Category: News

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NEW CAR SALES HIT A RECORD HIGH IN 2023

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The Australian automotive market has achieved an unprecedented milestone, breaking all- time records for new vehicle sales in 2023. A total of 1,216,780 vehicles were delivered during the year, the previous highest sales result of 1,189,116 was achieved in 2017. Toyota was the top selling car brand with 17.7 per cent of the market while the top selling vehicle was the Ford Ranger (63,356). SUVs and light commercials accounted for 78.4 per cent of sales and comprise all the top 10 vehicles sold in 2023. Battery electric vehicles accounted for… Read more

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NEW KIA PICANTO

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Kia has announced details of the latest version of its Picanto city car. Cars of this size have historically been poor sellers in Australia with its sprawling suburbs however increasing environmental awareness did there was a surge in popularity of the segment which saw Kia begin importing the Picanto in 2015. The arrival of compact SUVs has seen the micro segment dwindle to just two cars – Picanto and Fiat 500 with the little Kia outselling the Italian mini by a ratio of 9 to 1. As with the other… Read more

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RENAULT LAUNCHES ALL-NEW KANGOO E-TECH COMMERCIAL VAN

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Renault has rejoined the Australian electric commercial van market with its new Kangoo E- Tech. It replaces the previous fully-electric Z.E. Kangoo which was on sale here between 2017 and 2022. Renault has been a pioneer in electric mobility and a leader in electric commercial vehicles in Europe since 2011 with the Z.E. selling around 70,000 vehicles as well as nearly 200 here. Kangoo E-Tech is available in both short- and long-wheelbase variants and with a range of option packs. The SWB variant will arrive in February 2024, priced from… Read more

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DEFENDER DESIGNED FOR ‘ENDLESS’ SURFING SAFARI

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Surfing can be an expensive undertaking, especially if you need the right set of wheels to reach secluded locations. Enter the Land Rover Defender Pacific Blue Edition, limited to just 15 examples and priced from $129,976 plus on-road costs. Pacific Blue Edition will be sold exclusively in short wheelbase 90 body design with a D250 3.0-litre twin turbo-diesel that delivers 183kW of power and 570Nm of torque. Each of the 15 Limited Edition models will be wrapped in a stunning Pacific Blue matte finish, contrasted with a white roof and… Read more

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SAFETY HINTS FROM RACV FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON

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Victorian motoring organisation RACV is urging everyone to keep road rules and safety at the forefront of their minds this festive season. 287 lives have been lost on Victorian roads in 2023, up 23.2 per cent (as at midnight 18 December 2023). RACV is calling on Victorian motorists to be mindful of keeping to the left on a multi-lane road (rule 130) and not stopping on a freeway (rule 177), with Victoria Police figures showing almost 10,000 infringements totalling over $1.5 million in fines were handed out to motorists over… Read more

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OOPS . . . TWO CARS FLUNK CRASH TESTS!

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Australia’s independent car safety authority ANCAP has warned car buyers to check ratings after two brand new cars failed to score any stars for safety in crash tests. The cars in question are the Chinese MG5 sedan and Indian Mahindra Scorpio SUV. Both models were unable to achieve even one star for safety in terms of physical or active collision protection. In many areas, ANCAP says this was due to the fundamental omission of safety features that have been commonplace in new cars for many years. “Both brands have misjudged… Read more

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NEW MINI COUNTRYMAN 

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  The Mini Countryman has been around since the 1960s when, as a small station wagon,   it sold alongside the classic Mini.    After being off the scene for a number of years, BMW brought it back in 2010, this time as  the first Mini.    While it could be argued that the Mini Moke that was built in Australia until the early 1980s  could be classed as an SUV, the Countryman came with a raft of features not seen in the  cute little Aussie Moke. To start with it… Read more

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TOYOTA TUNDRA COMING DOWNUNDER

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Toyota Australia has announced details of its full-size Tundra pick-up truck which, subject to a successful local evaluation program, is likely to go on sale here in 2025. If it does come here it will compete against vehicles such as Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and RAM 1500. Built at Toyota’s factory in San Antonio, Texas the Tundra has been around since 1999 but only in left-hand drive. An initial batch of 300 vehicles will come here and be converted to right-hand drive by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group in Clayton South,… Read more

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LUXURY LEXUS LM PEOPLE MOVER NOW ON SALE

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After the public got an early preview of the Lexus LM at last month’s Melbourne Cup the luxury people mover is now on sale The name-tag stands for Luxury Mover and it certainly lives up to that description. While it’s technically a people mover, its price range of $160,888 to $222,000, means that its far more likely to be used for chauffeur-driven executive transport rather than on the family school run. There are two variants, the seven-seat LM 350h Sports Luxury, available in either two- or all-wheel drive, priced from… Read more

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VOLVO XC60, PLENTY TO SAY . . . MOSTLY GOOD

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What’s in a name? Plenty for Volvo, the Sino-Swedish car maker with its new mid-size luxury SUV, the XC60, tagged with a string of descriptors to separate each model from one another. Take, for example our test vehicle, the Volvo XC60 Ultimate B5 Bright: phew! And that mouthful comes without mentioning vital specifications such as the powertrain – in this case 2-litre turbocharged, four-cylinder petrol engine, plus eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. ‘Ultimate’ relates to the trim level, B5 to the engine, a turbocharged petrol motor enhanced by a… Read more