October 24th, 2006
Every vehicle you buy through Nichibo before February 07 gives you the opportunity to win a trip for two to watch the A1 live in Shanghai. (13 ~15  Apr) Prize includes Airfares, 5 Star Hotel and passes to the exclusive PANGAEA Sponsors lounge.

January 19 th, 2005
Production Racing Championship shows class in close racing

Heading for a consecutive weekend of car racing, the Nichibo Production Racing Championship contests the fourth round in the Paul Kelly Motors Summer Series at Timaru’s International Motor Raceway.

Following extremes of wet, wind and wild at last weekend’s Invercargill round, three different winners from the three races demonstrated how evenly fought New Zealand’s latest saloon car series is. With 7 of the 12 who started the weekend all setting qualifying times within a second of pace-setter Geoff Short (Subaru Impreza).
Sharing the race honours in mixed weather conditions, it was 2-1 for Mitsubishi, with the final race requiring a photo finish to verify Short’s victory. Making a last ditch move for his second win of the weekend, Ross Thurston (Mitsubishi EVO8) was a mere 0.017s behind at the line after a previous race white wash win in the wet.

As always, consistency has been the key to championship progress – Thurston picking up the larger haul of points to extend his class lead. Zane Coppins (Honda Integra) had an easier time fending off the only other competitor in his class – Warwick Funnell, with consecutive race finishes extending his class lead.

Closely fought, the cars create additional atmosphere with Rooderkerk’s Lancer EVO9 and Jim Boult’s Mazda RX-8 frequently firing flames at anyone following too closely.

Divided in to three classes containing a variety of vehicles that spectators can instantly relate to – modifications are safety only upgrades from the road travelling originals they emanated from.

With the days following the wicked weather at Teretonga returning to more summer oriented, hope is the journey north to this weekend’s race base will provide more consistent and enjoyable conditions.
As many of the teams lay-over in the South Island between the two back-to-back events, the emphasis will be on recharging for a last ditch South Island chance.

Situated 10 minutes to the north-west of Timaru, Levels Raceway is a 2.4km track with predominantly left-hand turns. With a few tight sections, it opens up a variety of overtaking opportunities that should add to the racing atmosphere.

As well as providing on-event hospitality, series sponsors Nichibo Trading also invite people to enter the prize draw trip to the Suzuka Grand Prix in Japan 2006. www.nichibo.co.nz

Nichibo Production Racing Championship - series points after round 3

Class A (up to 2 litre)

1 35 Zane Coppins Honda Integra Type R 600
2 77 Warwick Funnell Toyota Celica 457

Class B (2 to 3.5 litre)

1 55 Jim Boult Mazda RX8 450

Class C (up to 2 litre turbocharged)

1 6 Ross Thurston Mitsubishi Evo 8 581
2 27 Scott McKelvie Mitsubishi Evo 6 515
3 9 Trevor Rooderkerk Mitsubishi Evo 9 496
4 17 Simon Sceats Subaru WRX STI 447
5 2 Geoff Short Subaru WRX STI 443
6 10 Grant Aitken Mitsubishi Evo 9 306
7 4 Todd Bawden Mitsubishi Evo 7 287
8 56 David Pinkerton Mitsubishi Evo 7 279
9 26 Kevin Hyde Skoda Fabia RS 198
10 21 Tony Burrowes Subaru WRX STI 120
11 43 Hugh Owen Mitsubishi Evo 9 88

October 26th, 2005
Nichibo Japan Trading has secured the naming rights for the New Zealand Production Class Championship for the upcoming 2005/2006 season.

Why the Production Class? As this class is dominated by Japanese manufactured vehicles it felt like a good fit for the import industry. Research has shown the audience for last years Production Class was predominantly males aged between 22-59.

We foresee our sponsorship will bring Nichibo exposure to the public at large. We aim to steer this interest back to customers of Nichibo by way of a public section on our web site explaining the virtues of Nichibo-supplied dealers.

September 19th, 2005
Nichibo Japan Trading is pleased to announce the integration of TAA Yokohama auto auction to our autoSearch service this week.

• TAA Yokohama held Saturdays.

The greatest advantage of autoSearch is the fact that it integrates all of these auction halls such as CAA, HAA and JU auctions into one central place for you to quickly find the vehicles you require. You can also take advantage of the fact that Nichibo's buying staff attend every auction hall included in autoSearch, this way you can rest assured we will only be sourcing you quality vehicles as we will inspect all vehicles before placing bids on your behalf.

We now have over 50 auction halls, with in excess of over 100,000 vehicles a week available for viewing conveniently online anywhere in the world.

autoSearch is the product of a year-long process in which Nichibo has focused on developing from the ground up.

By striving to continuously improve our systems and operations, utilizing our vast resources and experience within the automobile industry, we can serve you- our valued customers better.

October 1st, 2004
With the successful launch of New Zealand autoSearch in late 2003, Nichibo Japan Trading is pleased to announce the launch of Global autoSearch for our worldwide clients.
For some time now we have been developing a new interactive auction system that puts you in the drivers seat and gives you more control in the targeting and buying of your vehicles.

autoSearch enables you to view vehicle images, auction sheets and enter your target price online. This service is available for most auctions throughout Japan such as CAA, JU and HAA auctions.

The new system is one of the most comprehensive systems available while at the same time being very simple to use.

You can sign up online here for autoSearch. For more information, please visit the How It Works section of the website.