Automotive News NZ

‘Seamless’ wheels on Citroen EV concept marry rims and rubber

May 16 | Comments Off
Audi previews all-electric e-tron SUV with left-hook NZ road show

May 8 | Comments Off
Ford-Rivian link: next stop NZ for all-electric lifestyle vehicles?

May 5 | Comments Off
2020 Subaru Outback: boosted flat-four replaces 3.6-litre unit

April 20 | Comments Off
New Jeep Wrangler: the price disparity between NZ and Oz

April 11 | Comments Off
Kiwis miss out on special 70th birthday Land Rover

April 4 | Comments Off
Commodore Greg Murphy and the ZB affair on Pukekohe track

March 20 | Comments Off
Renault Megane RS has goods to be leader of hot hatch class

March 10 | Comments Off
Car industry last year registered 607 vehicles to itself each week

February 27 | Comments Off
‘Lightning McQueen’ Porsche 356 comes to life … sort of

February 26 | Comments Off

New Jeep Wrangler on its way to NZ …
Going bush towing a self-levelling, carry-all trailer
Extreme vehicles the best of boys’ toys …
First video of new Land Rover Defender on the...
Jeep Gladiator designer tells of its development …
Personal jet suit: how it all worked out
3D-printed wheel from titanium powder
Mustang Bullitt hits road on Isle of Man

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...

Extreme vehicles the best of boys’ toys …

January 31, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

A boat that crawls up the beach crab-like to become a landing craft; a jet-ski that literally zooms about on skis; and an ATV that can fly … they’re just a few of the boys’ toys from YouTube’s Freeze Lists...

First video of new Land Rover Defender on the move …

January 8, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

New-generation Land Rover Defenders undergoing tests in Britain, Europe, and the United States are trialing 2.0-litre petrol and diesel Ingenium engines, although JLR won’t confirm the identity of the powertrains &#...

Jeep Gladiator designer tells of its development …

December 2, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Jeep Gladiator pick-up has finally broken cover. It goes into production next year and is expected to go on sale in New Zealand in 2020. In this video, a team from Fast Lane Trucks was at the Gladiator unveiling at the Los Angeles motor show ...

Personal jet suit: how it all worked out

November 20, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Englishman Richard Browning and his company Gravity built the world’s fastest personal jet suit. Here he talks to Wired magazine about the processes he went through to design and engineer this radical new form of transportation. ...

3D-printed wheel from titanium powder

November 18, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

A California company mostly known in the automotive industry for its custom monoblock alloy wheels has teamed with a division of General Electric to produce a world-first 3D-printed wheel from titanium powder. HRE Wheels and GE Additive used Electron Beam Melting (EBM) to create the lightweight prototype wheel, pictured above on a...

Mustang Bullitt hits road on Isle of Man

November 7, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Isle of Man TT is among the most famous motorsport festivals in the world. Every year, over two weeks, 30 million fans tune in to see top motorcyclists test their talent on the incredible “Mountain Course”. But you don’t have to be on two wheels to get the best out of the course. British [&hellip...

‘Seamless’ wheels on Citroen EV concept marry rims and...
Audi previews all-electric e-tron SUV with left-hook NZ road...
Ford-Rivian link: next stop NZ for all-electric lifestyle vehicles?
2020 Subaru Outback: boosted flat-four replaces 3.6-litre unit
New Jeep Wrangler: the price disparity between NZ and...
Kiwis miss out on special 70th birthday Land Rover
Commodore Greg Murphy and the ZB affair on Pukekohe...
Renault Megane RS has goods to be leader of...

Copyright Sébastien STAUB @ Continental Productions

‘Seamless’ wheels on Citroen EV concept marry rims and rubber

May 16, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Citroen challenged tyre giant Goodyear to come up with tall and narrow wheels for the Citroen 19_19, an all-electric SUV concept designed to celebrate the French carmaker’s 100th birthday and showcase styling and technology that could underpin its future. It wanted the end result to appear as though the wheels were independent from the...

Audi previews all-electric e-tron SUV with left-hook NZ road show

May 8, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Audi is preparing another road show for its stakeholders in New Zealand, this time with four left-hand drive examples of the e-tron, Audi’s first all-electric SUV. The EV cars are due to land in Auckland in the next few days, before being made ready for their public appearances from June 6 as a prelude to [&hellip...

Ford-Rivian link: next stop NZ for all-electric lifestyle vehicles?

May 5, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Will American start-up company Rivian Automotive sell its battery-electric SUVs and utes in New Zealand now that it has confirmed production for Australia? If so, will they be sold through an independent Rivian outlet? Or will they, now that Ford HQ in Detroit has taken a US$500 million stake in Rivian, be sold as premium [&hellip...

2020 Subaru Outback: boosted flat-four replaces 3.6-litre unit

April 20, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Japanese all-wheel-drive specialist Subaru has ditched its 3.6-litre flat-six engine in favour of a more powerful and thriftier turbocharged 2.4-litre flat-four for its premium sixth-generation Outback SUV, which is expected to go on sale in New Zealand later next year. The big difference between the two engines is not so much in terms...

New Jeep Wrangler: the price disparity between NZ and Oz

April 11, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Why are Jeep importers Fiat Chrysler New Zealand (FCNZ) asking between NZ$16,000 and NZ$25,000 more than the Australians for the new Wrangler JL, a vehicle that is essentially an update of the outgoing JK model, albeit with more high-tech stuff? FCNZ has priced the premium Wrangler JL, the four-door Unlimited Rubicon, at NZ$92,990 –...

Land-Rover-Defender-V8-70th-Anniversary-Edition-gear-patrol-2-1940x1300

Kiwis miss out on special 70th birthday Land Rover

April 4, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

This is the Land Rover that a handful of New Zealanders wanted but missed out on, because all 150 special editions celebrating the company’s 70th anniversary were snapped up, many by international investors. Investors? The rough and tumble Defender is not exactly blue-chip stock. But here’s the thing: the price for either the...

Commodore Greg Murphy and the ZB affair on Pukekohe track

March 20, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Me and Greg Murphy were talking about nothing in particular at a Holden event late last year. “Driven the two-litre Commodore yet?” he said. I hadn’t. I had had a drive of the all-wheel-drive V6 but not the front-drive 2.0-litre. “You’ll have difficulty telling whether it’s front or rear drive,” he said. “It shows nothing...

2018 - New Renault MEGANE R.S. Sport chassis tests drive in Spain

Renault Megane RS has goods to be leader of hot hatch class

March 10, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

One of the automotive breakthroughs often lost amid the dizzying development of digital technology is that made in 2001 by French company Renault: it was the first carmaker to get a five-star crash rating for occupant protection. Beat Europe’s other big names, it did: Benz, Audi, BMW, Volvo, Saab, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroen. Modest...

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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