REALITY check – electric BMW cars are coming and the vaunted M Division is not excluded from the battery drive.
So, with that in mind, we know electrics can be made to go fast – and be remarkably quick off the block. The big hang-up with petrol-addicted purists is what they sound like.
Read MoreWHEN it comes for a love of the outdoors, Subaru is right up there with the best of them – so quite fittingly, it has given its first electric car, a robust-looking compact crossover, a name that fits.
New Zealand is in line to see the Solterra, a tag that presents as a conjunction of the Latin for ‘Sun’ and ‘Earth’ and emphasise the car's environmentally friendly context.
Read MoreSOME new vehicle distributors here are contemplating cutting back on some advanced supplementary safety features.
This from the head of the organisation that acts on behalf of the industry, speaking in respect to the local market impact of a global shortage of computer chips.
Read MoreFORWARD orders for new Toyota and Lexus models have reached 11,000 unites, effectively six months’ sales, and buyers are generally in for prolonged wait times.
An unprecedented accrual for Toyota New Zealand affects every model it represents, general manager of new car sales Steve Prangnell says, including one still to come, the next version of a traditional big seller, the Toyota Highlander.
Read MoreCONSIDERATION into resolving perceived environmental problems related to the disposal of expended electric vehicle batteries has spurred development of an online tool called a ‘battery passport’.
Audi New Zealand, which has several cars in the premium EV sector with two more to shortly launch, has supported the concept and is encouraging other car brands to also involve.
Read MoreHonda NZ high-ups discuss the reasons for changes to the long-standing Price Promise policy and talk cars.
Read MoreANNOUNCEMENT today of Ford New Zealand having joined the primary independent pressure group for electric vehicle uptake isn’t a signal it is any closer to including the Blue Oval’s first fully-fledged battery-compelled car, the Mustang Mach E, into its portfolio.
This today from the brand’s communications manager, Tom Clancy, who says there is still no clarity as to when, or even if, the five-seater sports utility might be sold here.
Read MoreCASE closed: Skoda itself has shared key information, never disclosed locally, in respect to the police buy-up of Superb station wagons as front-line cruisers – exactly how many are coming and over what period.
In a release it sent out from its headquarters in Mlada Boleslav to celebrate to contract, the Czech marque has identified that the contract is to supply 2000 cars over the next four years.
Read MorePOTENTIALLY more than half of the 800 electric Hyundai Konas so far sold in New Zealand are set to require a battery transplant, with surgery unlikely to start before August.
Even this is still something of a guesstimate for Hyundai New Zealand, with the Auckland-based distributor admitting it is still chasing up vital information from the factory, two months after Seoul announced a worldwide plan to replace the drivetrain-vital battery pack.
Read MoreNEW platform, new kit, new look – and, perhaps, a fresh new start?
Skoda New Zealand intends a second-quarter of 2022 release for the next-generation of the Fabia, the Czech marque’s baby hatchback whose latest look and technical detail has just been unveiled internationally.
Read MorePLENTY of fresh stock, plenty of willing buyers – despite all the travails occurring here and overseas, the new car market nonetheless ran extra hot last month, with a record return according the distributor organisation.
The Motor Industry Association says it was the strongest April on record for sales of new vehicles.
Read MoreAN end-of-2021 local market arrival timing has been announced for the UX 300e, the first Lexus to be wholly reliant on battery-fed electric power.
Confirmation of the small SUV’s local availability comes more than a year after the local arm expressed interest and almost two years since its global debut at a motor show in China.
Read MoreBEING in the business of making and selling products that create greenhouse gases responsible for global climate change also fuels Mazda’s eco-consciousness.
It all began in 2007 with Sustainable Zoom-Zoom, a multi-solution plan to reduce vehicle emissions; including a key resolution to reduce “well to wheel” CO2 emissions from its vehicles by 50 percent by 2030 and by 90 percent by 2050.
Read MoreAN update of one of the country’s favourite electric cars just hitting New Zealand has been cleared of an issue blighting the model.
