Trekka turns 60!
On December 2 1966, the first production Trekka’s burst through a white curtain and emerged from Motor Industries’ Otahuhu assembly plant.
“The Trekka is the first vehicle to be conceived, designed and largely manufactured in New Zealand,” Customs Minister Norm Shelton told the assembled crowd.
Nearly 3,000 would follow over the next six years as New Zealand joined the global club of - not just vehicle assemblers - but creators and builders of their own design. It remains the country’s only mass-produced, locally designed vehicle.
The boxy van or flat deck variants sold well in a market where government restrictions kept other vehicles expensive and often hard to buy.
The Trekka has lived through the common cycle of vehicles which were initially popular, later forgotten, and then with the passage of time, enjoy a revival as their place in history becomes better appreciated.
Examples have found their way into public and private museums in its home country, and enthusiasts have and continue to restore Trekkas.
In the home of its mechanical component, the Czech Republic, carmaker Skoda has embraced its place in their global story, adding one to its factory museum, and in October 2026 it marked the impending 60th anniversary at its annual Classic Days week, in front of international motoring journalists, near the factory city of Mlada Boleslav.
