NZ Performance Car is a monthly

automobile magazine An automobile magazine is a magazine with news and reports on cars and the Automotive industry, automobile industry. Automobile magazines may feature new car tests and comparisons, which describe advantages and disadvantages of similar models ...

and website, and is the biggest selling automotive and men's lifestyle magazine in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. As Parkside Media's second title, it has eclipsed the success of NZ Classic Car. NZ Performance Car has evolved with the times, promoting the import

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

scene, building the drifting scene and supporting modified car events such as Auto Salon and

dB Drag Racing dB drag racing is a competition rewarding the person who can produce the loudest sound inside a vehicle. The "dB" means decibels of sound pressure level (SPL). In these competitions, SPL of over 140 decibels is common; and the international record ...

. Issue 1 of the magazine was bundled free with NZ Classic Car issue 66 (June 1996), and featured a Series 4

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front mid engine, Rear-wheel drive, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car, manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 through 2002 across three generations, all of which incorporated the use of a compact, light ...

on the cover.

Change in focus

The magazine's focus has evolved from initially covering all high performance cars, including Australian V8s, to Japanese import cars, and more recently import car culture and associated activities (

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

, FMX, interviews with local and international musicians, etc.). Early issues featured cars such as

Holden Torana The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from a word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 196 ...

s alongside

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

Galant VR4s.

Typical cars featured in NZ Performance Car

Nissan Skyline GT-R The is a Japanese sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range. The first cars named "Skyline GT-R" were produced between 1969 and 1972 under the model code KPGC10, and were successful in Japanese touring car racing events. This model was fol ...

Nissan Silvia The is the series of small sports cars produced by Nissan. Versions of the Silvia have been marketed as the 200SX or 240SX for export, with some export versions being sold under the Datsun brand. The Gazelle was the twin-model of Silvia sol ...

* Nissan Pulsar GTI-R *

Nissan 300ZX The Nissan 300ZX is a sports car that was produced across two different generations. As with all other versions of the Z, the 300ZX was sold within the Japanese domestic market under the name Fairlady Z. It was sold in Japan from 1983 to 2000 a ...

Nissan 350Z : The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) in Japan) is a two-door, two-seater sports car that was manufactured by Nissan, Nissan Motor Corporation from 2002 until 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Nissan Z-car, Z-car line. ...

Nissan Laurel The is a two- and four-door sedan manufactured and marketed by Nissan from 1968 to 2002. Later generations added all-wheel-drive along with turbocharged engines. Introduced in 1968 as a new model positioned above the Nissan Bluebird#510 series, ...

Subaru WRX The Subaru WRX is an all-wheel drive sport compact, sport compact car manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru, originally based on the Subaru Impreza, Impreza created for the World Rally Championship in 1992. Subaru claimed the name WRX ...

Subaru Legacy The is a mid-size car built by Japanese automobile manufacturer Subaru from 1989 to 2025. The maker's flagship car, it is unique in its class for offering all-wheel drive as a standard feature, and Subaru's traditional boxer engine. The Leg ...

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, popularly referred to as the "Evo", is a sports sedan and rally car based on the Lancer that was manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors from 1992 until 2016. There have been ten official version ...

Honda Integra The , sold in North America as the Acura Integra and later the Acura RSX, is an automobile produced by the Japanese company Honda from 1985 until 2006, and then since 2021. It succeeded the Quint as a more luxurious and sport-oriented derivati ...

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/Honda City, City and Honda Accord in Honda's global passenger car line-up. The first-generation Civic was introduced in July 1972 ...

Honda S2000 The Honda S2000 is a Mid-engine design, front-mid engine Roadster (automobile), open top sports car that was manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda, from 1999 until 2009. First shown as a concept car called the SSM at the Tokyo Mo ...

Toyota Celica The is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word ''wikt:coelicus, coelica'' meaning ''heavenly'' or ''celestial''. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to ''Toyota Corolla Store'' Car deale ...

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured and developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name " supra" is a definition from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations ...

* Toyota Levin AE86 *

Toyota Altezza The is a compact executive car ( D-segment in Europe) sold by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota, since 1998. The IS was originally sold under the nameplate in Japan from 1998 until 2005 (the word ''Altezza'' is Italian for 'height' or 'high ...

Mazda 323 The , also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323, Mazda Protegé and Mazda Allegro, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004. It was marketed as the '' ...

Mitsubishi Galant VR4 The Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 (Viscous Realtime 4WD) was the range-topping version of Mitsubishi Motors' Galant model, available in the sixth (1987–1992), seventh (1992–1996) and eighth (1996–2002) generations of the vehicle. Originally introduce ...

Toyota Hilux The , stylised as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as a pickup truck or cab chassis, although they coul ...

