Words: Autocar
Published 22 May 2026
Honda New Zealand is working through what to do with its heritage car collection as the company prepares to close its longstanding Nelson facility and shift distribution to Auckland.
President and Managing Director Carolyn McMahon says the company wants to hold on to the vehicles with the strongest heritage value but is open to finding new homes for others.
“We’re having a look at that at the moment. How can we utilise it either across our dealer network with our customers?” McMahon says.
“Obviously we want to retain the units that have very, very high heritage value and we’re just going through that process at the moment of what do we keep, what do we maybe pass on to other lovers of Honda heritage cars.”
Honda New Zealand hasn’t been afraid to dust off its heritage collection over the years, bringing out the most note-worthy vehicles at events.
Serving as a rolling time capsule for Honda’s history in New Zealand, the collection ranges from early Civics to Preludes, through to the iconic Insight hybrid.
There are also the performance cars, such as a range of Civic Type Rs, an Integra Type R, an S2000, and the much-loved first-generation NSX.
It’s fair to assume these high-performance models are the vehicles McMahon is considering holding onto for heritage value.
The Nelson site has been part of Honda’s New Zealand operations since the brand’s earliest days in the country. Manufacturing was originally based there, and for decades it served as the company’s distribution centre.
McMahon says the move to Auckland is driven by practical considerations. Around 80 percent of Honda’s New Zealand sales are in the North Island, and the existing arrangement meant vehicles were being transhipped south to Nelson before being sent back north to Auckland.
“When we looked at the end to end process of bringing a car in, it was being transhipped down to Nelson and then being sent back up to Auckland again,” she says.
“It made sense that from a customer point of view, we could shave days to delivery substantially off.”
McMahon says the duplication also carried significant cost, but acknowledges the contribution of the Nelson team.
“Hats off to the team, they’ve worked really hard for a number of years, but they’ve been very, very supportive of our decision and we’ve been working closely with them to make sure that everyone is looked after going forward.”
