Car News

Bentley has announced a new special edition, set to debut at the 2019 Geneva motor show, as a celebration of its centenary. Inspired by one of its racing models, the limited-run car was this morning teased with a picture of a car's badge, sitting above what appears to be a retro-painted grille. We'd suggest the grille is a nod to the legendary Blower Bentleys of the 1920s, although the treatment has also been applied to concepts since then.

The new Suzuki Jimny has been hit with a “below average” three-star rating by Australia’s peak automotive safety body - matching the poor score issued by European authorities. Testing found “structural weaknesses” in the body, the crash-test dummy head “bottomed out” through the airbag and struck the steering wheel, and there were shortcomings with the safety assistance technology.

Volkswagen has turned its energy from Pikes Peak to the Nurburgring, announcing plans to topple the electric lap record currently owned by the NIO EP9. Where it chased the outright record up Pikes Peak, the record within Volkswagen's sights is purely related to electric vehicles. Apparently there's no way the ID R could come close to toppling the 5:19.55 outright record set by the Porsche 919 Evo.

Thanks to rising development costs, greater market fragmentation, and the need to invest in both electric vehicles and self-driving car technology, automakers are increasingly coming together to share development costs and increase economies of scale. With that in mind, Harald Krüger, CEO of BMW, and Ola Källenius, CEO-in-waiting at Daimler, are said to be in wide-open collaboration talks between the sometimes bitter rivals.

Tesla has jacked up the prices of its Superchargers around the world, having last week cut its workforce and ended its long-running referral program. Discovered by Electrek and confirmed by the company, fee increases of 33 per cent are being reported on Superchargers in some American states. In Australia, the average price for charging will jump from $0.35 per kWh to $0.47 per kWh.