Hyundai New Zealand has assured that a mid-life facelift of its Kona Electric just releasing here now is free from a battery issue that, having been determined to be a potential fire danger, has triggered a global recall and seemingly resulted in the model being pulled from sale in South Korea last week.
Read MoreTHE latest entrant to the electric car sector is also proposing keeping petrol and diesel vehicles in circulation for decades yet.
Mazda New Zealand’s call is tied to adoption of synthetic fuels that could make internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles just as clean as electrics.
Read MoreTHAT look of excitement you should feel when driving a steroidal performance model?
Hyundai reckons it’s worthy of a special button in its latest N model.
Revealed internationally overnight and set for New Zealand introduction later this year, for an as yet undisclosed price, the high-performance edition of the Kona crossover has many features to distinguish itself from the mainstream models – including what they taken to call the ‘N Grin’ button.
Read MoreFAMILY requirement for a compact seven-seater electric car that sidesteps styling like a sports utility has just been answered by Mercedes – but Kiwis feeling the need will have to wait until 2022.
This from the brand’s New Zealand operation in respect to the EQB, to all intents a battery-compelled version of the GLB, which has fast risen up the popularity scale since recent national release, and also closely related to the entirely electric EQA compact crossover that has just shown up here.
Read MoreSEVERAL updates implementing in the Ford Ranger for what is likely its final full year of sale have been announced in its country of birth – but the impact on this side of the Tasman has yet to be clarified.
The most relevant change to the NZ market-dominating model for Kiwis is that the XLT variant heavily favoured here adopts adaptive cruise control as standard. This feature allows the vehicle to 'latch' on to the vehicle ahead and maintain a safe following distance.
Read MoreTHOUGHT an innovative electric powertrain will prioritise in the next Nissan X-Trail seems to have been cemented with the car’s full reveal.
Nissan chose the Shanghai motor show that opened this week as the venue to fully display the car and also confirm that it will option in seven seat form and also deliver with the new ePower powertrain technology.
Read MoreA SMALL electric hatchback with a 1000 kilometre range and a sub three seconds acceleration seems set to be part of a sales push by a Chinese brand seeking to establish here.
The EA1 hatchback is a product of BYD – for ‘Build Your Dreams’ - revealed at this week’s Shanghai motor show in standard and performance themes.
The BYD brand has recently announced intention to begin sales in New Zealand and Australia, via an independent distributor, Nexport.
Media in Australia have suggested the EA1 will become a star model in a line-up also expected to include a Tesla Model 3-rivalling sedan called the Han, an electric sports utility called Tang, a plug-in hybrid crossover called Song and potentially the Qin, a small sedan.
This car, and a concept also on display, are the first products designed under the direction of the make’s newly-appointed global head of design Wolfgang Egger, a German formerly of Audi.
The EA1’s enormous driving performance and range arrive as result of it employing BYD’s latest technology, the brand says. The quoted figures for energy consumption and range might be treated with circumspection as China calculates with the NEDC formula, which is now considered outdated. The latest standard is WLTP.
The car is the first on a new e-Platform 3.0 and an 800-volt ‘Blade’ battery claimed to be capable of receiving 150km worth of charge every five minutes.
Battery capacity is yet to be revealed, but according to the Chinese carmaker, it will provide enough power to catapult the five-door from standstill to 100kmh in under 3.0 seconds – a feat that presently restricts to high-performance supercars and the fastest Teslas and is beyond any other small EV sold anywhere.
The battery cells are directly integrated into the vehicle's structure which frees up space and provides more structural rigidity, as well as safety, in the event of an accident.
The website for Australia’s Wheels magazine says Nexport has confirmed the EA1 will be coming, but was unable to reveal further information due to an embargo.
The distributor has claimed that it will place a small BYD car in a price zone that will reset the entry price for a new electric car, however it is unclear if that status will fall to the EA1 or another like-sized model, the BYD E2 which was first introduced in 2019.
MotoringNZ reviews new cars and keeps readers up-to-date with the latest developments on the auto industry. All the major brands are represented. The site is owned and edited by New Zealand motoring journalist Richard Bosselman.
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