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VW Kombi looks all-original – but it hides electric drivetrain

December 3 | Comments Off
Brexit turmoil behind Tesla’s switch from UK to Germany

November 14 | Comments Off
On the road again – with a luxury solar-powered caravan

November 7 | Comments Off
New Isuzu D-Max: NZ outlet will know more when it knows more

October 21 | Comments Off
When Rodney met Possum: what it means for the new Skoda Scala

October 1 | Comments Off
Research: Tesla battery pack may last for more than million miles

September 24 | Comments Off
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

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...

VW Kombi looks all-original – but it hides electric...
Brexit turmoil behind Tesla’s switch from UK to Germany
On the road again – with a luxury solar-powered...
New Isuzu D-Max: NZ outlet will know more when...
When Rodney met Possum: what it means for the...
Research: Tesla battery pack may last for more than...
Will Land Rover fan Queen Elizabeth II like the...
Slump in car sales takes $20m a month out...

VW Kombi looks all-original – but it hides electric drivetrain

December 3, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The company that converted a BMW M3 into a battery-electric competitor for the Pikes Peak hill climb in the US has modified an almost 50-year-old Volkswagen Kombi to also run on electrics, in this case the powertrain from the outgoing VW e-Golf. California outfit EV West replaced the Kombi’s original 44kW (60hp) air-cooled, flat-four...

2018-tesla-model-s-and-2018-tesla-model-x_100641508

Brexit turmoil behind Tesla’s switch from UK to Germany

November 14, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Tesla founder Elon Musk says the turmoil over Brexit was behind his decision to build the company’s next-generation electric car battery plant in Germany instead of Britain. The switch to a site near Berlin comes as a blow to Britain, which is fighting to maintain its carmaking industry in the face of sweeping technological change....

On the road again – with a luxury solar-powered caravan

November 7, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

US company Living Vehicle has been building solar-powered caravans for Americans who want to hit the road and not rely on plugging in at campsites or recreation vehicle parks. Now it has launched its 2020 model, an 8.5m-long luxury trailer with pretty much everything you need in a home away from home. Solar panels on [&hellip...

New Isuzu D-Max: NZ outlet will know more when it knows more

October 21, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Murray Greenhalgh might be the general manager of Isuzu Utes NZ, but he can be forgiven for not knowing much about the new 2020 model D-Max. Japanese parent company executives at the Isuzu plant in Thailand don’t do shop talk, certainly not with its 120 global distributors. “I’ve been in boardrooms at the factory and [&hellip...

When Rodney met Possum: what it means for the new Skoda Scala

October 1, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Skoda NZ’s new general manager Rodney Gillard (above) couldn’t have timed it better: literally days after his appointment he got to wheel out the company’s new hatchback, the five-door Scala. “It’s going to help us put a footprint into a segment that we have probably struggled a bit,” said Gillard. He means the small car...

Research: Tesla battery pack may last for more than million miles

September 24, 2019 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

By Daniel Oberhaus, of US website Wired Last April, Elon Musk promised that Tesla would soon be able to power its electric cars for more than 1 million miles (1.62m km) over the course of their lifespan. At the time, the claim seemed a bit much. That’s more than double the mileage Tesla owners can [&hellip...

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...

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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