Car News

Japanese tuner Liberty Walk has unveiled a new body kit package, which turns the cute little convertible hardtop Daihatsu Copen into baby Godzilla. We're not sure why Liberty Walk chose the Copen as its starting point, although the convertible's easily-removable resin body panels may have played a part in the decision.

Customisation is in vogue at the moment, but choice can be seriously confusing. In our configurator challenge, we let the CarAdvice team loose on a manufacturer’s website to create their ideal spec of a certain model. For this edition of the Configurator Challenge, we’re designing our perfect Porsche 718. Let us know what you think in the comments, and which cars you’d like to see next!

We wrote about a self-driving Mustang preparing for the first autonomous run up the hill at Goodwood yesterday. We all had a good laugh about the possibility of it crashing on the big stage, with the world's motoring enthusiasts watching online. Remember that? It was a fun time... Turns out all that laughing and joking was kind of accurate. We're not going to spoil the ending, but suffice to say the Siemens team behind the 1965 Mustang project aren't likely to enjoy watching the footage below.

UPDATE, 13/7/18: Mini's local division has confirmed the plug-in Countryman will be available from Q2 2019, along with supplying some local images. See article for details. BMW Group Australia has confirmed the Mini Countryman S E All4 PHEV (deep breath) is coming to Australia, due to land in the second quarter of next year.

The Maserati Levante GTS has made its debut, and will bridge the gap between the top-end Trofeo and the lesser six-cylinder models when it goes on sale. The Levante GTS is powered a version of the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 also doing service in the Levante Trofeo. Here the Ferrari-built engine cranks out 410kW of power at 6250rpm, and 730Nm between 2500 and 5000rpm.