Fieldays – Bigger and Better

If you were one of the 133,500+ visitors to the Mystery Creek Fieldays®, you may have seen Toyota and Lexus New Zealand’s new-look hospitality site. In the past the site has been on a much smaller scale and focused more on the Waikato regional dealers.

This year, the site took it up a few notches, embracing all aspects of the business with more interactive areas to engage customers.

You could experience amazing in the Lexus zone with a sleek lounge suite, kitted out a stylish lighting display supplied by Lexus’ partner Resident. Lexus Ambassador Karen Walker's range of Blunt designer umbrellas were also on display.

The coffee hub was a central focus, warming guests up with complimentary Kokako Roastery coffees surrounded by an outstanding display of new Toyota commercial vehicles to peruse.

The site catered for all ages, including an innovation area with hybrids. Nanogirl Michelle Dickinson was there to help kids do some computer coding with Nanolabs robocoding track, or they could just chill out in the Kiwi Guardians lounge to do some colouring-in or to try their luck with clawing a ‘possum’ from the possum clawing machine!

Vehicles on display included a Swanndri wrap print Hilux, the all new CH-R and a range of hybrid vehicles, all attracting interest from visitors.

While there was a lot of activity on-site, the rest of New Zealand could also reach out through social media channels and become involved. The heavily accessorised 'gladiator' Hilux was a drawcard for online fans, generating a huge amount of interest and excitement.

The Hilux Gladiator concept vehicle turned many heads with its suspension lift kit with offset 20-inch alloy wheels and tyres. Its aggressive look was complemented by a bull bar and winch, sump guard, snorkel, bolt-on flares, sports bar with custom mounts for the spare tyres and tools and LED lights on the roof rack and bull bar offset with custom gladiator graphics.

Toyota Ambassadors Jason Kerrison, Matt Watson and Marc Ellis, all kitted out in their Swanndri gear, got amongst the action, serving Matt’s famous pork and paua sausages from the Hilux BBQ truck. Troy Kingi, who features on Toyota’s Hilux ad, also performed live, singing and accompanying himself on guitar.

A friendly team of Toyota and Lexus sales and service specialists from across the dealer network and head office welcomed and interacted with the record number of customers, keen to listen and provide answers to any questions. While customers couldn´t transact on-site, they could register their interest at the sales booths and chat to the sales team.

606 enthusiastic children took part in the Nanolabs' robocoding activity and for more than 80 per cent of these junior participants this was their first experience of coding.

Marketing Operations Manager Susanne Hardy said, “This was a great opportunity for Kiwi kids to engage with this technology, and Toyota is all about investing in the future innovators of New Zealand.

“This work makes a real difference to New Zealand’s kids, and through our partnership we’re reaching people who wouldn´t otherwise have had the chance to engage with the technology. Toyota is truly investing in the future innovators of New Zealand.”