The Fiat Ducato arrived four weeks ago and takes the ageing ambulance fleet up to five.
While fully equipped for emergencies, it is mainly being used for transferring patients from the region to Dunedin and Invercargill hospitals.
The ambulance was bought by St John Southern Region in partnership with ASB Bank.
It cost more than $200,000 to buy the cab and chassis, fit the back box then equip it with medical gear, including two stretchers and a Lifepak 12 defibrillator.
"It's good for the area and good for the guys," area committee chairman Marty Black said.
St John ambulances were usually decommissioned or reassigned every four to five years, or when they had 300,000km on the clock.
Wakatipu St John has eight full-time staff and averages 14 volunteers in Queenstown.
It has a first-response unit and three volunteer staff in Glenorchy, an ambulance and five volunteers in Kingston and it works closely with the Arrowtown Volunteer Fire Brigade, which is a first-response unit for the town.
Wakatipu ambulance officers and medics were called out on 1462 emergencies between January and August this year.
