A car has been completely destroyed following a fire in Tauranga overnight.

A SunLive reader who was at the scene says they heard a series of explosions before seeing the vehicle fully engilfed in flames at the Cherrywood Shops.

"We heard a series (6 - 8?) of loud explosions from around 10.50pm," the reader says in the message on Facebook.

"A stationwagon parked in the Cherrywood shopping village car park was fully on fire.

"The fire service were on the scene at around 11pm and quickly extinguished the fire."