Car News

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and the PSA Group have signed a definitive merger agreement. The two companies say they will, in time, generate two-thirds of its sales from just two platforms: one for compact cars, and one for compact and mid-size models. Each platform is expected to generate around three million sales per year globally.

Plenty has happened in the world of car news over the last 24 hours. If you haven't had time to read all the news on CarAdvice.com, catch up on your way home with Car News Daily, as Mandy Turner reads each news story word-for-word. Today's download: LISTEN: Car News Daily podcastLISTEN: Automotive Industry Insights podcastLISTEN: Reverse Gear podcastMORE: All CarAdvice podcasts

The BMW Z4 M40i will get a power boost for 2020, and a significant performance improvement to go with it. The range-topping BMW Z4 currently shares its turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-six engine with the Toyota Supra, along with its claimed 250kW and 500Nm outputs. But Z4 M40i buyers from early in 2020 will get an uprated version of the same engine making 285kW and 500Nm – identical to what's on offer in the M340i xDrive and X3 M40i with which the roadster shares its engine.

The Takata airbag crisis has taken its most serious turn yet, with to up 78,000 cars to be put off the road and bought back by manufacturers at an estimated cost of up to $200 million. Popular cars made by Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota – sold from 1996 to 2000 – are believed to be equipped with another type of Takata airbag inflator which can also become unstable over time and spray shrapnel when deployed in a crash.

The mighty Toyota Tundra V8 pick-up from the US is unlikely to make it to Australia with this generation’s model – or the next – even though the company refuses to formally rule it out. The Toyota Tundra is a rival to the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado in North America – where it is made – but is built in left-hand drive only.