Car News

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is poised to switch to electric power for her ministerial car, from a BMW 7 Series diesel to an Audi e-Tron.

Super-luxury brand Rolls-Royce has professionally rendered the dream cars of kids, as part of an international design competition. From 5000 submissions four winners were eventually selected, each in one of the following categories; technology, environment, fantasy and fun. Chenyang from China, aged 13, took the top prize in the technology category, with the Rolls-Royce Bluebird II. His streamlined design is powered by jet turbines, and is supposed to work on "land, water, and snow."

The pocket rocket category was far from overflowing this year, and 2021 won't exactly offer more options than the average hot-hatch fan could stomach having to choose from – but at least there's now one more. Revealed this past week, the i20 N is a proper full-bottle N offering – only the second, after the i30 versions (or third if you want to count body shapes in the mix).

Electric-car specialist Tesla discreetly raised the cost of Supercharger usage by almost 25 per cent in Australia this month. Tesla Model 3 owner Wan told CarAdvice yesterday that – without notice – the per kW pricing increased from $0.42 to $0.52 sometime between his last two charges. “That’s a lot more expensive. I hadn’t realised they’d done that,” he noted.

Shannons are auctioning a Ford Mustang that was once used for Supercar Championship promotional duties. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Camp Quality, a children's charity that supports kids aged 0-13 with cancer. The 'Velocity Blue' V8 manual example was originally used by Ford Australia as a media evaluation vehicle. It was factory-specified with 19-inch forged aluminium wheels, adaptive suspension and Recaro seats.