Car News

Nissan Australia says it's keen to expand the range of Nismo performance models offered, which could mean sporty versions of its SUV lineup in the near-future. Speaking with CarAdvice at the local launch for the 2018 Qashqai, Nissan Australia CEO, Stephen Lester, said the local division is keen to increase its number of Nismo-branded offerings considering our market's strong take-up of performance vehicles.

Land Rover design chief, Gerry McGovern, has perhaps one of the most unenviable tasks in automotive design – designing an all-new version of the iconic Land Rover Defender. Speaking to Australian media at the Los Angeles Motor Show, McGovern suggested purists might not like what they see.

As a general rule, people are having a better time with car dealers than just a few years ago, but some brands' franchise partners are still lagging behind the performance of industry leaders Mazda and Hyundai. That's a summary of the findings from market research firm J.D. Power, which this week published results from its latest annual customer survey. Overall satisfaction has climbed 48 points on a 1000-point scale since 2013, the firm says.

Audi Australia has recalled two cars over concerns about the rear hub carriers. According to the company, a fault in the manufacturing process means the rear hub carriers in the Q2 and A3 might not be hard enough. That means their durability can't be guaranteed, posing the risk of bolted connections becoming detached. In the worst-case scenario, a detachment or component failure could cause the driver to lose control, posing a heightened accident risk.

Mazda has ruled out developing its MPS performance division, preferring instead to push toward offering a more premium, high-tech product instead. Speaking to media at the 2017 Los Angeles motor show, president and CEO of Mazda North America Operations, Masahiro Moro, said there's no use pushing for a full-on performance division until the rest of the brand is standing on solid ground.