* Mazda GTX *

Toyota Chaser The is a mid-size car produced by Toyota. In the beginning, Chasers were four-door sedans and hardtop sedans; a two-door coupé was available only for the first generation. It was introduced on the Toyota Mark II (X30) platform and was only avai ...

Magazine contents

Modified car features

The extent that a car is required to be modified has steadily increased since the first issues. While 300 hp was considered to be a huge amount of power when the magazine started, 300 kW may not even secure a spot as a feature car, unless the rest of the car is outstanding or unusual. This is not to say that NZ Performance Car solely focuses on power, but power figures are part of a more holistic approach considered when modifying a car.

New car features

Less common are new car road tests. Recent examples have included the

Mazda RX-8 The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2003 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show#2001, North American International Auto Show. It is the direct s ...

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Performance Cars of the original Mini series with uprated drive train and brakes, called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and also the successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (mar ...

John Cooper Works John Cooper Works (JCW) is a British car marque for in-house tuning, development, and international automotive racing division of Mini vehicles, based in Farnbororugh, Hampshire, England. It was founded in 2002 by Michael Cooper, son of John Co ...

(JCW), and BMW 135i.

Cover girls

Female nudity in association with the magazine has polarised readers. The magazine took an online poll at the end of 2008, the results of which found that more than 80% of readers wanted to keep the cover girl. Cars were originally graded using a Jane-o-meter (a picture of Jane with a ranking from one to ten). This method was scrapped after car owners became reluctant to have their cars featured in case it received a low mark.

Poster

Two posters (a double-sided A2) have been included in most issues of the magazine since issue 80.

Event coverage

Drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

, drifting,

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

, Super Lap, Japanese

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of ...

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

, auto salon,

auto show An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists a ...

s and club events are covered, as long as the racing includes Japanese cars.

Driver and celebrity interviews

Local and international drivers have been interviewed such as

Ken Block Kenneth Paul Block (November 21, 1967 – January 2, 2023) was an American professional Rallying, rally driver with the Hoonigan Racing Division, formerly known as the Monster World Rally Team. Block was also one of the co-founders of DC Shoe ...

Rhys Millen Rhys Rodney Millen (born 6 September 1972) is a New Zealand-born racing driver. Nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rodney and older brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a to ...

Mike Whiddett Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He ho ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

Fort Minor Fort Minor was a hip hop side project by American musician Mike Shinoda, who is better known as the rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, producer, and rapper of the rock band Linkin Park. The project's only album, '' The Rising Tied'', was released in ...

and Nathalie Kelly (from Fast n Furious Tokyo Drift),

Regular sections

Readers' letters, a technical question and answer section, equipment information, CD/DVD/game reviews, and a lifestyle section with clothing and related culture.

Chop shop

A monthly

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

competition is run. An image of a standard car is modified in Photoshop to adopt a certain theme or style, such as hakosuka, rally, etc. In issue 144 readers were invited to Photoshop a

Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is an electric vehicle car that was manufactured by General Motors, and also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the ...

into a Pro Import drag racing vehicle.

Growth

Readership peaked at 336,000 in 2007. To address the fall in readership since then NZ Performance Car was relaunched with perfect binding, a new logo, and a broader focus on the import car culture in issue 132, December 2007

Notable contributors

Karl Burnett,

Ewen Gilmour David Ewen Gilmour (22 January 1963 – 3 October 2014), commonly known as Ewen Gilmour, was a New Zealand comedian and television presenter. Usually sporting long brown hair with a goatee and wearing a jacket and jeans, he was a self-descr ...

Special issues

Drop! (previous Street Style)

''Drop!'' features hardcore modified show cars, auto salon features, and SPL competitions (

dB drag racing dB drag racing is a competition rewarding the person who can produce the loudest sound inside a vehicle. The "dB" means decibels of sound pressure level (SPL). In these competitions, SPL of over 140 decibels is common; and the international record ...

). The emphasis on Japanese imports is less. Previous featured cars have included a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

, a

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

, a

Nash Metropolitan The Nash Metropolitan is an American automobile assembled in England and marketed from 1953 until 1962. It conforms to two classes of vehicle: economy car and subcompact car. The Metropolitan is considered a "subcompact", but this category was ...

, and several types of minitruck.

Drift Factor

''Drift Factor'' is a drifting special with driver interviews, in-depth profiles on drifting and the cars, and how-tos on starting in drifting.

Raceline (previously Race Style)

Dedicated to

circuit racing A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

, hillclimbing, drifting and drag racing.

Yearbook

The Yearbook is a round up of the scene and also contains many of the similar features to the magazine.

