Automotive News NZ

Will Land Rover fan Queen Elizabeth II like the new Defender?

September 11 | Comments Off
Slump in car sales takes $20m a month out of industry pockets

September 7 | Comments Off
Love affair with Land Rover ends with cold shoulder …

August 4 | Comments Off
Kia plots compact SUV growth as ideal for its new Seltos

July 30 | Comments Off
GM boss identified right-hook Chevrolet Corvette back in 2014

July 20 | Comments Off
Hydrogen highway: Toyota, Hyundai go in one direction, Mazda the other

July 18 | Comments Off
Mitsubishi defies slump in new vehicle registrations

July 7 | Comments Off
Banned wheelchair-access vehicle maker sues NZ transport bodies

June 27 | Comments Off
Ex-Recaro agent builds patent-pending sports seats for Holden concept

June 8 | Comments Off
Carmakers finding solutions to problems that don’t exist?

June 3 | Comments Off

Giving new Land Rover Defender the once-over
Why the Chevvy Corvette is such a fast sprinter...
GM chief talks to Bloomberg about Corvette …
Mazda rotary runs at its most efficient on hydrogen...
How Koenigsegg does its ‘crash’ tests …
Renault Megane RS Trophy-R sets lap record
New Jeep Wrangler on its way to NZ …
Going bush towing a self-levelling, carry-all trailer

Giving new Land Rover Defender the once-over

September 11, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The 2020 Land Rover Defender has been unveiled and British motoring writer Paul Hudson takes us through a first look at the new 4&#...

Why the Chevvy Corvette is such a fast sprinter …

July 25, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette, the first factory-backed right-hooker and the first mid-engine model, will join Holden’s line-up in Australia and New Zealand. This video deals with how the layout of the 6.2-litre V8 engine helps the C8 Corvette achieve its claimed 0-100km/h time of under 3 seconds...

GM chief talks to Bloomberg about Corvette …

July 20, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

GM president Mark Reuss talks about the new mid-engine C8 Corvette, driver assistance systems, and workforce relations with Bloomberg’s David Westin on “Bloomberg Markets.&#...

Mazda rotary runs at its most efficient on hydrogen …

July 18, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

American engineer Jason Fenske, of Engineering Explained, describes exactly what happens inside a Mazda rotary engine running on hydrogen. It turns out the design of the engine is pretty much ideal for burning hydrogen. ...

How Koenigsegg does its ‘crash’ tests …

May 28, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Mainstream carmakers might crash-test hundreds of vehicles in order to meet safety standards. But it’s a different story for Swedish supercar company Koenigsegg, which might only turn out 12 to 15 cars a year. Each one can cost many millions of dollars, so crashing and trashing even one would be absurdly expensive. This video, from...

Renault Megane RS Trophy-R sets lap record

May 23, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Megane RS Trophy-R, driven by Renault Formula One team pilot Nico Hulkenberg, completed an official full lap of the Nurburgring in 7 minutes 40.1 seconds, three seconds quicker than the Honda Civic Type R’s 7 minutes 43.8 seconds...

New Jeep Wrangler on its way to NZ …

March 21, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Jeep’s new JL Wrangler is expected to be launched in New Zealand around May/June. This video deals with the Rubicon version, the two- and four-door model engineered specially for hardcore off-road conditions. Rubicon comes standard with heavy duty stuff, including axles, front and rear locking differentials, electronic front stabiliser...

Going bush towing a self-levelling, carry-all trailer

February 7, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Bruder EXP-4 is a more compact version of the Australian company’s recent EXP-6, a 6.7m-long, self-contained trailer described as being ‘built for the Apocalypse.’ It can that can sleep six and is being trialled by military units across the ditch. The smaller EXP-4 sports a high-tensile steel suspension system and 300mm of...

Will Land Rover fan Queen Elizabeth II like the...
Slump in car sales takes $20m a month out...
Love affair with Land Rover ends with cold shoulder...
Kia plots compact SUV growth as ideal for its...
GM boss identified right-hook Chevrolet Corvette back in 2014
Hydrogen highway: Toyota, Hyundai go in one direction, Mazda...
Mitsubishi defies slump in new vehicle registrations
Banned wheelchair-access vehicle maker sues NZ transport bodies

Will Land Rover fan Queen Elizabeth II like the new Defender?

September 11, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

There is a yarn British motoring writer Andrew English tells that’s almost too good to check. It concerns a senior Land Rover executive. Sitting down with his personal PR team one Monday morning a few years ago, he announced that he’d like them to get him “a gong”. “A gong, sir?” they parroted....

Slump in car sales takes $20m a month out of industry pockets

September 7, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The new vehicle industry in New Zealand is heading for its first annual sales slump since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) bit deep 10 years ago. Registrations of new cars and commercials at the end of August were down 5.1% on the same eight-month period last year, the first sign in a decade that the [&hellip...

Love affair with Land Rover ends with cold shoulder …

August 4, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

My love affair with Land Rovers began as a boy on the family farm in the 1950s. Sixty-plus years later the relationship had neared breaking point. I fear it is beyond reconciliation. Maybe, just maybe, the new Defender can salvage it. Back on the farm all those years ago, my dad used the power takeoff (PTO) [&hellip...

