The woes of at least one of America’s car giants is not limited just to the American mainland. Back in 1990 General Motors bought a 50% share in the Swedish car manufacturer Saab for $1 billion with a toptal cost tothe company coming in at $4 billion.
Obviously General Motors lacks the Midas Touch so [...]
Around six months after the release of the car that was to be the saviour of Mitsubishi Australia the writing that was on the wall is becoming even easier to read.
When a manufacturer knocks $6,500 of the price a vehicle you know that they are in dire trouble and that is just what Mitsubishi Australia [...]
Meet the shape of private urban transport in the years ahead.
It’s called Clever and that’s an acronym for Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport and the objective of the Clever Project is to develop a small vehicle for clean urban transport that requireds minimal space in traffic and parking, consumes minimal energy and [...]
One of the biggest nuisances when you’re driving at night is the idiot behind you who has forgotten to dim his headlights. Of course most cars these days are fitted with a manual adjustment that allows you to change the alignment of the mirror but what if you could have a mirror that automatically adjusted [...]
For Australia have announced that the Ford Focus XR5 Turbo has arrived in Australia and is now being shipped to dealers around the country.
You can pre-book a test drive here
Ford Australia has released a special edition Falcon XR6 cab chassis that comes fitted with:
Traction Control
Anti-lock brakes with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution
XR sports seats
XR sports instrumetn cluster
Alloy pedals
17″ 5 spoke alloy wheels
And if you do use your Falcon XR6 cab chassis for some serios work the new special edition also comes with optional one tonne suspension [...]
Queensland’s burgeoning ethanol industry continued to go from strength to strength today with the announcement of more than $700,000 in State Government grants to three independent fuel groups.
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for State Development, Trade and Innovation Anna Bligh said the grants would assist the three fuel groups convert and market a number of [...]
If you bought a vehicle from Holden during October and November 2005 you may be entitled to a refund.
During October and November of 2005 Holden ran a special promotion where it offered new vehicles at the same rate that employees would pay. “You Pay What We Pay” was the name of the promotion but [...]
The all-new 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander is on the leading edge of versatility, technology, and value in the crossover SUV segment. The 2007 Outlander debuts the all-new 3.0L V6 MIVEC engine and features a standard six-speed Sportronic(R) automatic transmission with one-touch manual shifting and adaptive electronics.
The Outlander XLS adds rally inspired Sportronic steering wheel paddle [...]
Honda describe this car as their “bite-sized wonder” and there is no doubt that this definitely does fall into the small market and they are even going so far as to promote it in a toy-like way with an obvious attempt to link the Jazz to Thomas the Tank Engine.
The price of $15,990 for the [...]
Very few vehicles are currently sold in Australia withside air bags fitted as standard equipment although they are offered as an option by many manufacturers. So are they really worth the extra money?
The US insurance industry suggests that they certainly do improve the chances of a vehicle’s occupants surviving a side impact. After conducting a [...]
Suzuki XL7 – The all-new 2007 Suzuki XL7 made its world debut at the 2006 New York International Auto Show. Suzuki’s flagship SUV evolves from a truck-based SUV to a more car-like unibody design with front-wheel drive and available all-wheel drive.
The larger, more comfortable Suzuki midsize crossover SUV is powered by a sophisticated, Suzuki-built [...]
Towards the end of this year Dodge will be making a return to the Australian market with a range of vehicles. The first to be released will be the Caliber – an unusual vehicle that doesn’t quite seem to be one thing or another.
Aussie Motoring has already taken a preview peek at the Dodge Caliber [...]
The Volkswagen brand achieved worldwide record sales in the first quarter of 2006. 795,000 vehicles were delivered to customers during the first three months of the year.
This is the highest start-of-year figure in the history of the company and represents a rise of some 108,000 vehicles or 15.7 percent compared with the prior-year period. Dr. [...]
Less Show and Same Go
Sadly this is one car we will not be seeing in Australia but we can always dream of a luxury level car that goes like a rocket.
Subaru America have released a limited edition Subaru Imprezza that has all the refinements of a luxury car with all the get up and go [...]
Feast your eyes on a fully restored Holden Torana XU1, the dream car of half the petrol-heads in Australia in the early 1970s.
The XU1 was a car that won touring car races and some of the roughest rallies in Australia when driven by such household names as Peter Brock and Colin Bond.
This particular car [...]
With prices ranging from $53,990 for the 3.5 litre V6 up to $59,990 for the 5.7 litre V8 the Chrysler 300C is not going to be over-populating Australian roads anytime soon but Chrysler certainly hopes that it will bring “some passion back to the luxury sedan market.”
At least that’s what Gerry Jenkins, the head of [...]
Suzuki SX4 – Making its North American debut at the New York International Auto Show, the Suzuki SX4 is a compact sport X-over (crossover) vehicle with a versatile five-door hatchback design and standard all-wheel drive. The stylish Suzuki SX4 offers bold attitude with performance.
SX4 features a 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine matched to a five-speed [...]
The all-new 2007 Elantra makes its world debut today at the 2006 New York International Auto Show. Hyundai’s 2007 Elantra is the seventh all-new model from Hyundai in just 24 months, giving Hyundai the freshest lineup in the industry. All new from headlight to taillight, Elantra brings more refinement, safety and interior space to compact [...]
I should explain that Aussie Motoring is brought to you from Hervey Bay in beautiful sub-tropical Queensland and, while business usually keeps us confined to Hervey Bay, we do sometimes get to go a little further afield.
Today (Good Friday) was one of those days. Kids arrived at 3.30am from further north so we kept them [...]
The world premiere of the new-generation E-Class will be the focal point of Mercedes-Benz’ presentation at the New York International Auto Show 2006. After four years in production and around a million vehicles sold, the facelift of the world-beating executive saloon is cleaner, safer, more powerful and of better value than ever before.
The new-generation [...]
The all-new Carnival MPV (known as ‘Sedona’ in some markets) has earned the highest possible safety rating — five stars — for all seating positions in the latest frontal and side impact crash tests by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Completely redesigned for the 2006 model year, the all-new Carnival [...]
Every time you check the price board as you pass a service station the bad news is plain to see. The cost of fuel is rising and this time there seems little chance of it dropping back to more reasonable levels.
At least one OPEC oil minister has admitted that demand is now outstripping supply and [...]
Back in October 2001 NewScientist.com ran a story on self-parking cars and suggested that they were just around the corner.
Unfortunately that corner was a few kilometres further away than NewScientist.com realised but now they really are just round the corner if you live in the US – or parking right outside your house if [...]
If you are and – and you happen to have a spare 15,000 Euros ($A24,993.98 as I write this) then perhaps you might like to consider a “Customized Driving Adventure” through Italy behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
The tours are offered by Select Italy and here is a snippet from their latest press release:
Select [...]
Perhaps that title is a little unfair because it takes time to turn around a lumbering monsters like Ford and General Motors but just in case they hadn’t got the message car sales figures in the US should have told them something.
During March General Motors sales dropped by almost 15% while Toyota reported its highest [...]
The March US sales figures must be rather perplexing for executives at Hyundai. Sales of the Elantra dropped 9.6%, sales of the Accent dropped 44.6% and sales of the Santa Fe and Tucson dropped a combined 22.9%.
But sales of the Sonata increased by 53.8% and that meant that total Hyundai sales for March were up [...]
The engine in Jenson Button’s Honda exploded into flames just metres short of the finish line in today’s Melbourne Formule 1 Grand Prix.
The race was no kinder to Australia’s Mark Webber who was leading the race on lap 23 when a gear box failure forced him to withdraw.
The race was ultimately won by Fernando [...]
