Government BMWs: good car, not a good look

It was predictable that when the National government came to fulfill a contract for new BMWs to replace the ones ordered by Labor, there would be some fallout.

In light of high unemployment and the struggle-street on which a lot of us are travelling at the moment, it's easy to criticize a government when it's ordering a nice fresh fleet of what many would call flash German luxury cars.

But what they are doing is common business practice, something that many fleets have to do as fraction of their contract with a supplier.

Fleets do not change their cars when they are worn out. It is excellent practice to do so within a pre-agreed timeframe, with the distance travelled also factored in. That way the cars have plenty of life left in them and are a better-looking proposition when they re-enter the market as a used car.

Few people are privy to the deal that the Labor government inked with BMW New Zealand when the first BMW 7-series diesels came on to the fleet, but it must have been a sugary one. At the time some pundits in the automotive industry opined that the price could have been as small as $100,000 - but that was pure assumption.