Car News

The US National Highway Transport Safety Agency (NHTSA) has opened formal investigations into almost three million vehicles sold by Hyundai and Kia in the USA. The vehicles being investigated are the Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe, and Kia Optima and Sorento from the 2011 to 2014 model years. Also being investigated is the 2010 to 2015 model year Kia Soul.

Ford will kickstart its rollout of electrified vehicles in Australia with the new Escape, released today and set to touch down in 2020. The new mid-sized PHEV will face off with the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid arriving in Australia later this year, by mating a 2.5-litre Atkinson Cycle petrol engine with an electric motor and 14.4kWh battery pack for 165kW of power and more than 50km of pure-electric motoring.

On this week's episode of CarAdvice, Trent Nikolic and Paul Maric talk about unique police cars, public apologies, and elderly drivers, and put a pair of strong-selling hatchbacks head-to-head. First up is a Honda Civic Type R police car. No, that's not a typo! New South Wales police will be running the Japanese hot hatch as a way for the cops to engage with the community. Looks cool, hey?

Hyundai Australia has confirmed the ageing i40 sedan and wagon have been dropped from the local line-up, with the next-generation Sonata to be the brand's standalone mid-sized offering when it arrives later this year. Currently, the brand offers the i40 and Sonata concurrently in the medium segment, with the i40 available in both sedan and wagon forms while the Sonata is sedan-only.

The car industry has expressed caution over an "ambitious" plan to have 50 per cent of all new car sales electric by 2030. Peak body for carmakers in Australia, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), said Labor's proposal for electric vehicles and emissions standards is "ambitious" but "anything's possible" – provided the required infrastructure and buyer incentives are put on the table. "It's about getting that broader environment right," said Tony Weber, FCAI CEO.