Car News

Volkswagen Australia has issued a recall for the 2018 and 2019 model-year Polo range over concerns affected vehicles could have faulty handbrakes. The German brand reports "the adjuster nut for the handbrake lever can loosen", which could prevent the handbrake from being fully applied. "If the handbrake lever cannot be fully applied, it may lead to an increased risk of accident and injury to occupants of the vehicle and other road users," Volkswagen says in its recall notice.

Porsche has revealed a very special 'concept study' as it celebrates 50 years of the 917 – dubbed by the marque as "the most famous racing car of all time". First presented at the 1969 Geneva motor show, the Porsche 917 (below) dominated various motorsport events (including Le Mans and the North American CanAM Series) from the late 1960s through to the mid-70s.

The heads of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have agreed to form of a new board of management for the three-headed automaking alliance. As part of the deal agreed to in Tokyo, the "New Start" board will be chaired by Jean-Dominique Senard, chairman of Renault. The other members of the board will be Thierry Bollore, CEO of Renault; Hiroto Saikawa, CEO of Nissan; and Osamu Masuko, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors.

On this week's episode of CarAdvice, Trent Nikolic and Paul Maric talk about Takata airbags, discuss electric vehicles, and sink their teeth into a conversation about brand loyalty. First up, New South Wales motorists who fail to have their Takata airbag inflators replaced face the risk of having their registration cancelled, as the state government looks for ways to make people fix their faulty inflators.

Mazda remains one of the few automotive manufacturers still publicly committed to the internal combustion engine, despite the trend towards electrification. With that in mind, it's working to extract every last drop of potential from bang-suck-blow engines. The company says its next generation of SkyActiv engines will be able to extract at least an additional 30 per cent thermal efficiency over the just-launched SkyActiv X engine.