Car News

Holden might have officially shut the door on locally-built cars with the Elizabeth Plant closure, but Australia is still playing a role in shaping the cars of the future. As self-driving technology continues to advance, a number of small Australian companies have attracted the attention of big manufacturers by being the best in their field, be it vision or connected vehicle technology. Here are two Australian companies shaping the autonomous vehicles of the future with their knowledge.

Toyota Australia is sticking firm on its call to not sell the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in Australia, preferring to focus on the 'regular' Prius and Corolla hybrids with comparatively old-hat but more affordable technology. As such, it's allowing fellow mass-market brands Mitsubishi and Hyundai to establish an early ascendancy in a fledgling market with the well-established Outlander PHEV crossover and the imminent Ioniq PHEV model, respectively.

Ever since Volkswagen Group Australia’s managing director, Michael Bartsch, returned from the US two years ago after a long stint in senior executive roles at Porsche and Infiniti, he’s prioritised talking about the state of our car servicing industry.

The facelifted 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate has been spied this week during development testing, giving us a first look at the updated performance wagon. Part of the forthcoming mid-life facelift for the wider Mercedes-Benz C-Class range, the AMG C63 seen here sports camouflaged bumpers and a disguised front grille, which points us to what changes are on the way.

Australian pricing and specifications for the 2018 MG ZS range have been revealed this week, with the Chinese-owned but British-badged SUV to kick off from $20,990 before on-road costs. Set to compete with the likes of the Mazda CX-3 (from $20,490) and Hyundai Kona (from $24,500), the ZS will be offered in two variants; Soul and Essence - with the latter priced from $23,990 plus ORCs.