Car News

Jeep has put its slow-selling Renegade SUV on hold in Australia. The rugged-looking rival to the Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V only found 70 homes last year, down from 163 in 2018 – and a huge drop from the 1051 sold in 2016, the Renegade's best year in Australia. Even slow-selling competitors like the Ford EcoSport (481 sales) and Nissan Juke (509) comfortably outsold the smallest Jeep last year.

In the wake of Holden's exit from Australia, its major competitor, Ford, has seized the opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the market, telling the Federal Government it's planning further investment and suggesting it may absorb some of Holden's former staff. Yesterday, Holden's US parent company, General Motors, announced it would cease selling cars in Australia by 2021, with the closure of its local head office, test track and engineering and design locations planned for mid-year.

They were arch enemies in showrooms and on race tracks for more than half a century but Ford has put aside its old rivalries by paying tribute to Holden after General Motors announced the lion brand would be axed by the end of 2020 – just three years after the end of local manufacturing.

Ram has emerged as one of the Australian manufacturing industry's recent success stories, and has built on this momentum by expanding its range of full-sized American pickups. That addition, announced today, is the 1500 Express Crew V8 Hemi priced at $89,950 plus on-road costs. It sits between the cheaper 1500 Express Quad and the volume-selling, pricier 1500 Laramie.

Star-crossed lover Juliet met her tragic demise at the end of Shakespeare’s play (spoiler alert), and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, too, will soon expire. Club Alfa reports Alfa Romeo’s smallest, cheapest model will end production this year. Production at the Cassino factory is expected to first wind down from 70 units each day to 40 before ending entirely later in the year.