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Latest News

Hot new looks - spy videos » View All

Highlights » View All

• ‘Huge market’ awaits Bosch’s off-the-shelf EV powertrain
• Rare aluminium-bodied Ferrari found in Japan is up for...
• German carmakers urged to build an EV to challenge...
• Porsche 917 used in Le Mans film sells for...
• Hydrogen fuel-cell breakthrough: Aussie plans exports of energy
• Diesel pollution: ‘Welcome to Fort NOx’, said the protest...
• Norway driving the world towards electric vehicles
• Jay Leno’s Garage: going ‘Bush’ in a Ford F-150...

‘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...

Rare aluminium-bodied Ferrari found in Japan is up for auction

August 30, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

A unique Ferrari Daytona found earlier this year in a garage in Japan will be auctioned at the carmaker’s headquarters in Italy next week, alongside a new LaFerrari Aperta. Why the special event? Because the 1969 365 GTB/4 Daytona (above and below) is believed to be the only street-legal Daytona made with an all-aluminium body....

German carmakers urged to build an EV to challenge Tesla

August 29, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

A senior advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the country’s carmakers to “build a car that travels 50 kilometres further than a Tesla and costs 10,000 euros less.” Merkel’s chief of staff Peter Altmaier said he was disappointed that neither Mercedes-Benz, BMW, or the Volkswagen Group had come close to matching...

Porsche 917 used in Le Mans film sells for NZ$19m

August 23, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The car that gave Porsche its first Le Mans win and co-starred alongside Hollywood hero Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans has sold for US$14.08 million (NZ$19.2m). The orange and blue Porsche 917K was auctioned at the annual Pebble Beach shindig in California. It is now the most expensive Porsche on the planet. The car [&hellip...

Hydrogen fuel-cell breakthrough: Aussie plans exports of energy

August 21, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Research in Australia could result in the country supplying sustainable fuel-cell energy for ‘green’ cars throughout the Asia-Pacific. The Canberra-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has developed a membrane reactor to turn liquid ammonia into pure hydrogen. A CSIRO scientist said the process...

Diesel pollution: ‘Welcome to Fort NOx’, said the protest signs

August 20, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

Managing editor Alastair Sloane has been overseas talking to electric vehicle (EV) groups, specifically the Norwegian EV Association, which has spearheaded the growth of EVs in Europe. He was in Berlin, on the sidelines of protests over the effects of diesel pollution, the result of which is further boosting sales of EVs. The sale of...

Norway driving the world towards electric vehicles

July 21, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The picture above of me at the wheel of an electric Tesla Model S 100D sedan was taken the other day between Stockholm and Oslo, cities around 530km apart. I’m in Scandanavia to talk to electric vehicle groups, specifically the secretary-general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association (NEVA). Her name is Christina Bu – and...

Jay Leno’s Garage: going ‘Bush’ in a Ford F-150 – see video

July 5, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The US season premiere of Jay Leno’s Garage celebrates cars built in America, by Americans, using all American parts. In this episode Jay heads to former President George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas to ask about his Ford F-150 pick-up, then he challenges comedian Wanda Sykes to a race … in a minivan. He takes [&hellip...

Latest car reviews » View All

• 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’
• All-electric Nikola One truck has claimed range of up...
• Germany proposes ban on petrol, diesel cars by 2030

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...

All-electric Nikola One truck has claimed range of up to 1900km

December 6, 2016 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

America’s Nikola Motor Company (NMC) has revealed its Nikola One hydrogen-fuelled truck and says it has accepted nearly US$3 billion in “future orders.” It took the covers off the big semi at its Salt Lake City headquarters, saying the truck’s all-electric drivetrain was good for a zero-emissions range of 1280 to 1930km. The big...

Germany proposes ban on petrol, diesel cars by 2030

October 12, 2016 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

The country that gave the world the internal combustion engine is moving to outlaw it. Germany’s federal politicians have passed a resolution calling for the European Union to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030. The proposal gained cross-party support in the Bundesrat, or Federal Council, effectively the upper house of the German...

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

October 23, 2017 | Alastair Sloane | Comments Off

It’s the wheel McCoy … the 20 best to ever hit the road

It should be no surprise that some of the most iconic cars have the most incredible sets of wheels to match. Here is an American view of the best 20...

Jeep gives oddball Cherokee front end more of family face

October 20 | Comments Off

No more Aussie-built cars from today: So, what are the 10 best?

October 19 | Comments Off

Mitsubishi launches Eclipse Cross SUV with Christmas discount deal

October 18 | Comments Off

Toyota ‘toolbox’ concept – part cargo van, part SUV

October 16 | Comments Off

Self-driving cars: there’s a long way to go yet, says Ford chief

October 12 | 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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  It’s the wheel McCoy … the 20 best to ever hit the road

  Oct 23 | Comments Off

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  Jeep gives oddball Cherokee front end more of family face

  Oct 20 | Comments Off

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