Car News

The facelifted Holden Commodore has been spied in wagon-bodied Opel guise during hot weather testing in Europe, ahead of an anticipated reveal later this year. Sold abroad as the Insignia under the Opel and Vauxhall brands, the updated Commodore still wears heavy camouflage at the front and rear to disguise the upcoming design changes.

The electric Mini Hatch has been spied pretty much devoid of camouflage this week in the US, ahead of its official debut later this year. Unofficially dubbed the 'Mini Cooper S E' – a similar naming structure to the plug-in hybrid Countryman – the first series production all-electric Mini looks very much like the regular 3 Door Hatch with tacked on bits from the 2017 Mini Electric concept.

The next-generation Skoda Octavia wagon has been spied with very little disguise this week, ahead of its debut in Frankfurt later this year. Despite already straddling the small and medium segments, the Octavia looks set to grow even larger than the current model, most likely to give more space to the new Scala hatchback. The Octavia will ride on a revised version of the Volkswagen Group's MQB platform, set to underpin the next-gen versions of the Audi A3 and Volkswagen Golf.

Bentley was founded on July 10, 1919 by W.O. Bentley. That makes 2019 the company's centenary. It's also likely to be the seventh successive year where it sells more than 10,000 vehicles worldwide.

Audi Australia has issued a recall for the 2014 to 2016 model-year A6 and A7 over concerns a faulty heater element could pose a fire hazard. The German marque reports that affected vehicles have an auxiliary heater element in the air conditioner that could fail due to an incorrectly plugged in electrical connecter. If the condition occurs, the connectors could overheat causing the element to fail, which could cause smolder damage or even a fire.