Today Newsroom welcomes a new partner in Hyundai NZ.
The company is partnering us on Sustainable Future, a section that will focus on an issue that is getting more urgent by the day – how do we look after our environment and protect the planet from the impact of climate change as we move towards carbon neutrality?
Hyundai New Zealand is 100 percent NZ-owned and committed to playing a leading role in reducing the emissions from New Zealand’s transport fleet.
CEO Andy Sinclair says: “At Hyundai New Zealand we want to drive towards a more Sustainable Future. Locally, we want to be part of the solution, not the problem.
“We are in the business of cars and that’s not going to change, however we can make choices and actions to help our customers and our own business reduce our negative impact on the planet and maximise our positive impact in our communities.
“We are only just embarking on our journey and we are under no illusion that it will be a forever journey. We have the product to help reduce emissions, and the zero and low emission vehicles we bring to NZ will grow every year,” he says.
“By partnering ‘Sustainable Future” we hope our support for Newsroom’s journalism can help Kiwis understand the challenges we face and the role we can all play in bringing about change. At Hyundai, we have the desire and enthusiasm to help make a difference.”
Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings says, “ We know our readers are very interested in how the country is going to transition from its reliance on fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives.
"That was evident in the generous support we received from readers in meeting the costs of our columnist Rod Oram’s trip to Glasgow to cover COP 26.
“Partnering with Hyundai NZ will allow us to increase again the scope and range of our climate change coverage and this country’s transition to a more sustainable future.”
This year, among other topics, we will be reporting on the Government’s plans for the ‘hydrogen economy’ and the role it can play in reducing emissions in our heavy trucking sector. Late last year Transport minister Michael Wood said Labour would deliver “a very clear road map on the nationwide infrastructure that we need” in 2022.
Sinclair says: “As a Kiwi owned company, we are big believers of implementing alternative fuel technology here in NZ. We have championed this through the introduction of NZ’s first hydrogen-powered SUV, NEXO, in 2019. Now with the XCIENT Fuel Cell truck, we have an opportunity to help fast track the large scale adoption of alternative green fuels in the New Zealand road freight sector.”
While hydrogen powered trucks look set to make an impact in 2022, sales of EV’s are rising quickly. EV market share has risen from 0.5% in 2020 to 4.2% in 2021 (an 8-fold increase) but most of us haven’t yet had the opportunity to drive one.
Next week we will announce details of a competition that will give Newsroom readers a chance to get behind the wheel of a new Hyundai EV and experience the future.
