Car News

German manufacturer Opel and its British sister Vauxhall have committed to no less than eight all-new or refreshed models before 2020, with a focus on growth segments. Of these eight models, three will be all-new versions of the Corsa light hatch, Vivaro van, and the successor to the Mokka X small crossover, the former two scheduled for launch next year, while the latter will hit the European market in 2020.

Audi Australia has temporarily removed the non-S Q7 from its line-up, as the factory in Germany revises the car's AdBlue diesel exhaust treatment system. According to Audi, it's currently "working on a solution to improve recognition of the wrong medium” being added to the AdBlue tank in Q7 3.0TDI vehicles. The car will be back on sale when the AdBlue system "optimisation" is given the tick of approval by the relevant authorities in Europe.

James Murdoch, ex-CEO of 21st Century Fox, is leading the race to replace Elon Musk as chairman of the Tesla board, according to a report from the USA. Reporting from the Financial Times, citing two people briefed on the discussions, places Murdoch ahead of Antonio Gracias, a long-time investor in the company and current lead independent director. The report also says external options are also being considered. Tesla, Murdoch and 21st Century Fox haven't provided comment on the matter.

BMW Australia has announced pricing and specs for the fourth-generation X5 SUV, which touches down locally in November. The range will kick off with two variants: the xDrive 30d and xDrive M50d, priced from $112,900 and $149,900 before on-road costs respectively. Power in the 30d comes from a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine making 195kW and 620Nm, good for a claimed 100km/h sprint time of 6.5 seconds. It's mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, while all-wheel drive is standard.

Honda has demonstrated its Smart Intersection vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology in Marysville, Ohio, the town where its first North American factory and research centre is based. Honda's Smart Intersection setup has four cameras mounted atop the traffic lights at each corner of an intersection. The company's image processing then uses that information to create a 360-degree feed, and classifies objects as cars, pedestrians, cyclists or emergency vehicles.