Posterbook

A posterbook has been produced yearly since 2005 with 12 A2 posters of cars and/or

cover model A cover model is a male or female whose photograph appears on the front cover of a magazine. The cover model is generally a fashion model, celebrity, or contest winner. Generally, cover models are depicted solitarily; however, on occasion magazines ...

Spine art

For 2008 collecting all the issues created an NZ Performance Car logo when stacked together. This was to highlight the transition to perfect binding.

Website

NZ Performance Car relaunched its website in July 2007 with a

web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture, and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, a ...

site featuring video,

blogs A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

forums Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

, news, articles, cover girls, event coverage and more. Users can register to the site, start a blog, upload their own media, and generally interact with the site. Daily news articles are available weekdays which are additional to magazine content. Full magazine articles are available from previous issues, often including additional photos and information (including videos) that could not be fitted into the magazine. Some writers run blogs on the website, such as Peter Kelly'
Pedeyworld
and a forum is run as a subsite to encourage user interaction. Users can purchase books and DVDs related to the magazine's content, as well as back issues and subscriptions in the online shop.

Social networking sites

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

fan page,

Bebo Bebo ( ) was an American social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number of short-lived offerings, including instant messaging and ...

page (for

NZ Drift Series The NZ Drift Series was a five-round motorsport series organised by Parkside Media, publisher of NZ Performance Car magazine. Competing against D1NZ it achieved greater success because of NZ Performance Car and NZ Performance Car TV's marketi ...

), and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel exist.

Games

NZ Performance Car has produced several online games:

Drift Legends

Drift Legends is a drifting game which features New Zealand tracks as well as custom tracks. Players can submit their score to a score board

Super Lap Legends

Super Lap Legends was released to coincide with Super Lap. It features New Zealand racetracks in a time trial format

Midnight Sting

Midnight Sting is a shoot 'em up whereby players protect their ride from damage in a dark alley.

Britney’s Rehab Run

Britney's Rehab Run is a shoot 'em up which sees the player attempt to get

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

to rehab past scores of paparazzi.

Mobile

A free opt-in text club which has more than 23,000 members is utilised to disseminate special offers from sponsors, and promote the magazine, games and events. NZ Performance Car is also one of the largest suppliers of mobile content (ringtones, screen wallpapers and the like) via

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

's network.

NZ Performance Car TV

NZ Performance Car TV is a

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television programme in its eighth series. It has had airtime on TV ONE, TV2, Prime and Sky Sports, often simultaneously which is unique in its genre. Each series consists of 13 episodes. Two series are usually screened per year. First airing in 2004 the series has evolved to match the changing tastes of the import car scene. Series 8 had a large focus on drifting.

Events

NZ Drift Series

The

is a drifting motorsport series run on New Zealand tracks. It made its debut in 2007 with a professionally run, five-round championship series.

Super Lap

Parkside Media organised the first Super Lap event at

Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo International Motorsport Park and Events Centre (previously known as the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park) is a motorsports circuit located in Broadlands Road, Taupō, New Zealand. It is owned by Tony Quinn who also owns Highlands Motorspor ...

in April 2007. Scott Kreyl in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII took the overall win. At the second event at Pukekohe in March 2008 Kreyl successfully defended his title. The third Super Lap returned to Taupo Motorsport Park in 2008 where Kreyl suffered mechanical problems and failed to place.

New Zealand Bikini Model Search

Toured throughout in New Zealand in 2007, the NZ Bikini Model Search culminated in a grand final in Auckland.

Import All-Stars

Every summer, NZ Performance Car organises the biggest import drag racing event of the year at Fram Autolite Dragway,

Meremere Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton and 63 km south of Auckland. Meremere was the site of fighting ...

, Import All-Stars. Guest competitors are invited from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to race against New Zealand's quickest imports.

Drag Masters

Drag Masters, run in 2005, was a V8 vs. import drag racing event held at Fram Autolite Dragway, Meremere.

Performance Car of the Year

Performance Car of the Year is a competition with 12 performance cars where users text their vote.

Awards

Cam Leggett, designer since issue 68 has won two awards for Designer of the Year at the MPA Awards in the Special Interest Category in 2007 and 2008.

Controversy

NZ Performance Car magazine has typically been criticised by groups not in favour of import car culture, or those concerned about 'boy racer' activity. In June 2008, editorial assistant Peter Kelly organised a meeting in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

to scout for feature cars. News quickly spread via text and over 1000 people descended on The Base. Despite attempts by NZ Performance Car to warn the police, messages went unanswered.

References

External links

NZ Performance CarParkside MediaDrift Legends
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nz Performance Car 1996 establishments in New Zealand Automobile magazines Automotive industry in New Zealand Automotive websites Magazines established in 1996 Magazines published in New Zealand Mass media in Auckland Monthly magazines published in New Zealand New Zealand entertainment websites