Police have named the man found dead inside a burnt out car near Owaka on Sunday. 

He was Blake Stuart Stott, a 19-year-old labourer of Dunedin.

Senior sergeant Lane Todd of Balclutha police says Stott had previously lived in Owaka and returned to the town most weekends to play rugby and visit family.

The death is being treated as suspicious but police say it may take several weeks for the results of forensic tests to come back.