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Latest News

Hot new looks - spy videos » View All

Highlights » View All

• 2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts
• Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers
• Counting down to time when fossil-fuelled cars will be...
• A hybrid Hilux? As the man said, it’s all...
• British marque Lister develops go-faster Jaguar F-Pace SUV
• GM to set up NZ outlets for Chevrolet Corvette,...
• ‘Prius dusting’ at the flick of a diesel truck...
• Ford, BMW register the most new cars to themselves

2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts

September 21, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Toyota NZ has equipped its 2021 Yaris with significant safety firsts in a bid to inject renewed interest in the small car. Yaris, like the rest of its five-door, town-and-around hatchback rivals, has been pushed aside in the last decade by the growth of compact SUVs. In 2013, for example, small cars (21,511) accounted for [&hellip...

Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers

September 15, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

One hundred to one – that’s the ratio of petrol- and diesel-powered to hybrid or all-electric SUVs registered with the NZ Transport Agency since the beginning of 2017. It’s actually closer to 100/0.5. In theory, a single hybrid/electric SUV would still be in bits and pieces on the assembly line by the time the 100th [&hellip...

Counting down to time when fossil-fuelled cars will be limited

September 7, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

New Zealanders will sooner rather than later find the range of new mainstream petrol and diesel passenger cars is shrinking as carmakers ramp up production of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (EVs). It won’t necessarily be because global demand for such EVs has overnight gone through the roof, but environmental...

A hybrid Hilux? As the man said, it’s all about solutions

September 2, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Toyota introduced its petrol-electric Prius hybrid in the late 1990s, around the time Silicon Valley visionary Jaron Lanier was talking about solving things. “If you aren’t part of the solution, there will be no solution,” Lanier told the tech world. But Toyota was already part of the solution. Its problem? How to cut real-world...

British marque Lister develops go-faster Jaguar F-Pace SUV

August 28, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The Jaguar F-Pace SVR has been turned into “Britain’s fastest and most powerful SUV” by long-time British performance house and racing marque Lister. Original Lister race car helped forge links with Jaguar and 1958 NZ Grand Prix It’s named the Stealth, limited to 100 units worldwide, and priced from £109,950 (NZ$220,000). Said...

GM to set up NZ outlets for Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado

August 18, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

It’s finally been confirmed after months of speculation – a new General Motors venture will supply hand-picked US models for Australia and New Zealand starting later this year. In doing so it will replace long-time performance company Holden Special Vehicles. The first vehicle GM Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) will deliver will be the...

‘Prius dusting’ at the flick of a diesel truck switch

August 18, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

It’s called ‘rolling coal’ in the USA. It’s a disease of the mind, where drivers of diesel pick-up trucks modify their engines to belch a cloud bank of exhaust soot at the flick of a switch. It’s also called ‘Prius dusting’, a derogatory use of the name of Toyota’s hybrid. It’s done to protest environmental [&hellip...

Ford, BMW register the most new cars to themselves

August 11, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The two car brands that registered the most new passenger vehicles to themselves and/or their dealers at the end of July in New Zealand were Ford and BMW, data shows. It doesn’t include commercial vehicles. Fifty out of every 100 new passenger Fords listed in the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) books were either registered as [&hellip...

Latest car reviews » View All

• Ultimate boys’ toy – submarine about as big as...
• 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...

Ultimate boys’ toy – submarine about as big as two jet skis

April 23, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The jet ski might indeed be one of the best watersport toys going round, but it has nothing on the lightweight Nemo submersible from U-Boat Worx, a specialist company in The Netherlands. Both craft do have one thing in common, however – they can be towed by the family station wagon or SUV, although Nemo [&hellip...

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 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...

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

September 21, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts

Toyota NZ has equipped its 2021 Yaris with significant safety firsts in a bid to inject renewed interest in the small car. Yaris, like the rest of...

Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers

September 15 | Comments Off

Counting down to time when fossil-fuelled cars will be limited

September 7 | Comments Off

A hybrid Hilux? As the man said, it’s all about solutions

September 2 | Comments Off

British marque Lister develops go-faster Jaguar F-Pace SUV

August 28 | Comments Off

GM to set up NZ outlets for Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado

August 18 | Comments Off

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  2021 Toyota Yaris hits high point with safety firsts

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  Exhaust gases: combustion engine looks for answers

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