Car News

New vehicle registrations last month shrunk by 7.4 per cent compared to the equivalent month in 2017, for eight consecutive months of declining sales. UPDATE: An earlier version of this story wasn't displaying below the 'brands' section. The issue has been rectified, and all the data is officially there! Enjoy.

At Volkswagen Group, the next generation of flexible component sets will be the last engineered for internal combustion engines. According to Automotive News, Michael Jost, head of strategy for the Volkswagen brand, told an industry conference in Germany “our colleagues are working on the last platform for vehicles that aren’t CO2 neutral".

Mazda says that despite being one of the smallest independent automotive brands in the world, the company cannot put volume ambitions as its first priority, with the recently-appointed global CEO admitting that such a goal would create the wrong culture internally. Speaking to the Australian media at the Los Angeles motor show last week, the president and CEO of Mazda, Akira Marumoto, said that in order for Mazda it survive it needs to be unique and put customer relationships above all else.

Volkswagen is turning to dealers in its push for revised emissions standards Down Under, arming dealer principals with a sternly-worded letter to hand their local member of parliament ahead of next year's Federal Election. The company has been one of the most vocal campaigners for revised legislation around vehicle emissions and fuel quality in Australia, lest we join what it's dubbed the 'automotive third world'.

The Ssangyong Rexton DKR has been unveiled a month before it enters the 2019 Dakar Rally. Apart from the badges and doors, the Rexton DKR seems to share very little with the showroom-ready Rexton. The race car's body is welded to a chrome-molybdenum multi-tubular chassis. The Rexton DKR is powered by a V8 petrol engine generating around 335kW of power. Weighing around 1900kg, the Rexton DKR can reportedly complete the 0-100km/h standard in 4.4 seconds, and hit a top speed of 195km/h.