It’s the start of influx of car brands to Queenstown for customer snow driving experiences with BMW celebrating 10 years of Alpine Experience with a new component for the brand – driving at night on ice.
The nearby iconic Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground (SHPG) plays host to car brands wanting their customers to experience driving on ice, but the Cardrona-based venue also plays a pivotal role for global brands and parts makers to winter test during their summer.
BMW New Zealand has just hosted 100 customers at SHPG but this afternoon special guests will be introduced to BMW M Town on Ice to celebrate 10 years of Alpine Experience.
BMW Group NZ’s Head of Marketing, Gabrielle Byfield, is excited to continue to grow Alpine Experience year on year.
“BMW Alpine Experience is open to everyone, so we hope even more people can join us next year for this incredible adventure that is so unique to New Zealand. It’s not every day that people can get behind the wheel of a luxury high performance vehicle in the snow and take on the same course global brands use to test their new models and snow tyres,“ said Byfield.
BMW M Town on Ice, an extension of BMW’s Alpine Experience, will see guests arrive at the SHPG aka Snow Farm this afternoon.
At sunset, guests will test their night driving skills in a fleet of BMW X and M Range vehicles. Driving experiences included slaloms, high-speed hot laps, drifting on ice, figure eights, and road-course layouts all on a snow-covered fire lined racetrack lighting the way.
It’s not the first time for night driving on ice as Audi NZ hosted guests overnight at the SHPG five years ago.
Also heading to the SHPG this winter is Mercedes-Benz performance brand AMG, with a customer-only drive programme from 1-3 August, along with Audi Ice Experience from August 12-22.
Lexus NZ is also hosting customers at the SHPG on July 16 while Volkswagen has a group of journalists from Australia and New Zealand heading to the snow and track to drive its passenger and commercial products from July 22-24.