Car News

The Datsun Cross has been revealed in Indonesia this week, becoming the third model introduced by the brand to that market in as many years. Serving as Datsun's new flagship in the Indonesian market, the Cross is a seven-seat crossover designed for "all lifestyles and a variety of tasks" – according to the company, at least. Under the bonnet is a 1.2-litre petrol engine available in two tunes – 68hp (51kW) and 78hp (58kW) – while torque remains constant at 104Nm regardless of variant.

Carlos Tavares, CEO of the PSA Group, parent company of Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall, outlined his company's plans for electrified vehicles and the world's second-largest car market. Speaking at the Automotive News World Congress on the sidelines of the 2018 Detroit motor show, Tavares committed to offering at least one fully-electric or partially-electric version of each of the company's models by 2025.

The New South Wales Government has committed $1.6 million to upgrading the ANCAP Crashlab, which will enable the facility to assess autonomous vehicle safety technologies. Minister for roads, maritime and freight, Melinda Pavey, made the announcement this week, which will support local crash-testing authority, ANCAP, in the testing of driver assistance systems.

Ford has confirmed it will more than double its investment in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The company's previous plan to spend US$4.5 billion ($5.7 billion) on electrified vehicle development by 2020 will now be supplanted by a new goal of investing US$11 billion ($14 billion) by 2022. "We're all in on this and we're taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we're electrifying them," Bill Ford told reporters, including those from Reuters.

Land Rover has taken the wraps off a very special creation this week - the Defender Works V8 - as part of its 70th birthday celebrations. Featuring a 297kW/515Nm 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine under the bonnet, the special-edition model is both the most powerful and fastest Defender ever made - it can even sprint from 0-60mph (0-96km/h) in just 5.6 seconds. Top speed is rated at 170km/h (106mph).