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Latest News

Hot new looks - spy videos » View All

Highlights » View All

• Feel-good simplicity of EVs: Hyundai Ioniq is Car of...
• Ford delivers ‘Bullitt’ Mustang for classic film’s 50th birthday
• Quirky design elements that make some cars stand out...
• Jaguar D-Type that set speed record at Le Mans...
• General Motors Holden registers Camaro trademark for Aussie
• Jeep USA tests new Wranglers in rugged Kiwi country
• 1970 VW Beetle to tackle annual off-road spectacular
• ‘Huge market’ awaits Bosch’s off-the-shelf EV powertrain

Feel-good simplicity of EVs: Hyundai Ioniq is Car of Year

January 8, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

It’s impossible to ignore the advantages of cars that run on batteries alone, especially in a country like New Zealand with its renewable supply of comparatively cheap hydro-electric power. One advantage is that average urban daily commutes are well within the range of every plug-in battery-electric car (BEV) on the NZ market. Another...

Ford delivers ‘Bullitt’ Mustang for classic film’s 50th birthday

December 15, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The first clue that Ford would deliver a special Mustang to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie Bullitt came when it withdrew the colour Guard from its inventory. Guard is a dark green similar to the signature Dark Highland Green of the Mustang GT Fastback driven by Hollywood star Steve McQueen (above) in the classic [&hellip...

Quirky design elements that make some cars stand out …

December 10, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Gear Patrol’s Bryan Campbell lists his favourite car design elements … When automotive designers and engineers get together and put forward the best they have to offer, cult followings and icon status just come naturally. For era-defining cars, influences from highway safety rules and crash protection regulations play just as big of...

Jaguar D-Type that set speed record at Le Mans up for sale

December 7, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Jaguar D-Type OKV 2 might be considered more of a legend than a collector’s car – but now it’s up for sale again. Sothebys will auction the car at the Arizona Concours in January, where it is expected to fetch US$15 million. OKV 2 was the second D-Type iteration from the Jaguar factory back [&hellip...

General Motors Holden registers Camaro trademark for Aussie

November 28, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The story six weeks ago on this website that the all-American Chevrolet badge is almost certain to return to New Zealand on the 2020 Camaro sports car has gained further traction – General Motors Holden (GMH) has just registered the Camaro trademark for Australia. But it hasn’t just filed protection of the car’s name – it taken...

Jeep USA tests new Wranglers in rugged Kiwi country

November 16, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The new Wrangler JL won’t be seen in New Zealand until next year – but Jeep USA has been testing four North American-market prototypes over rugged country around Wanaka and Queenstown. Jeep has already revealed static official pictures of the next-generation two-door and four-door Wrangler, but this is the first time either variant...

1970 VW Beetle to tackle annual off-road spectacular

November 13, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

It’s been described as one of the coolest entries in recent years, the appearance in next year’s Baja 1000 off-road race of a heavily modified 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. And behind the ProjectBaja.com team in the annual California-Mexico event will be the might of VW America. “For decades Volkswagen Beetle vehicles, Beetle-based...

‘Huge market’ awaits Bosch’s off-the-shelf EV powertrain

September 4, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

German parts supplier Bosch has developed a “start-up powertrain for electric vehicles”, a plug-in system combining electric motor, transmission and power control electronics into one package. It calls it the ‘e-axle’, short for ‘electronic axle drive’. And it hopes carmakers that don’t yet have EV s in showrooms will buy...

Latest car reviews » View All

• 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
• Hayden Paddon on crash death: ‘Please don’t speculate’

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 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...

Hayden Paddon on crash death: ‘Please don’t speculate’

January 21, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

New Zealand rally star Hayden Paddon wrote this after he crashed during the first stage of the Monte Carlo rally. A spectator near the crash site died. This is Paddon’s unedited statement.  Hi everyone, Upon reflection, I wanted to issue a statement about yesterday’s events. Firstly, our thoughts are with the family and friends...

Tips and advice View All

September 26, 2015 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Drive safe – ‘Turn on the bubble machine’ when you start car

There is a statistic from the road toll that the Government needs to take into account as it considers raising the maximum speed limit on some roads...

‘Huge market’ in NZ for Aussie insurance write-offs, says transport official

April 22 | Comments Off

It’s a Breeze – a breathalyser that tells your cellphone when you are...

January 5 | Comments Off

‘Bucket list’: Taking on the best gravel roads in New Zealand

April 30 | Comments Off

SUVs gain greater share of the 2014 sales race

March 9 | Comments Off

Shapely figure causes male drivers to lose the plot

February 26 | Comments Off

Industry news View All

April 24, 2018 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Battery-electric Audi SUV can be charged in 30 minutes

The production version of Audi’s battery-electric e-tron SUV will be able to be fully charged in less than 30 minutes for a driving range of more...

Skoda Karoq SUV offers more than the bear necessities

April 18 | Comments Off

Time will tell on Toyota’s new fixed pricing structure

April 4 | Comments Off

New Subaru Forester gets driver monitoring safety

April 2 | Comments Off

First 3D-printed car is built from aerospace aluminium

March 30 | Comments Off

50th anniversary Toyota Corolla gets improved dynamics, comfort

March 25 | Comments Off

We are the World

• Reinventing ‘Good Oil’ column

  September 29, 2016 | Comments Off

New car gadgets

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  Mercedes-AMG delivers its fastest four-door sedan

  Oct 27 | Comments Off

Industry news

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  Battery-electric Audi SUV can be charged in 30 minutes

  Apr 24 | Comments Off

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  Skoda Karoq SUV offers more than the bear necessities

  Apr 18 | Comments Off

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