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Kiwi invention powers Aussie firm to world first for EVs

July 13 | Comments Off
New rapid response vehicle for US Army based on Colorado ute

July 3 | Comments Off
New electric pick-up truck from an old General Motors plant

June 30 | Comments Off
Range Rover Fifty: handful of Kiwis eye swank anniversary model

June 27 | Comments Off
Mazda BT-50 enters its lifecycle as move towards more power heats up

June 17 | Comments Off
Badger pick-up uses batteries and hydrogen cell for 1000km range

June 15 | Comments Off
Next VW Amarok will be based on the Ford Ranger

June 12 | Comments Off
$12,000 deal for motorists to swap petrol and diesel models for EVs

June 10 | Comments Off
Crumpy would have had none of this ‘hood’ business for Hilux

June 5 | Comments Off
Owner ‘lost’ C-Type Jaguar so it wouldn’t be asset in divorce

June 4 | Comments Off

The story of performance house RUF …
1932 – the invention of the Ford V8 engine
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

The story of performance house RUF …

May 1, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

This film tells the story of performance house RUF, how, over the past 80-odd years, it’s gone from a small local repair shop in Pfaffenhausen, Germany, to continued building cars for one sole purpose – the love of the automobile...

1932 – the invention of the Ford V8 engine

April 16, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

This video deals with the development of Ford’s early line of V8 engines...

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...

Kiwi invention powers Aussie firm to world first for...
New rapid response vehicle for US Army based on...
New electric pick-up truck from an old General Motors...
Range Rover Fifty: handful of Kiwis eye swank anniversary...
Mazda BT-50 enters its lifecycle as move towards more...
Badger pick-up uses batteries and hydrogen cell for 1000km...
Next VW Amarok will be based on the Ford...
$12,000 deal for motorists to swap petrol and diesel...

Kiwi invention powers Aussie firm to world first for EVs

July 13, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Wireless charging technology pioneered by University of Auckland professors John Boys and Grant Covic has helped an Australian company log a world first for electric cars (EVs), one it claims will change the recharging industry forever. Lumen Freedom, an automotive components specialist based in Melbourne, has become the first and only...

New rapid response vehicle for US Army based on Colorado ute

July 3, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

That Holden Colorado that sits among the top four utes in New Zealand? It’s just become the new rapid response vehicle for the United States armed forces. Or rather a stripped-down version of the Holden donor ute has. It is based on the four-wheel-drive Chevy Colorado ZR2 (below) and uses 90 per cent of its [&hellip...

New electric pick-up truck from an old General Motors plant

June 30, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Lordstown Motors, the electric vehicle company that bought the former General Motors plant in the US state of Ohio, plans to have its first pick-up truck on the market early next year. It will be called the Endurance, a double-cab four-wheel drive that starts at US$52,000 (NZ$80,000) and is powered by four in-hub electric motors [&hellip...

Range Rover Fifty: handful of Kiwis eye swank anniversary model

June 27, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Jaguar Land Rover agents Motorcorp Distributors expects a handful of New Zealanders to buy the Range Rover Fifty, the limited-edition 50th anniversary model, priced at $250,000. “We getting expressions of interest right now and we certainly hope to have three or four buyers,” said Ben Montgomery, Jaguar Land Rover operations manager....

Mazda BT-50 enters its lifecycle as move towards more power heats up

June 17, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The new Mazda BT-50 will be in the first couple of years of its lifecycle when the ute market further heats up with the predicted arrival in 2023 of a powerful front-runner from South Korea’s Kia. Mazda has just unveiled the new BT-50, the first in nine years. It is built not by Mazda but [&hellip...

nikola_badger7-b69183b407d5dcf3a8180f9ba4b1fb0bb46497d569649afd99868139009a3292

Badger pick-up uses batteries and hydrogen cell for 1000km range

June 15, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

US electric truck maker Nikola Motors is about to open up the order book for its Badger pick-up, a double-cab carry-all powered by a combination of batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell system. It’s the same powertrain Nikola developed for its long-haul trucks, which have a range between refuels of 800 to 1200km. Nikola says [&hellip...

Next VW Amarok will be based on the Ford Ranger

June 12, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Volkswagen has confirmed that the new Amarok ute will be based on the next-generation Ford Ranger and built at a Ford plant in South Africa. It will share Ranger underpinnings but have its own styling inside and out. It is also expected to come with Ford engines, although VW hasn’t disclosed powertrains. The likely options [&hellip...

2019-Nissan-Leaf-Plus-SL-motion-front-side-view

$12,000 deal for motorists to swap petrol and diesel models for EVs

June 10, 2020 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

British motorists will be given NZ$12,000 to swap their petrol or diesel cars for electric ones under plans by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to revitalise the country’s flagging economy. The plans also reportedly include a car scrappage scheme, dubbed “cash for clunkers”, aimed at further promoting the use of electric vehicles...

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 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...

September 26, 2015 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

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