Kia plots compact SUV growth as ideal for its new Seltos

July 30, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

South Korean carmaker Kia is telling its global distributors that sales of compact SUVs will grow a further 20 per cent over the next three years, from 6.5 million in 2018 to more than 8.2 million in 2022. It’s a forecast that falls in line with the segment’s growth in New Zealand. At the end [&hellip...

GM boss identified right-hook Chevrolet Corvette back in 2014

July 20, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The president of General Motors, Mark Reuss, gave the strongest hint five-and-a-half years ago that a right-hand-drive Chevrolet Corvette was in the production pipeline. It was at the Detroit motor show, in January 2014. Reuss was then GM’s product development chief and had just told reporters that the US carmaker would for the first...

mazda-hydrogen-rotary-engine-awarded-by-international-association-for-hydrogen-energy-20605_1

Hydrogen highway: Toyota, Hyundai go in one direction, Mazda the other

July 18, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Toyota New Zealand (TNZ) is planning to show off its hydrogen-powered Marai sedan. “We’re looking at options for it,” said Morgan Dilks, the carmaker’s communications man. The options include doing what rival Hyundai is about to do with its zero-emissions Nexo SUV – take it on a road trip around the country. But first both...

Mitsubishi Triton ... share and share alike

Mitsubishi defies slump in new vehicle registrations

July 7, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

New vehicle registrations in New Zealand are slowing as the market readjusts to changing economic conditions after a boom five years of record numbers. Registrations for the six months to the end of June were down around 6 per cent, or almost 4500 units, on the same period last year, says the Motor Industry Association [&hellip...

Banned wheelchair-access vehicle maker sues NZ transport bodies

June 27, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

A company forced by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to stop building wheelchair-access vehicles is suing the government body and its offshoot the Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association (LVVTA) for losses “expected to exceed $5 million.” Lawyers for vehicle manufacturer Drive NZ Classic Ltd (DNZC) have filed a statement of claim in...

Car of the year? Has to be the Toyota...
Numbers game: the real story behind record 2017 sales...
HSV lines up flash Colorado ute, Chev Camaro, Silverado...
Land Rover responds to clean air critic that ‘diesel...
Kia and Isuzu the go-getters in 2013-2017 sales figures
At the wheel: an open and shut case in...
Holden Astra – European flavour blended with a ‘taste...
Kia, Suzuki big improvers in January sales sleight-of-hand

Car of the year? Has to be the Toyota ZR Hybrid Corolla

January 2, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The new Toyota Corolla didn’t make the cut in mainstream 2018 car of the year awards in New Zealand, mainly because it arrived late in the year and didn’t meet judging deadlines. But I spent enough time behind the wheel of both the 2.0-litre petrol and 1.8-litre petrol-electric Corollas to choose the ZR Hybrid Corolla [&hellip...

Numbers game: the real story behind record 2017 sales year

January 18, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

If you believe the public relations guff, every distributor in New Zealand last year sold record numbers of new vehicles. But that wasn’t the case. Okay, it was an overall record year, with 159,871 new vehicle registrations. But quite a few brands didn’t do as well as the PR people claim. Press releases saying this [&hellip...

HSV lines up flash Colorado ute, Chev Camaro, Silverado truck

December 8, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Chevrolet badge returns to New Zealand next year on the bonnet of the all-American Camaro sports car and Silverado pick-up truck. Both vehicles will be converted to right-hand drive by Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) at its new 28,000 square-metre plant in Melbourne. It’s where HSV will also prepare two versions of the Holden...

Land Rover responds to clean air critic that ‘diesel is the devil’

September 13, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Jaguar Land Rover has defended its diesel engine technology after criticism of the fuel from the founder and director of Clean Air London, Simon Birkett. “Diesel is the devil, and we do need to ban it,” Birkett told a panel of automotive experts at the inaugural Jaguar Land Rover Tech Fest, a three-day event in [&hellip...

Kia and Isuzu the go-getters in 2013-2017 sales figures

September 6, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Registrations of traditional passenger sedans and hatchbacks have tumbled over the past five years, as New Zealanders move towards SUVs and utes. In August 2013, for instance, the Holden Commodore sat at No. 5 on the top 15 list. Last month it was No. 10. A month earlier it was No. 11. Five years ago [&hellip...

At the wheel: an open and shut case in top-down Merc

May 29, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Hard-charging Kiwi motorcycle great Graeme Crosby tells the story of racing in the Isle of Man TT for the first time in 1979. He sort of ‘smelled’ his way round the 48km circuit. “It’s such a long way that it’s hard sometimes to remember exactly where your are,” he once told me. “There is one [&hellip...

Holden New Zealand - Astra RSV 2017, 15 February 2017

Holden Astra – European flavour blended with a ‘taste of Kiwi’

March 3, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Holden has tasked its award-winning advertising agency, Special Group, to change how Holden is perceived in New Zealand. It wants the agency to help transform the brand, give it a taste of Kiwi, point it more towards premium space. It’s not that Holden has gone away; just that, over time, the brand has lost its [&hellip...

Kia, Suzuki big improvers in January sales sleight-of-hand

February 5, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Record January registrations in New Zealand point to the usual end-of-year sleight of hand, where many vehicles sold in the last month of the year aren’t registered until the first month of the next year. That way an unregistered 2016-year vehicle bought in December, for example, appears on the NZ Transport Agency books as first...

September 26, 2015 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

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