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Drive your dream with Bowater's

Welcome to our Website

YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR DREAM,
AND WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN.

OUR HISTORY IS JUST THE BEGINNING!

Your car is probably your next biggest asset to your home, and you will spend a considerable amount of time in your car over your lifetime.
Life is too short to be worrying about your car. You need a car that suits your lifestyle. 
We have a comprehensive range of the world's best valued and most reliable cars ready for you to experience. You can drive your dream today. It is that easy.   

Since 1945, The Bowater Motor Group has been providing the Nelson region with quality vehicles and servicing that is second to none. Now, even more so than ever before, it is possible to drive your dream.
The future of car technology has arrived.
With our stores, showrooms and customer centres spread all over the wider Nelson region we are confident that our long history in the area means that we not only know what works best around here, but what will work best for you.   

Think Bowaters and three things come to mind...
Quality, excellence and vehicles to suit a lifestyle.

Whether for urban, business or off-road, let Bowater's begin your journey.
If you're going somewhere - The Bowater Motor Group will take you there.

Peter Ransby. 1946 - 2015. His legacy at the Bowater Motor Group.

Peter RansbyPeter Ransby and Alan Large sharing a story and a laugh at Bowater Honda. Not an unusual sight on any given morning at 10am, all visitors to the couch welcomed and appreciated. Click to enlarge.

A life well lived, echoing with an loud and infectious laugh, the constant of a love of friends and family, the pride in a garden that fed many a family, a cheeky smile to greet those that walked through the door, and an honest and loyal work ethic is certainly a life well worth celebrating.
This was just a part of the life of Peter Ransby. A man that has been such a vibrant part of the Bowater Motor Group for many, many decades, spanning a time of over 45 years.

Yesterday, at a packed Marsden House, family, friends, colleagues and loved ones all came together to send Peter off in a manner befitting a man so loved, respected and widely regarded.

After a short and valiant fight right up until the very end, sadly Peter Ransby lost his struggle the morning of September 29th at Nelson Hospital and passed on, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

Peter has been such a large part of the success of the Bowater Motor Group for generations, and by generations we mean that quite literally. Peter has worked alongside all 4 of the generations of the Bowater family over the many decades he has been a valued part of the company - working in a wide variety of different roles, in different departments from the workshop through to the showroom floor.

Asimo

In the days following the sad news of his passing those in many of the Bowater Motor Group businesses across the region rallied together to share cherished memories of Peter. Many have commented on our Facebook post with some very kind thoughts, and flowers have arrived. A flood of humourous stories has been shared at the Bowater Honda showroom in Achilles Ave by colleagues and customers past and present, over a date scone and a cup of tea or two, as we all came to grips with the loss of such a respected and appreciated colleague, contributer, mentor and friend. A new kind of sound has been ringing out in the showroom at Bowater Honda over the last couple of days - the sound of friends and family coming together to celebrate a life well lived. 

Bowaters has a birthday of sorts and takes a moment to be thankful

The team at Bowater HyundaiSome of the the team at Bowater Hyundai taking a moment to celebrate the digital birthday with Chris Bowater. Click to enlarge photo. 

The Bowater Motor Group was established in central Nelson back in 1947 by Raymond Bowater upon returning from serving in the second world war, and now, 68 years later, spans 4 generations of the Bowater Family. 

Today we celebrated our unofficial, online birthday.
The thing with having a digital presence is the requirement in a lot of instances to put in a birth date in order to validate a "signup" process, especially when setting up social media accounts back in the early days of the platforms. The Bowater Motor Group were very early adopters of this exciting new technology and we made some of these new platforms work for us even when they weren't really catering for business use. As a result every year we now have a "digital birthday" of 2nd June - a date we chose that suited our purpse at the time. The actual date that Raymond opened the doors of his Achilles Ave business back in 1947 is a little harder to find out, but it is part of the story we are working on as we head towards the big 70th celebrations in 2017!    

What this digital birthday does is give us a moment to reflect on the sheer length of time that the Bowater Motor Group has been driving the dreams of the Nelson and Tasman region in the Top of the South. We are now into our 4th generation of Bowater family members working in the family focused business, and we are going from strength to strength.

Bowater Toyota is victorious at the 2014 Toyota Dealer Awards

The successful Bowater Toyota teamWINNERS! The proud management team from Bowater Toyota holding just some of the trophies from the annual 2014 Toyota Dealer Awards. From left: Nigel Last-Harris (Sales), Aaron McLean (Sales), Alistair Mapperley (Finance), Bowater Toyota CEO Tony Bowater, Sandie Horne (Admin), Kieron Reilly (Parts), Chris Westley (Service). Click the image to enlarge

"This is a reflection on the whole team across the region, and testament of what great teamwork can achieve" 

Bowater Toyota's CEO Tony Bowater and his wife Janine headed to Toyota New Zealand's home base in Palmerston North for the glittering, star studded black tie annual Toyota Dealer Awards on Friday 13th February. Tony was quietly optimistic of returning to Nelson with some awards in tow, and by quietly optimistic we mean very understated and totally downplaying the chances of such a clean sweep even though they were to find out that Bowater Toyota were finalists in 6 of the 8 categories they could be elegible for. 

What actually happened at the awards was something quite unexpected, but delightful and very humbling never the less. Bowater Toyota dominated the awards, bringing home 3 trophies including the prestigious and coveted Yokoi Cup for Dealer of the Year. This is awarded for overall excellence in dealership operations, market leadership and dealership facilities, and is the first time since the award was rolled out in 1985 that the Bowater Toyota name has graced the side of this very important recognition.

winners of Toyota Dealer of the YearFrom Left: Alistair Davis (Toyota NZ Managing Director & CEO), Tony Bowater (Bowater Toyota CEO), Janine Bowater, S. Teramoto (Toyota NZ Senior Executive Director). Click image to enlarge.  

Also won on the night were two more major awards - the New Car Sales Excellence Cup, as well as the Parts & Accessories Excellence Cup, trophies that Bowater Toyota also won the previous year (2013). To top it off the night didn't end there, with additional recognition, with Bowater Toyota receiving the Platinum Award for achieving a level of excellence that significantly exceeds that of similar sized dealerships in all areas of operation, as well as the Triple Crown Certificate; recognition that the dealership came in on top of sales for passenger, commercial and Total New vehicle sales in the region.

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