Car News

Alpina has revealed its latest worked-over BMW, the B3 Touring, with sights set on filling a void BMW M has consistently refused to fill. Based on the garden-variety 3 Series Touring, the B3 Touring is powered by an S58 3.0-litre inline-six turbocharged petrol engine making 340kW and 700Nm. That means it's actually the first 3 Series to get the M3's new engine. It's put to all four wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.

Local conversion specialist Victorian American Imports has issued a recall for the 2007-08 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra as part of the ongoing Takata airbag recall. In affected vehicles, the front passenger side airbags could be faulty. Like previous Takata-related notices, airbags in affected vehicles could have propellant that degrades over time due to exposure to high temperatures and humidity.

We weren’t quite clear on whether the slinky Mercedes-Benz EQS electric limo concept revealed in Frankfurt this week both previewed the 2021 S-Class as well as a standalone EV flagship model, or merely the latter.

Global head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Ola Källenius, this week reaffirmed the company’s projection that up to one-in-four of its sales by 2025 could be completed to some degree online, outside the conventional dealer model, and potentially with lucrative fixed haggle-free pricing.

Of all the models spun off Mercedes-Benz's compact car platform, it's a little ironic the B-Class is the least popular in Australia. After all, it's the closest the three-pointed star has come to replicating the high-roof, compact-footprint formula it laid out with the first- and second-generation A-Classes before diverting down a sportier path.