About Us
We Live and Breathe Our Core Values
At Zion Motorhomes, we live and breathe our company values:
For our founders, Jonas and Irene, PAIR embodies the biblical passage, “Two Are Better Than One, For If Either Of Them Falls, One Can Help The Other Up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
PAIR also represents our core values:
- Passion in All we do
- Appreciate every Moment
- Integrity without Compromise
- Reliability is in our DNA
Passion
At Zion Motorhomes our passion and commitment to our customers sets us apart from the rest. Whether we are finding spare parts or booking a motorhome rental, we are proud to go beyond our customers’ expectations to give them the best motorhome experience possible.
Appreciate
We appreciate every moment that customers share with us, we love to be involved in their customer journey, hearing about the memories they’ve been able to create – it’s why we get out of bed in the morning! We also appreciate every achievement – in our company it’s so important to celebrate milestones.
Integrity
We stand for what we say, and have a company culture of an integrity mindset: We strive to do the best we can, but always with integrity.
Reliability
Our wonderful, German-engineered product won’t let you down. If you’re in the thick of a snowstorm and you don’t have power? Everything in your Dethleff’s motorhome will still work, hassle-free. We have also created Zion Care as a one stop shop for all our customers’ needs.
The History of Zion
The seed was planted when Jonas and Irene took a family motorhome holiday in New Zealand. While living in Singapore and raising their family there, they fell in love with New Zealand’s vast landscapes, unique scenery, and the freedom of the motorhome experience—so different from the city environment they had known all their lives.
The family moves to New Zealand, where Jonas, with a background in sales from his time in Singapore, seeks to buy his own business.
Jonas launches Acacia Products & Services, an online business selling laptops, electronics, and Christian books. However, still reminiscing about the motorhome holiday that created such wonderful memories, he seeks an opportunity to enter the motorhome industry and create similar experiences for others.
Jonas purchases the booking website RentACampervan.co.nz to build a new motorhome rental company.
Jonas launches the new Campervan Booking Agent website. Within two years, he becomes the top agent for some of the leading names in the campervan rental market. He also notices a strong demand from European customers for vehicles with island beds, rather than beds against a wall. In 2010, the idea of renting an island bed motorhome marked the start of a new era.
To address the demand, Jonas visits Germany and orders his first vehicle from Dethleffs—the Globe 4—which he plans to rent out through the RentACampervan website.
Before it can be rented, Jonas grows concerned about managing potential vehicle damage and customer expectations, so he ultimately decides to sell the vehicle. The new owners are still part of the ‘Zion Friends’ family today and proudly share the fact that they were Jonas’ first clients.
The name of the business changes to Acacia Motorhomes. The name "Acacia" is inspired by the Bible, specifically when the tabernacle was built: Exodus 35:24 states, "Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it."
Jonas sells two additional Dethleffs vehicles at the Covi Motorhome Show and hosts the Dethleffs parts department in his garage at home.
Jonas opened his first display site at the churchyard of the Christian Life Centre, his home church, in Howick. Viewings were only possible by appointment, as he had to personally open and close the yard.
Jonas employs his helpful Pastor, Owen Mounsey, as a part-time driver, and he remains a valuable assisting hand for over a year. Jonas also appoints UCC as a sales agent for the South Island.
Jonas appoints Central RV as a sales agent for caravans in New Zealand.
The sales yard moves in with RSE at their premises in Takanini, and the business hires its first full-time employee for the workshop.
The managing director of McRent Germany, the largest rental campervan company in Europe, meets with Jonas and agrees to a partnership to run the rental operation for premium luxury German motorhomes across New Zealand. By the end of the same year, the first 60 McRent vehicles arrive on New Zealand’s shores.
The McRent Christchurch office opens on Greywacke Road in Harewood, just in time for the start of the first season. It has humble beginnings, featuring a very basic container office and portaloo facilities across the road from a noisy, dirty wood mill.
Meanwhile, Jonas purchases 50 Gateway Park Drive in Pokeno with the goal of building a world-class motorhome showroom—the first of its kind in New Zealand.
The business now imports approximately 80-90 units annually and relocates to a new yard on Smales Road in Highbrook.
Meanwhile, construction begins at the Pokeno site.
Zion Motorhomes was founded, and all names and processes were changed to reflect the new brand. "Zion," known from the Bible, is a hill that symbolizes strength, reliability, and protection for the Royal City of Jerusalem.
