The GWM Haval H7 – NZ Price and Spec
Remember when mid-size SUVs were all about playing it safe? Boring, beige, and basically indistinguishable from every other family hauler on the road? Well, you can’t say that about the new GWM Haval H7 – damn it’s a good looker. Bold, Boxy, and Unapologetically Adventurous The all-new GWM Haval H7 has landed in New Zealand, […]
BYD Sealion 5 Gets Three-Star ANCAP Rating as M9 People Mover Earns Five
ANCAP has given BYD’s M9 plug-in hybrid people mover five stars, but the Sealion 5 SUV managed only three, the first time a BYD has missed the top score. BYD’s perfect ANCAP record now has its first mark against it. The safety body has rated two of the brand’s plug-in hybrids under its 2026-2028 criteria, […]
Škoda Superb Marks 25 Years With Nearly 1.8 Million Buyers
Škoda’s flagship liftback and estate turns 25 this year, with four generations, almost 1.8 million customers and plug-in hybrids that now cover more than 120km on electric power alone. What does a brand known for sensible small cars do when it wants to go big? In Škoda’s case, it builds the Superb and keeps building […]
Mitsubishi Unveils All-New Pajero as Its New Flagship SUV
Mitsubishi has revealed a fully redesigned Pajero with a ladder frame, a 2.4-litre diesel and low-range 4WD, launching first in Thailand before Japan, Australia and about 100 other countries. The Pajero is back, and Mitsubishi is aiming well above nostalgia. At a world premiere in Tokyo, the company revealed a fully redesigned Pajero and named […]
BMW Group Partners With Mistral AI to Train AI on Crash Simulation Data
BMW Group is working with French AI company Mistral AI to build a specialised model trained on more than a petabyte of its own crash simulation data, with the aim of making complex engineering work faster and more accurate. Most carmakers talk about artificial intelligence in terms of voice assistants and touchscreens. BMW’s latest AI […]
Electrified Vehicles Pass 60 Per Cent of New Zealand’s Passenger Market
August registrations of battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids nearly tripled, taking electrified models past three-fifths of New Zealand’s new passenger vehicle sales so far this year. For the first time, most new passenger cars sold in New Zealand this year have some form of electrification. In August, registrations of battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids nearly […]
Polestar and Oxford Researchers Set Out to Measure the Thrill of Driving
Polestar has teamed up with the University of Oxford’s SDG Impact Lab to study drivers’ brain activity, heart rate and eye movement at Sweden’s Gotland Ring, aiming to put numbers on the thrill of driving. Power outputs, acceleration times and lap records are easy to print on a spec sheet. The buzz a driver gets […]
New Zealand Road Rules Change on October 1 for Drivers, Cyclists and E-Scooter Riders
From October 1, 2026, New Zealand drivers must leave a 1.5-metre gap when passing cyclists and give way to buses leaving stops, while young children may legally ride on footpaths. How much room do you give a cyclist when you pass? From next month, New Zealand law gives one simple answer: at least 1.5 metres. […]
Ford Takes Its Skilled Trades Push Into a Second Year at Michigan Central
Ford CEO Jim Farley says America’s skilled trades shortage demands faster action, as the company prepares a bigger second edition of its ACCELERATE the Essential Economy event in Detroit. Ford boss Jim Farley wants America to rethink what a respectable career looks like. In a new post marking one year of the company’s ACCELERATE the […]
Porsche Adds Wireless Charging and Power Doors to Cayenne Electric
Porsche’s new model-year Cayenne Electric adds optional inductive charging, electric doors, massage seats with 4D audio and Paint to Sample colours. Plugging in an electric car is hardly hard work, but Porsche reckons it can be made easier still. For the new model year, the Cayenne Electric gets optional inductive charging. Owners simply park over […]