personal life nose-dived. Her marriage fell apart, and she was floored. During this time what she found was that all she wanted to do was cook, cook and cook some more, so it made sense to reach out and find a team who could take over the other operational aspects of the charity. In June 2021, Marie Paterson joined initially as admin/fundraising manager, then general manager. “I’ve worked with volunteers for over 20 years, and I love this sort of mahi.” With fresh eyes Marie could see the vast opportunities that could grow from the amazing seed Makaia had planted. “I wanted to focus on making Kura Kai more sustainable, relying less on volunteers.” With Anna then joining as brand manager, the focus is now the future. Marie and Makaia identified it was important for the charity to become more student led. The pilot programme being rolled out sees the students cook to provide the meals for the charity.
The beauty of this concept is that the rangatahi themselves become empowered by being a part of it. As Makaia says, “one of the messages we want to push to our rangatahi who are teenagers
is that they can contribute to society and do something positive, looking out for whānau or neighbours. It’s a resource they can pull from.” Marie’s focus has been how to make Kura Kai more sustainable by relying less on the volunteers, and importantly, Marie says “youth help youth”.
Of course, there is still a drive for additional help to meet the need. Along with more volunteer coordinators, the next step is to encourage businesses to engage in ‘corporate cook ups.’
The ultimate goal is to fund a commercial kitchen, which would allow groups to come in and create, but importantly volunteers could cook and distribute to the areas where the communities themselves are unable to afford to fill the freezers. Now, with the help of the new team and Farmer Autovillage, increased brand awareness will hopefully bring volunteers flooding to the table.