The business temporarily relocates to a nearby yard while the Pokeno building is constructed, operating from an office container and a workshop tent at two locations.
Eventually, the business moves to the finished building and its current office location at 50 Gateway Park Drive.
Jonas purchases the plot next door to ensure sufficient parking for Zion and McRent’s approximately 500 New Friends and 125 rental vehicles.
The Christchurch office relocates to a new, improved, and professional yard at 12 Holt Place in Burnside.
With continuous sales growth and a strong, industry-leading position established, plans are made to build a new, more impressive showroom that will reflect the quality, reliability, and integrity that the business, its people, and its products embody. To accommodate the thousands of New Friends generated, another adjacent plot of land is purchased, and the consent process is initiated.
Ground-breaking work is completed to realign the business, its people, and the two brands with the Core Purpose and Company Values (link to values page here). This realignment reflects the reasons why Jonas embarked on this wonderful journey of creation in the first place.
Building Excellence: Zion’s Motorhome City
We have always said it, and now it is becoming a reality: Pokeno is becoming the Luxury German Motorhome Capital of New Zealand, thanks to our expansion and our focus on bringing the best motorhomes the world has to offer back home to New Zealand. Motorhome City is a dream that Jonas has been working on for many years—a place where people come together to share a love for travel and enthusiasm for New Zealand, exploring our beautiful backyard while having us care for their prized possessions when they need maintenance.
With the construction of a new state-of-the-art, double-story glass-fronted showroom adjacent to our current premises, we will greatly expand our sales and rental services. Motorhome City in Pokeno is the one place you need to visit when looking for a luxury German motorhome.
Outstanding NPS levels:
BHAG – Our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
What are we out to achieve…? Why is it so important to continue on making a difference every day? What’s the BIG goal ahead of us in the distance? We asked ourselves these important questions and realised that it is the amount of friends we would like to see join the ZION family over the years that gets us excited every day. This is why we have set a BHAG to visualise how we are tracking against reaching this goal. We have therefore set the following goal:
20,000 New Friends by 2030
What are you waiting for – reach out to us today and become a friend of the ZION family and help us achieve this goal. We’d be thrilled.
A very warm WELCOME from the CEO – Jonas Ng
Travelling NZ in a motorhome with my family back in 2006/2007 has been one of the happiest memories of my life. The great experiences of meeting new friends and bonding with my family is something I will cherish forever and it is a whole-hearted pleasure for me with the help of my team at ZION to enable our customers and others to enjoy and share the same. The ZION core values are very close to my heart and guide me and my team 24/7 in all our interactions with you – our customers, suppliers and people we are so proud to be able to serve.
ZION has grown so much over the past 5 years, that the one-man-band approach I started off with a motorhome parts department in my garage in the early days is long history. I was so excited to finally be able to hand on and share the responsibility with a great team of committed people and experts in their field to share and live the passion and the vision I once created. A team I know I can fall back on. The backbone of this organisation – the reason why the business generates 5-star customer experiences on a regular basis. To achieve that it takes more than just a great product – it takes heart.
‘Living the dream’ is written on so many motorhomes that travel the wonderful and windy roads of this outstanding place we call home – Aotearoa / New Zealand and this incarnates the approach I take with my team when interacting with everyone of our ZION friends and ‘clients to be’: Learning and listing to the ideas what your DREAM looks like rather to tell you what’s ours.
We only choose quality German manufacturing partners that are able to provide us with products we can support and stand for to deliver on this vision of experiencing a dream holiday experience that lasts for years to come. To align our service levels with that, we are heavily investing in people, resources and space and I am proud to have created our all-round carefree purchase experience – ZION CARE to take the hassle-away from you having to know the ‘ins and outs’ of your new motorhome from day 1. To have a helping hand night and day or whenever you most need it, can make all the difference.
I am very excited about the bright future and the growth I see for ZION in the years to come, and once the new purpose-built double-story glass showroom is finished, we have a dedicated service center for all our existing ZION customers and friends to enjoy and to share the wonderful success with us.
But that’s enough from me. For now I would just like to close with a quote from the bible that symbolises that only together we can achieve the best in all of us.
We will work for you so that together we will be able to fulfil on each other’s dreams
The body is not supported by one person, but by all of us. We are one, we are strongest working together in unity.
